The Art of Winning

Big games aren’t different from any other games. But everything around big games is different. It’s the same for big moments in any line of work. ... There’s a chaos that you need to meet and manage.

Winning requires hard choices, but hard choices do not require cruelty.

Your job is not to psychoanalyze. Your job is to put people in a position to win.

the price of success is paid in advance.

We avoid unproductive nit-picking by not getting into “why” when we look at our mistakes. Unless it’s part of a chronic problem, I don’t care much about why that guard moved a split second too early and got us a penalty. I care about what to do and what not to do

My dad taught me something a long time ago and Coach Parcells reinforced it multiple times: As a defensive coach, it is your job to keep the score down, not theirs. If you want to keep the score down, play better defense.

Four words essential to an accountable, healthy, improving operation that is all about sustained success. Four words I made sure I said more than any of my assistants or players. “I f***ed that up.” ... It’s about honesty and accountability, yes, but it also sets a standard that mistakes can and should be ventilated instead of hidden or lied about.

As far as I’m concerned, confidence isn’t even something to strive for; it’s something that you exhibit when you strive for something in the right way.

There is no advantage to be found in focusing on the inevitable and the given. Everyone prepares for Monday morning. Everyone prepares for first and ten. Don’t bother. Prepare for what’s unlikely to happen. Prepare for change.