Tom Izzo

I think we all are coaches in our own respect because we have to try to figure out a way to help make people better than we really are, and that's what leaders do.

When you know your players are doing the right things in the locker room, the dorm room, on the plane, it makes you more relaxed.

In the NBA, you never know who you will play for, who is coaching you, what the general managers are like.

Two years in a row, I went to Kuwait for a week. I lived in the barracks with U.S. troops; that was pretty interesting.

A player gets into the Hall because of his abilities. A coach gets in because of his players' ability.

Words can't truly express what Mike Garland means to me. We've been friends since we met the first night in college and basically have lived the rest of our professional lives together. To say he's just my friend doesn't even scratch the surface of our relationship. He's my brother for life.

You've got to be a sneakerhead if you're a coach and you're dealing with 16 to 22-year-olds and selfishly, I kind of like them myself.

If you ever get a chance to do something outside the box... I say step outside the box.

When your two major sports, your two revenue sports, are going well, that bodes well for the whole university.

I get out a lot recruiting. Sometimes it's long distance, sometimes it close.

Sometimes if you have two or three at the top it makes the league look good, of course. But the real value of a league is what are teams 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

There is nothing, nothing, nothing like experience - nothing. You can't coach it, you can't teach it, you can't do it - there is nothing like experience.

All that being a college coach has done, is it's reaffirmed the need to take care of our young people. They're the ones that are going to make a difference. We spend a lot of time blaming them for stuff, and not enough time mentoring them and helping them stand on their own two feet.

I spent years sleeping with both eyes open.

What is a leader? How can you be successful without one, whether it's corporately or whether it's team-wise or whether it's school-wise, whether it's community-wise or whether it's nation-wise?

I'm worried about what betters the game and what betters the student-athlete.

Coaches tell you things for a reason. If they tell you to keep your head up, there's a reason. If they tell you to get the ball ready to shoot, there's a reason.

It's easy to become a better basketball player but harder to become a better teammate or person.

I'm a pizza guy, so yes, I love cheese!

I've taken the blame when I deserve the blame.

I think any time you're playing for a championship, that's a whole other area. You play for the one and done, then you get a chance to play for a banner. That what I live for.

We can all be leaders.

I love Jim Schwartz. I've gotten to know him, I think he's an awesome coach.

Don't eat three pizzas when you sit down at night, and a gallon of ice cream. It works wonders.

I'm not a football coach; sometimes I'd like to be - you can grab guys by the facemask, you can yell at the refs, nobody cares.

I love tradition.

As white Americans, we sometimes think it's enough to say that we aren't racist. But that's selfish - that's just being worried about ourselves.

I think it's good when you're versatile.

I learned that every opportunity is one that has to be seized.

In 2009 we were pretty good but North Carolina would have beaten some NBA teams that year.

I think it's a shame that all we talk about is the one-and-done players.

I have a great appreciation for walk-ons.

I guess I was a decent basketball player - pass first, pass second, shoot third... pretty good defensively.

Usually players make the most progress in the summer between their freshmen and sophomore seasons.

The upsets are bigger deals when you're thought of as a bigger deal.

No comment always means you're hiding something.

The price of leadership is strange.

Being a good leader is feeling what's needed to be said.

If you take three steps forward and one step back, once in a while I can live with that. If you take two steps forward and three steps back, that's not a good deal for me.

I want to go to Scotland in particular. If I had a bucket list, that would be on my bucket list.

I'm not into big-time gambling.

I'm not a great golfer but I'm a competitive golfer and I think I could be good if I could spend some time on it.

Football and basketball have similar problems and similar positives.

I've always said I wanted to be somewhere where basketball and football were really good together.

Going into the Hall of Fame isn't something I even dreamed about so it's hard to think about what it will be like until I get there.

Looking at the big picture, I know God put me in the right spot, with the right mentor.

The early years of my career weren't exactly smooth, as we struggled to make any sort of postseason appearance.

Timing in life can be cruel and it can be funny.

When I grew up, you trusted anyone of authority. Kids don't trust people any more, and I don't blame them. We have to earn their trust, and it takes time.

We're past the days of Vince Lombardi, where you say jump and I ask: 'How high?' But you still have to find a way to get your guys to jump, get them to trust you.