45 Gregg Popovich Quotes On Coaching, Success, Teamwork & Basketball

The top Gregg Popovich quotes from his successful career:

Gregg Popovich is a basketball coach who is best known for his long and successful career as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA. 

Under Coach Pop, the San Antonio Spurs have won five NBA championships. Popovich has also won over 1,300 regular season games, which is the most by any NBA coach.

Pop is a 5x NBA Coach of the Year winner and won an Olympic Gold Medal in the 2020 Olympics with the US Men's National Team.

Popovich is known for his leadership, discipline and team-oriented culture that he's established with the Spurs.

You also might like:

• 60 Inspirational Phil Jackson Quotes From The Zen Master >>

• 51 Tim Duncan Quotes About Success, Being Himself, Basketball & Life  >>

Gregg Popovich Quotes About Coaching And Leadership

Coach Pop is known as one of the top coaches in basketball history.

He is hard on his players but he has always gotten the most out of them as a result of his leadership style.

1. "I can't make every decision for you. I don't have 14 timeouts. You guys got to get together and talk."

2. "I hope I can coach long enough to get more than anybody has ever had."

3. "I want some nasty."

4. "I asked them if it wasn't too much trouble, if I wasn't being too pushy, if they could execute what we were trying to do. And if it didn't make them too angry, if they also wanted to play some defense on the other end, that would be great."

More quotes: Best Pat Riley Quotes About Success, Leadership, Basketball, and Life >>

Gregg Popovich Basketball Quotes

Pop focuses on the fundamentals of basketball. He stresses how simple basketball really is and there's no need to over-complicate things.

5. "You have to make shots to win basketball games and we didn't do that. You also have to get back on defense, so it was a double-whammy."

6. "Basketball's a game of mistakes."

7. "Stop by stop by stop. Play aggressively. Sprint back on 'D' and pay attention to how we're supposed to guard as a team."

8. "Basketball is a pretty simple game. What wins is consistency and competitiveness."

9. "Eliminating back-to-backs when you go in the wrong direction and lose time and go to bed at 4 in the morning for the second game is very difficult for teams, as we have learned. You just can’t bring the juice for 48 minutes. It shows in the discipline on the court and the execution on the court. If it was possible to change the entire schedule for everybody to have fewer of those, the quality would improve, without a doubt."

10. "He's LeBron James. That's what makes him difficult to guard."

Guided Meditation: Pregame Guided Meditation For Basketball Players >>

Best Gregg Popovich Quotes About Success And Winning

With over 1,300 career wins, Coach Pop has had his share of success. Here are some of his thoughts on what it takes to win and be successful.

11. "It's never been my goal to be king of the prom. It's been my goal to do the right thing and get the job done."

12. "The older you get the more you try to appreciate what you've accomplished."

13. "How do I describe the win? It’s a good win. I don’t know how you describe a win. It’s better than a loss. I’m not trying to be flip or anything. I just don’t know how you describe wins."

14. "It's not something you grew up in the game (thinking), 'Some day I'm going to do this.' I've been blessed with lots of great coaches and players and staff."

15. "To win a game like that is why we do this, not the record. We do it to have these kinds of wins."

You might like: How To Boost Your Confidence In Basketball | 10 Tips  >> 

Popovich On The Spurs

Pop has coached the Spurs for over 25 years and no one else. These quotes focus on his years with Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker.

16. "We would have two less championships here if it was not for Manu Ginobili. In my eyes, he's the stud of the world."

17. "Timmy, he's the beginning of it. He doesn't have to be the end all the time now."

18. "I would not be standing here if it wasn't for Tim Duncan."

19. "Tim Duncan doesn't know a lick about coaching. I don't even know why I hired him. He's given me a paycheck for 19 years, so I was kind of obliged."

You might like: How to Mentally Prepare For a Basketball Game (5-Step Routine) >>

Quotes From Gregg Popovich About Life

20. "I try not to get impressed. I just try to look at what I see."

21. "I’m not too interested in talking about the past. It doesn’t do us any good whatsoever."

22. "Sometimes, when life moves along, you’re presented with situations where you find it necessary to speak because so many people either seem to be afraid to or, more sinister, are unwilling to face things and let things go and worry about their own situations."

23. "I don’t even understand the word ‘happy.’ ‘Happy’ is a stupid word. It really is. It makes no sense."

24. "The measure of who we are is how we react to something that doesn't go our way."

25. "Because we are all rich as hell and we don’t need it all, and other people need it. And you’re an ass if you don’t give it."

Read also: The Complete Guide to Getting in the Zone in Basketball >>

Gregg Popovich Teamwork Quotes

Pop has stressed teamwork throughout his entire coaching career. 

Sacrifice and playing for the good of the team have been core principles for Pop and have been a defining characteristic of his successful Spurs teams.

26. "It's not about any one person. You've got to get over yourself and realize that it takes a group to get this thing done."

27. "No one is bigger than the team. If you can't do things our way, you're not getting time here and we don't care who you are."

28. "'Play the right way' means play unselfishly, respect each other's achievements, play hard, fulfill your role."

29. "We believe in people executing their role and caring about the team more than anything individually."

You might like: How To Shoot Better In Basketball | 13 Tips To Improve Your Shooting >>

Funny Gregg Popovich Quotes

Another thing that makes Coach Pop, Coach Pop is his interviews. 

It's no secret how he feels about them which has led to some great quotes.

30. "They were playing like crap, so we put in different guys."

31. "I can honestly tell you this is the first time I've enjoyed doing this ridiculous interview we're required to do."

32. "We suck on ‘D. Both individually and team-wise, we suck. We’re pretty consistent that way. I don’t know if I have an answer to that. If I did, we wouldn’t suck quite so bad."

33. "What went wrong for us? They played better than we did."

34. "The guys that are our top four scorers, each of them will be required once every two months to appear on MTV."

35. "Next guy who misses a free throw is gonna buy me a new car."

36. "Just cause you got your ass kicked tonight doesn't mean you have to have no sense of humor."

37. "I'm not stunned like a catfish getting hit in the head or anything like that. I'm not that kind of stunned, but I am surprised."

38. "They scored more than we did, and we were pretty crappy on defense. It's been fun."

39. "This is the preseason, right? This has to be done in the preseason. Are you kidding me? In the preseason, we gotta to do this? The preseason!"

40. "Talking with journalists is one of the joys of my life."

41. "I look at the analytics. Some of it is very worthwhile. Some of it is superfluous poppycock."

42. "It’s the most important thing in my life, my grandchildren can take a hike, what I might do when I retire, what kind of wine I’m going to drink—all those things pale in comparison when I think about how many wins I have."

More quotes: The 24 Best Kobe Bryant Mamba Mentality Quotes  >>

Other Coach Pop Quotes

43. "In Phil's case, I was personally thrilled he came back, because I think it's huge for the league. When you think about what he's done and how many championships he's won, there's always drama when he comes back in."

44. "My inner motor, what drives me? My paycheck."

45. "All I do is hope."

More motivational basketball quotes:

• Kobe Bryant | Michael Jordan | Steph Curry | LeBron James | Kyrie Irving | Kevin Durant | Allen Iverson | Shaq | Larry Bird | Phil Jackson | John Wooden | Coach Pat Summitt | Coach Jim Valvano | All