Tom Landry Quotes

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Tom Landry

Profession : Coach

Birth : September 11, 1924

If you were to see me as a cheerleader, that would mean I was only watching instead of thinking.

Tom Landry

I don't believe in team motivation. I believe in getting a team prepared so it knows it will have the necessary confidence when it steps on a field and be prepared to play a good game.

Tom Landry

Take away winning, and you take away everything that is strong about America.

Tom Landry

I just didn't want to leave the Cowboys when they were down. I at least wanted them to get into a respectable position before anyone else took over.

Tom Landry

When a big play occurs for our team, I'm concentrating on how the defense is reacting to it. Most of the time, I don't see the great catch or the long run. What I'm looking at is how the other team defended it.

Tom Landry

Confidence comes from knowing what you're doing. If you are prepared for something, you usually do it. If not, you usually fall flat on your face.

Tom Landry

I know that life is really finding the right relationship between yourself and God.

Tom Landry

There are coaches to whom winning or losing means something close to life or death. If they lose, then their life has somehow been diminished. I'm not that way, and it keeps me steady.

Tom Landry

People say you have to know when to retire, which is a dumb thing to say. If you want to go out on top, yeah, it becomes important when you quit. But I wasn't afraid of that. And I wasn't worried about getting fired. I knew the risk. To me, it's not an ego thing. I enjoy coaching. I enjoy helping people achieve something.

Tom Landry

If I had to pick my greatest strength as a football coach, I say it would be innovation.

Tom Landry

I've come to the conclusion that players want to be treated alike.

Tom Landry

Generally, achieving goals... which in many cases means winning... is really the ultimate in this life we live in.

Tom Landry

If you don't believe in winning, you don't believe in free enterprise, capitalism, our way of life.

Tom Landry

People striving, being knocked down and coming back... this is what builds character in a man.

Tom Landry

The greatest thing is to win your first Super Bowl.

Tom Landry

If you don't win a Super Bowl, you're not considered successful in the National Football League. I can remember, when we finally won that first one, feeling so good for the players and fans.

Tom Landry

I probably should have gotten out, but I really enjoyed the challenge of bringing a team to that game. In fact, I probably enjoy the challenge of it more than the actual game.

Tom Landry

People will forget me pretty quick.

Tom Landry

I learned early in sports that to be effective - for a player to play the best he can play - is a matter of concentration and being unaware of distractions, positive or negative.

Tom Landry

I try to block out everything that distracts me. Even a big play, I blank it out.

Tom Landry