Football coaches specialize in much more than learning the sport and hoping their plan works out for the better come game day. They have to manage an entire roster of players and keep them motivated enough to go out and play their hardest, even when everything else is telling them to let up.
Now that football season has officially started (preseason counts, right?), players on all levels are preparing to bring all the energy they have and hopefully walk away with a victory when it counts. But sometimes it’s hard to find that extra bit that’s hiding deep down inside for that final push. That’s exactly when you need to look for some motivational words from the same people who make a career out of it – coaches.
A good coach is able to talk for a few minutes and make players – and anyone within earshot – think they can do the impossible. It’s similar to warriors being led into battle. So, get pumped up for football season with these inspirational speeches from coaches.
“We goin’ fight until we can fight no more! We goin’ lie down, bleed a while, goin’ get up and fight some more!”
You could say that the better team is the one that has the most talent on the field. But we’ve seen enough upsets and surprise losses to know that’s not always the case. The team that wins is the one that leaves the most of themselves on the field. Sometimes you fall, but you’ve got to get back up the second you can and keep going.
“A team of damn gladiators is what we are! We’re a team of damn gladiators!”
The speeches coaches give to their teams before big games often parallel what you’d hear on a battlefield before a clash of opposing sides. That’s the level of sacrifice and commitment players need to reach new heights. So, feeling like gladiators only comes with the territory.
“This helmet by itself can’t win one game. That helmet can’t win a game. It’s the men that have the privilege of putting it on and playing.”
No matter what team you play for, on any level, the name doesn’t mean a thing when it comes to wins and losses. If it were as simple as putting a team with the strongest legacy on the field to win, there wouldn’t be a point in playing, now would there?
“Leave no doubt tonight! No doubt! … Not this night!”
One of the worst feelings in the world is knowing that you could’ve done more in the past, but didn’t, and came up short. Even if things don’t turn out the way you wanted them to, as long as you know there was nothing in your control you could’ve done to change it, there’s nothing anyone can hold against you.
“Rope keeps things together! Rope is a sign of hope! What do they do when someone’s drowning? You throw the rope! Right now, I’ve thrown you a rope! You hold this team tight! You hold that rope tight!”
Out of the popular sports, football may be the one that requires the most dependence on teammates. If one person doesn’t do their job, it could ruin it for everyone. So, it’s important to hold every single person on the team accountable.
“I promise you they can’t beat 94 of us!”
The sad truth of football – and all sports – is that injuries happen. But with a roster full of 94 other players, that’s no excuse to count a team out when they have one person go down. As long as you can put 11 on the field, it’s up to the next person in line to step up and fall in.
Also, see? Rope can symbolize accountability across different levels.
“Fatigue makes cowards of us all. All of us!”
Conditioning is usually one of the most annoying parts of sports. At the time, it’s the last thing you want to be doing. But it serves a purpose. Jimmy Johnson went back to The U, where he achieved a lot of his coaching highlights, and taught the players a lesson in how fatigue can be the beginning of the end.
“You know, people ask, ‘Is winning really the only thing?’ Well, my answer to them is my answer to you. Ask yourself the damn question! Is winning the only thing to you? Do you want to me remembered as a winner?”
The Super Bowl trophy is named after Vince Lombardi because he was that great of a coach. During his time as head coach of the Green Bay Packers, he won five NFL Championships and two Super Bowls. So, it’d be wise to take any wisdom we’ve still got from him seriously. Even when Dan Lauria is portraying him because Lombardi’s been gone for more than 45 years. It’s the words that count.
“If we don’t play with emotion, if we don’t play the last play on every play, it will be. There won’t be a next week… You think about what that means! You think about what that means to be on your last play!”
A moment that football players aren’t likely to ever forget is the last play of their career. Whether it was in high school or in the pros, it’s a moment that they want to make sure happens on their own terms.
BONUS: “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful!”
This video does mention football and Emmitt Smith’s work ethic briefly. But while the rest of it isn’t directly about football, it says a lot about what it takes to be successful, in general, and can be applied anywhere. Perhaps the most powerful part is the initial story about wanting to succeed as bad as you want to breathe.
