The Winning Difference

Championships don’t make champions. How you work, how you prepare, how you live- that’s what makes you a champion. Eventually the game ends. The standard doesn’t.

“There’s nothing more important for our guys than being a good teammate. Every player has an opportunity to help our team by being a better teammate than they’ve been in the past. That’s how they give to their effort, learning, and what they give to their teammates,” Pete Carroll

"I don't promise their parents NCAA tournaments. I don't promise their parents playing time. I promise their parents that I am always going to be a part of their life when they need me." @coachFMartin The X's and O's of your programs are not plays. They are players.

Success can happen by chance. Excellence happens by choice. You can win once and call it success. But excellence? That’s doing it again and again. Success is a moment. Excellence is a mindset.

“Who you are some of the time is who you are all of the time,” Steve Sarkisian Character isn’t a mood, it’s an identity.

Success isn’t a game of chance. Success is a game of choice, discipline, and the standard you choose to live by every single day.

"Sometimes it's not even about winning. Sometimes it's about the ability to finish. Just finish. Just stay true to what you said you were going to do," Inky Johnson Character isn't proven in the win column. It's revealed in the days you don't quit.

“Talk is cheap. Do it. Show us. Show up. Work in practice. Step between the lines and don’t lose yourself in anything but what your job is. Have joy - have fun out there, but do what you gotta do.” -Tony Bennett

“We’re not here to coach your energy level and your effort, that’s a given. The difference between a really good player and a great player is that, great players don’t get tired,” Geno Auriemma The effort you put in today determines your opportunities for tomorrow.

You say you want to win? You say you want to play? You say you want to be great? Then act like it. This game exposes the lazy. It punishes the entitled. And it forgets the average. You don’t get greatness on your terms. You get it when you’ve earned it.

You don’t need a starting spot to work like a starter. You don’t need a guarantee to give max effort. Attitude and effort—those are always in your control. Bring it every day. Earn everything. That’s how champions are built.

Most players do not lack the desire to be great, they lack the commitment and sacrifice that greatness requires. That’s the difference between wanting to win—and doing what it takes to win.

“We sell relationships over transactions. We think the relationship still wins out because the relationship allows you to push people and demand excellence,” Kirby Smart Great teams are built by relationships that earn trust, demand accountability and chase unified excellence.

Great coaches don’t just build plays—they build people. And great players? They don’t want it easier. They want to be coached hard. They want truth. They want to be pushed to the standard—every single day. That’s how winning programs are built.

"Of course talent matters. But 'effort is worth twice as much as talent.' We have better learn to develop their grit. Because grit is what turns potential into reality." Grit is not a talent; it's a choice.

One of the most difficult parts of coaching is evolving. We tend to fall in love with things that may have been successful in the past without changing drills, activities or standards that fit the present. As a coach or player what do you consider to be most challenging?

“You just take it step by step, day by day. Trying to get 1 percent better. I think the thing for me was never getting complacent with my wins, my losses, always learning, always wanting to get better regardless of what’s happening,” Paige Bueckers The desire to learn always…

Most people stop when it gets hard. Champions start there. You don’t maintain greatness.  You attack it—daily. Don’t ever peak - keep climbing.

"Preparation builds belief. You can't have the confidence to do something if you didn't put in the work to do it." @Justinsua Confidence doesn’t come from hope — it comes from habits.

“People have goals and aspirations to do things and you have to help them define what do they need to do to accomplish those goals. How do they have to edit their behavior to be able to do it? Then show them that they have to have self-discipline to execute it every day,” Nick…