Lou Holtz Quotes

As a scouting department, with the confidence we have in our player development, if a guy has the potential that we think they have and the makeup and they stay healthy, we think they will be a productive Major Leaguer. We take a lot of pride in that.

We draft mostly high school kids and we have one of the finest, if not the finest, player development programs and coaching staffs and we teach our players the right way to play. We also have a game plan in scouting, and there are certain types of players that we look for.

At the minor-league and major-league level, you know how important your coaching staff is, but in a big market it becomes absolutely huge.

Major League Baseball has the best idea of all. Three years before they'll take a kid out of college, then they have a minor league system that they put the kids in. I'm sure that if the NBA followed the same thing, there would be a lot of kids in a minor league system that still were not good enough to play in the major NBA.

One of the things I noticed more in this draft than in any recent drafts was the importance of the character issue. Players who had baggage, like Justice, fell much farther than his talent dictated. But a lot of coaches didn't want to take the chance.

All of us that have teams want to pick the right people. I've thought a lot about that. In the NFL, we've got 13 scouts traveling the country. We're trying to pick 22 year-olds coming out of college who will be successful in the NFL. It's very hard to do. What I've learned is it's always character first.

The problem with my guys, all my guys, they come in and improve themselves so fast in college: they go from 'He's this and this' to 'That kid is the first pick or second pick. Four. Five. Seven.' Tell me about those teams: not great. So my guys are walking into bad situations.

If it wasn't for Paul Brown, I probably wouldn't have a job because he basically evolved scouting.

Every team in the league is always looking to upgrade its talent.

When you're a general manager, you don't get to see every single player, so you have to rely on your scouts.

Duke recruits the best basketball players. They don't recruit dunkers or highlight makers. They recruit good basketball players.

Listen, we've drafted guys that wouldn't come in for workouts before. It's not the end of the world.

For a club to come and get you, they are going to use you at some stage.

Whether it's drafting or player development, the ultimate is putting a team together.

You always attempt to better yourself by getting good football players.

When you go to like the Nike Hoops Summit, or the All-Canadian Game, all those really matter in your development and how people perceive you as far as how good of a player you are.

I want to be drafted to a team that knows exactly what they're getting.

The analysis of statistics is a big part of the modern game, and it's important as a modern manager to embrace areas that can help your team and players improve.

It's about how the players play and compete. I know everybody is going to equate that on winning or losing, like they always do, but if we play hard and compete well in the game .. then I think we are building on something.

The ugliest player I ever signed was Kenny Burns.

A player has no use for an agent. None.

It's possible at any time during a player's career to get into top physical shape or to try to win every game! But you can't teach skills to an old player. Youth coaches should keep in mind that individual skills need to be nurtured at an early age. Players who haven't mastered the fundamental skills become frustrated because the game gets too difficult for them as they move into higher levels.

All I've seen agents do is talk players into having bad senior seasons because they're trying to keep themselves from getting injured.

You could have a player that gave you some iffiness but his talent would make a real contribution, but you had to have an overwhelming base of players so you know exactly what you had.

I just want to know if I'm truly not in the NFL, it's because of talent. Let it be because of my talents. But you've got to prove that I can't play this game. If you look at the film, clearly I can. So, I'll leave it at that.