Robert Parish Quotes

It's always really challenging trying to go from player to player/coach. You have a kind of friendship basis of relationship with all of your teammates, and now you go to this power position where you have to make decisions that might hurt people's feelings.

When you're the head coach, you coach 53 people, and their wives and their girlfriends and their families and all those people.

Head coach is the leader. He's the guy that sets the tone for the whole organization as far as the structure of the football side of things.

You don't have to be popular with the players to be a good manager or coach.

You know, I think when you coach or you manage, you make decisions, and there's some that are really, really tough.

I think management is about just that - managing people via man-to-man skills.

You have got to boss scrums. The players need to know what you want them to adhere to. Then it is up to them to decide whether they are adhering to that or not.

As a player, you can be more spontaneous and instinctive, but now as a coach I have to find a psychological balance within the team.

It is important for the manager to find the right solution for your team.

When I first became captain of the Indian cricket team in 2000, many well-wishers and journalist friends gifted me the classic Mike Brearley book, 'The Art of Captaincy.' I mean no disrespect to the book or Mr, Brearley, who I admire a great deal, but books or team meetings don't make you good captains.

One of the things I like to do is let the players play and the coaches coach.

I can't be a manager, because I think it's too tough managing 30 players thinking in different ways.

As you develop relationships in your team you have to learn how your teammates react to being yelled at or how to put your arm around them and show them how to do things. You have to build those relationships up and understand who that person is and how they respond and choose your way to lead them to hopefully help everyone out.

It's hard enough to coach in this league when you're doing what you believe in. But when you have to try to coach something you may not be sold on, it becomes even more of a challenge. It's really hard.

To lead a group of players is to lead a group of people with different ways of thinking. You have to be prepared for that and know more than just about football. You have to speak a lot to the players, have to make them feel what you expect of them. Have to convince them. Therefore, it's very important for a coach to have a life outside football.

I know I have the abilities to be a head coach or D-coordinator. It's something I wouldn't mind doing. But it's tough being a player and going back and doing something like that, because egos get in the way.

Sometimes a new coach can find it not easy.

When you're captain you get involved in a lot of things. You're trying to get the best out of players and subconsciously, without knowing, it gets to you.

For this group, because we have so many big personalities, I think the manager also has to have a big personality but in a way that sort of knows how to deal with everything.

The secret of successful managing is to keep the five guys who hate you away from the four guys who haven't made up their minds.

A CEO needs to build their own team.

As a whole, the managers today are different in temperament. Most have very good communication skills and are more understanding of the umpire's job. That doesn't mean they are better managers. It just means that I perceive today's managers a bit differently.

I think leadership is most effective when it's your own personality. But I feel like it's a natural progression as a quarterback, as well.

If the coach is good, I don't think a psychologist is needed.

You can have great players, but if they don't want to be coached, what are you going to do?