Chuck Noll

“I'm really not a celebrity; I'm just a teacher.”

“The critics are always right. The only way you shut them up is by winning.”

“The key to a winning season is focusing on one opponent at a time. Winning one week at a time. Never look back and never look ahead.”

“Mamas, don't let your sons grow up to be Cowboys... or Oilers.”

“I used to tell the players that professional football is a part-time profession. I used to tell them it gets you ready for your life's work.”

“Respectability? Who wants to be respectable? That's spoken like a true loser.”

“In 1969, we decided we had to do certain things technically to win, and we decided to do them then, even though we knew some of the personnel couldn't do it. In other words, instead of adapting the system to the players, we just installed our system. Then we set out to fill our team through the draft.”

“Some coaches pray for wisdom. I pray for 260-pound tackles. They'll give me plenty of wisdom.”

“I've always avoided publicity. I've never been good copy at any stage of my life. I don't strive for it, because I don't think it's important whether I'm good copy or not. The two can go together, if that's your personality, but every person on this earth is unique.”

“We were really lucky and fortunate in the '70s because we got a group of not only good football players but good people... a group that wanted to be together and wanted to be the best.”

“Before you can win a game, you have to not lose it.”

“Good things happen to those who hustle.”

“One of the things you learn in football is that you're only as good as your last outing. I don't like to reflect on what we've done in the past. I'm not a very good storyteller, for one thing. I'd disappoint you. When it's time, I'll talk about the good old days. But it's a sign of old age, reveling in the past.”

“Pressure is something you feel when you don't know what you're doing.”

“The single most important thing we had in the Steelers of the '70s was the ability to work together.”

“A life of frustration is inevitable for any coach whose main enjoyment is winning.”

“Losing has nothing to do with geography.”

“The thrill isn't in the winning, it's in the doing.”

“It's not pleasant when you lose your whole football team.”

“It's not my job to hold your hand. It's my job to take motivated people and show them how to become better.”