Southerners are proud of
their football heritage, their schools, and their
teams. And they share a deep pride
that goes with being from the South.
George Mooney
The game of football is beginning to gain
a foothold in Knoxville.
Knoxville Journal, November 20, 1891
Atlanta will be the scene Saturday afternoon
of the first interstate intercollegiate
football game. Both teams have been
practicing for weeks.
Atlanta Journal, February 17, 1892
Alabama Polytechnic and Mechanical School at Auburn
defeated the University of Georgia 10 - 0
In six days, we defeated Texas A&M,
Tulane, and Mississippi. Our best asset
was a marvelous spirit generated
by stamina and fiber.
Henry Seibels, 1899
Seibels captained the University of the South's squad
that traveled 2,000 miles and defeated five teams in six days.
Southern football is not recognized or
respected. Boys, here's your chance
to change that forever.
Wallace Wade's pre-game remarks prior to Alabama's
20 - 19 victory over Washington in the 1926 Rose Bowl.
I'm from Ohio, but if I'd known when I was two what it was
like down South, I would have
crawled here on my hands and knees.
Frank Sinkwich, University of Georgia
Someone once said that in the South
there are three seasons:
football season
recruiting season and
spring pracice.
Bob Bell
Always Remember that Goliath was
a 40-point favorite over little David.
Shug Jordan
Gentlemen, it is better to have died
as a young boy than to fumble this football.
John Heisman
My advice to defensive players:
Take the shortest route to the ball
and arrive in a bad humor.
Bowden Wyatt
Football changes and so do people.
The successful coach is the one who sets the
trend, not the one who follows it.
Bear Bryant
The worst thing a coach can do is stand pat and
think the things that worked yesterday
will win tomorrow. Intelligent changes must be made.
Johnny Vaught
I'm not too proud to change.
I like to win too much.
Bobby Bowden
I don't believe in miracles.
I beleive in character.
Pat Dye
Don't wait to be a great man.
Be a great boy.
Shug Jordan
I want players to think as positively as the
85-year-old man who married a 25-year-old woman
and bought a five-bedroom house next to
the elementary school.
Charlie Pell
You can't be aggressive and
confused at the same time.
Darrell Royal
I can reach a kid who doesn't have
any ability as long as he doesn't know it.
Bear Bryant
Spectacular achievements are always
preceded by unspectacular preparation.
Roger Staubach
Proper conditioning is that fleeting moment
between getting ready and going stale.
Frank Thomas
First we will be best, then we will be first.
Lou Holtz
I'd rather face the lions in the coliseum
than the Tigers in Baton Rogue.
Bobby Dodd
Tennessee sophomores don't deserve citizenship
papers until they have survived an Alabama game.
General Robert Neyland
At Georgia Southern, we don't cheat.
That costs money and we don't have any.
Erk Russell
I had a lot of offers to go to other schools,
but I turned them all down. Clemson was the only place
I could bum chewing tobacco from the professors.
Frank Howard
I'd rather be on probation
then get beat by Furman.
Clemson Bumper Sticker
The definition of an atheist in Alabama is
someone who doesn't believe in Bear Bryant.
Wally Butts
Close only counts in horseshoes
and hand grenades.
Frank Howard
Almost all games are lost by the losers,
not won by the winners.
General Robert Neyland
When they look back at that 9 - 1 season,
they don't ask who the nine were.
General Robert Neyland
FROM THE BEAR
I don't hire anyone not brighter than I am.
If they're not smarter than me, I don't need them.
I don't have any ideas; my coaches have them.
I just pass the ideas on and referee the arguments.
Every time a player goes out there,
at least 20 people have some amount of
influence on him. His mother has more
influence than anyone, I know because
I played, and I loved my mama.
If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes
semi-good, we did it. If anything goes real
good, you did it. That's all it takes to
get people to win football games.
In life, you'll have your back up against the
wall many times. You might as well get used to it.
The first time you quit, its hard. The second
time, it gets easier. The third time,
you don't even have to think about it.
I'm known as a recruiter. Well, you've got to
have chicken to make chicken salad.
Bear's three rules for coaching:
1. Surround yourself with people
who can't live without football.
2. Rocognize winners. They come
in all forms.
3. Have a plan for everything.
The first thing a football coach needs when
he's starting out is a wife who's willing to
put up with a lot of neglect.
The second thing is a five-year contract.
The alumni are starting to grumble, and
I'm the one starting it.
There ought to be a special place
in Heaven for coaches' wives.
When we have a good team, I know
it's because we have boys who
come from good mammas and poppas.
On game day, I'm as nervous
as a pig in a packing plant.
Darrell Royal
Football coaching is hard work.
It drains heavily on the physical, particularly
on the nerves. I believe that one should cease
this arduous service while still in good health.
Dan McGugin
When in doubt, Punt!
John Heisman
