“I learned early in sports that to be effective – for a player to play the best he can play – is a matter of concentration and being unaware of distractions, positive or negative.”

Achievement builds character.

If you don’t win a Super Bowl, you’re not considered successful in the National Football League. I can remember, when we finally won that first one, feeling so good for the players and fans.

I probably should have gotten out, but I really enjoyed the challenge of bringing a team to that game. In fact, I probably enjoy the challenge of it more than the actual game.

There are coaches to whom winning or losing means something close to life or death.

If you show emotion in competition, temporarily, you’ll be ineffective.

I’ve learned that something constructive comes from every defeat.

Leadership is getting someone to do what they don’t want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.

I try to block out everything that distracts me. Even a big play, I blank it out.

People say you have to know when to retire, which is a dumb thing to say. If you want to go out on top, yeah, it becomes important when you quit. But I wasn’t afraid of that. And I wasn’t worried about getting fired.

As a Christian, I know my life is in God’s hands. He has a plan for me.

People will forget me pretty quick.

I don’t believe in team motivation. I believe in getting a team prepared so it knows it will have the necessary confidence when it steps on a field and be prepared to play a good game.

My hats did give me an identity. In fact, if I had a dollar for every time someone has seen me bareheaded and said, ‘I almost didn’t recognize you without a hat on’, I could have bought the Cowboys myself.

Generally, achieving goals… which in many cases means winning… is really the ultimate in this life we live in.

I at least wanted them to get into a respectable position before anyone else took over.

If you don’t believe in winning, you don’t believe in free enterprise, capitalism, our way of life.