University Communications

Summer 2000 Coach!
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Every day was a good day at UCLA.

I used to sit in on psychology classes at UCLA when I was coach. I didn't do it for the credit. When you're working with people, there's always something to learn.

Don't get engrossed with things over which you have no control, because that will adversely affect the things that you do have control over.

I liked to think while walking on the track at Drake Stadium. I'd walk at 6:30 every morning. Twenty laps, five miles. Not many people would be out there. It was quiet and a great time to reflect.

Discipline yourself and others won't need to. Success is making the effort to do the best you can.

My dad said: "Don't look back. Do what you think is right at the time and it doesn't make any difference how it works out." If you thought it was right at the time, that was the thing to do. Nobody is perfect. But you can strive for perfection. I never mentioned winning, but I was constantly trying to make a little improvement every day. You don't see much progress, but there's a little bit. The next day, there's a little more, then a little more and after awhile you have considerable progress.

I go to UCLA about twice a month now. I go to all the home basketball games and I speak at a sports psychology class. When I go, I'm sometimes asked for advice. But I won't give it. I'll give you my opinion, but not advice.

If I were ever prosecuted for my religion, I truly hope there would be enough evidence to convict me.

You can do more good by being good than any other way.

I had an emergency appendectomy when I was due to leave aboard the USS Franklin in the South Pacific during World War II. They cancelled my orders. The person who took my place was killed by a kamikaze. I assume I would have been in the identical place that he was. Another time, I was due to go on a Saturday to a summer basketball camp in North Carolina. Something came up at UCLA and I couldn't go until Sunday. The plane that I had the ticket for went down and everybody was killed. I don't know what you call it. Some call it fate. I don't know if I believe in fate. Things happen, but we don't know the reason.

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