32 John McKay Quotes From The American Football Legend

Georgia Stone
Dec 12, 2023 By Georgia Stone
Originally Published on Feb 13, 2021
Edited by Jacob Fitzbright
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Age: 0-99
Read time: 5.1 Min

John McKay was a famed American football coach who coached USC's football team, The Trojans, and also held the position of the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for over eight years.

In 1976 and 1977, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost over a combined total of 26 games, but they steadily improved by the end of the '70s. At the collegiate level, McKay was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1988.

John McKay was known not only for his extremely passionate personality and emotional outbursts but also for his sense of humor and genuine warmth. Throughout his career, McKay faced extreme ups and downs and produced some really memorable football quotes.

Safe to say, most people recognize the John McKay quote about execution. One of John McKay's most famous quotes includes his response to the question "What did you think of your team's execution, Coach? ", he replied with "I'm in favor of it."

If you looked for John McKay quotes, then this article is your ticket to victory. Here are some of the best John McKay quotes all for you!

If you would like to read some other cool quotes, you can check out Lou Holtz quotes and Woody Hayes quotes.
 

Famous Quotes By John McKay

Rugby team posing for photo

You may recognize some of the great John McKay quotes about Pete Rajecki and Bill Capece, as well as his quotes about losing to the Steelers and dealing with emotional highs and lows during football season. There are a bunch of quotes about football by John McKay in this article.

We hope you love these best John McKay quotes and John Mckay football quotes!

1. "Emotion is highly overrated in football."

- John McKay.

2. "Nobody becomes great without self-doubt. But you can't let it consume you."

- John McKay.

3. "I am a big believer in the 'mirror test'. All that matters is if you can look in the mirror and honestly tell the person you see there, that you've done your best."

- John McKay.

4. "Intensity is a lot of guys that run fast."

- John McKay.

5. "Every time I look up, it seems we're punting."

- John McKay.

6. "Capece is kaput."

- John McKay.

7. "If you have everyone back from a team that lost ten games, the experience isn't too important."

- John McKay.

8. "Namath is still Namath, but I must say that our guys were nice to him. I noticed when they knocked him down, they helped him to his feet. That was gentlemanly. I thought one stood around long enough to get his autograph."

- John McKay.

9. "If a contest had 97 prizes, the 98th would be a trip to Green Bay."

- John McKay.

10. "As a person gets older he doesn't get faster. Our quarterback will run from fright or lack of protection."

- John McKay.

11. "It's shattering when a player loses interest in camp. When you lose your interest in standing around eating steaks you lose everything."

- John McKay.

12. "The only problem with doing the impossible is that everybody expects you to duplicate the impossible."

- John McKay.

13. "Please inform Mr. Rajecki that I plan to attend all games."

- John Mckay.

John McKay Funny Quotes

Here are some funny John McKay quotes for you!

14. "We didn't tackle well today but we made up for it by not blocking."

- John McKay.

15. "Can't stop the pass or the run. Otherwise, we're in great shape."

- John McKay.

16. "Kickers are like horse manure. They're all over the place."

- John McKay.

17. "I told my team it doesn't matter. There are 750 million people in China who don't even know this game was played."

- John McKay.

18. "Jerry's a nice kid, but so's my wife… and she's no quarterback."

- John McKay.

19. "You guys don't know the difference between a football and a Mercedes-Benz."

- John McKay.

20. "Three or four plane crashes and we're in the playoffs."

- John McKay Quotes.

21. "We will be back. Maybe not this century, but we will be back and we will be a better football team."

- John McKay.

22. "Everyone is unhappy at times, even my wife. Only she doesn't get interviewed about it."

- John McKay.

23. "God's busy; they'll have to make do with me."

- John McKay.

John McKay Coaching Quotes

If you're looking for some cool coach sayings or famous coaching quotes, then we've got you covered. Here are the best coaching quotes by John McKay!

John Mckay firmly believed that the experience of coaching an expansion team resembled a religious experience.

24. "We knew he kicked the ball low, so we put the tallest guy we had in there on defense and told him just to get to the line of scrimmage and hold up his arms. I call that brilliant coaching."

- John McKay.

25. "Statistics and records are baseball talk."

- John McKay.

26. "Hold when you're at home and don't hold when you're on the road."

- John McKay.

27. "We've broken down the expansion teams and they've averaged winning 2.7 games their first year, which to me is rather difficult I figured."

- John McKay.

28. "There aren't many secrets in coaching. Well, there's one secret: Get a guy like Warrick Dunn, throw him a screen pass and watch him run 52 yards with it. "

- John McKay.

29. "No coach, no matter how successful, ever completely escapes the pressure of winning."

- John McKay.

30. "You do a lot of praying, but most of the time the answer is 'no.'"

- John McKay.

31. "There were times I felt like leaving the stadium and hitchhiking home."

- John McKay.

32. "There aren't many secrets in coaching. Well, there's one secret: Get a guy like Warrick Dunn, throw him a screen pass and watch him run 52 yards with it. "

- John McKay.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for John McKay quotes then why not take a look at Walter Payton quotes, or Tom Landry quotes?

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Written by Georgia Stone

Bachelor of Arts specializing in French with Film Studies, Bachelor of Arts (Year Abroad) specializing in Literature, History, Language, Media, and Art

Georgia Stone picture

Georgia StoneBachelor of Arts specializing in French with Film Studies, Bachelor of Arts (Year Abroad) specializing in Literature, History, Language, Media, and Art

Georgia is an experienced Content Manager with a degree in French and Film Studies from King's College London and Bachelors degree from Université Paris-Sorbonne. Her passion for exploring the world and experiencing different cultures was sparked during her childhood in Switzerland and her year abroad in Paris. In her spare time, Georgia enjoys using London's excellent travel connections to explore further afield.

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