The Matheny Manifesto Quotes

“If you want to teach a kid a life skill, teach him reality. Give him a picture of what the world will throw his way. Even the rich and famous have their share of heartache and loss. People go broke. People get sick. Loved ones die. There are setbacks, cutbacks, rollbacks, buyouts, layoffs, bankruptcies. Is it fair to reward a kid for everything he does until he’s eighteen, filling his room with trophies regardless how he performs, and then find him shocked the first time he fails a course or loses a girlfriend or gets fired from a job?”
― Mike Matheny, The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager's Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life

“We’ve been given the rare privilege and heavy responsibility of influencing young people on a daily basis, for better or for worse, for the rest of their lives. Which direction will you lead your kids today?”
― Mike Matheny, The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager's Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life

“Basketball is not the ultimate. It is of small importance in comparison to the total life we live. There is only one kind of life that truly wins, and that is the one that places faith in the hands of the Savior.”
― Mike Matheny, The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager's Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life

“1.  Physical toughness (“The easiest quality to find,” he said.) 2.  Mental toughness 3.  Moral toughness (He described this as “Doing the right thing all the time, even when nobody’s looking.”) 4.  Team orientation (“A belief that the needs of the team are greater than your own.”) 5.”
― Mike Matheny, The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager's Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life

“Now, be honest—or ask someone you can trust to tell you the truth about yourself: Are you one of those coaches more interested in your own kid—promoting them either for temporary success or trying to put them in position so they can fulfill some big dream down the road—than you are in the well-being of your team as a whole? If, despite all the other things going on in a game, you find yourself hollering your own kid’s name most of the time, it’s time to look in the mirror and reevaluate yourself as a coach. You might be unable to keep your eyes off your own kid. If that’s the case, you need to step aside, because until you can conquer that, a bunch of kids are going to pay the price. Too”
― Mike Matheny, The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager's Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life

“Baseball’s just a game as simple as a ball and bat, yet as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes.… Baseball is cigar smoke, hot roasted peanuts, the Sporting News, Ladies’ Day, “Down in front!”, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” … This is a game for America, still a game for America, this baseball! ADAPTED FROM “THE GAME FOR ALL AMERICA BY ERNIE HARWELL”
― Mike Matheny, The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager's Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life

“There’s honor in soldiering on when you feel like giving up and giving in. Then there’s the wisdom to know when your health and very life are at stake. College kids and young professionals don’t dare tell the truth and risk their scholarships or contracts. Kids in youth sports think they’re invincible, don’t want to be accused of being cowards, and don’t recognize when they could have been seriously hurt. It falls to us adults to do the right thing, to stand in the gap, and to do everything in our power to guarantee that nothing close to what happened to me—and so many others—ever happens to a player who has been entrusted to us.”
― Mike Matheny, The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager's Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life