Jim Les Quotes on Pride (3 Quotes)

The fact that the administrators and the community here welcomed me back with open arms says a lot about what they think of their own. They handed me the keys to drive the car and with that I've taken a lot of pride and responsibility in trying to restore Bradley basketball to a level everyone can be proud of.

Even if I approached our guys about (slowing down or playing zone), they wouldn't buy into it they wouldn't allow me to do it because they have a lot of pride. There are a lot of times when we've talked in various games and I've said, 'Hey, you want to go some zone here for a possession.' Every time, they say, 'No, Coach. Put it on us. We'll guard them.' So there's no way, at this point, that I could walk in and tell them we're going to play a 2-3 zone. They would ban me.

My players have a lot of pride, and we talked about how we lost two games to these guys. I think they took it in the manner, 'You know what. I've got some pride. He's not going to get the better of me tonight.