“He's a fiery guy, and players are feeding off that. Joe is a straight shooter. When you're doing something well, he'll tell you. If you're not, he's not worried about hurting your feelings. He coaches with a lot of positive reinforcement, and guys accept that even more.”
Dexter Coakley
“Jason and I were working in a bar band of sorts with a bass player when Joe mentioned he had some studio time available one summer. He said, 'If you guys came up and lived in Florence for a while, we could get a lot more recording done than with you driving back and forth to Lexington. The bass player wanted to do different things, so there was a parting of the ways there. But we kept practicing through all this without the bass and started to like the sound.”
Nathan Newbury
“Joe has probably been our most consistent player on both ends of the court. When you look at his offense, his defense, all of the little things he does on the court, his willingness to take the big shot, he's become a pretty versatile player, and that's what we expected out of him.”
Tubby Smith
“When you're a great finisher, you'll become popular. Joe Louis was a great finisher. So was Ray Robinson. Ray Leonard. They got a man in trouble and they threw everything they had at him. Bring him down.”
Mike Tyson
“He's no Joe DiMaggio, and he's no Superman. [Cooper is] a consummate team player and I'm sure he's just happy we won and isn't worried about it.”
Paul Mainieri
“If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together.. there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. but the most important thing is, even if we're apart.. i'll always be with you.”
Winnie the Pooh
“The most important thing I learned from Joe was how important it is to know your players on and off the field, ... It's a long season and there's a lot of things that come up through the course of the season that can make it difficult to go out and have your entire mind on the game.”
Joe Girardi
