John Wooden? Bill Walton? Joyce Fittro? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: A famously successful coach was often asked for advice, but he had no desire to be rigidly didactic; hence, he would say:
I don’t give advice, I give opinions.
This statement has been credited to U.S. basketball coach John Wooden who won ten NCAA national championships as head coach of the UCLA Bruins. I have not been able to find a solid citation. Would you please help me?
Reply from Quote Investigator: Bill Walton was a star basketball player and television sportscaster. When Walton was in college in the 1970s, he played for the UCLA Bruins, and Bill Wooden was his coach. In 1994 Walton published the book “Nothing But Net” which included his memories of Wooden. Walton stated that Wooden employed many catch phrases such as the following four items:1
“Be quick, but don’t hurry.”
“Never mistake activity for achievement.”
“Flexibility is the key to stability.”
“When everybody thinks alike, nobody thinks.”
Walton credited Wooden with the quotation under examination:
You have to understand that John Wooden wasn’t simply teaching basketball. To him, basketball was a microcosm of life itself, which is why our practices became psychological training sessions and philosophy sessions. If you asked him for advice, he would always say, “I don’t give advice, I give opinions.”
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In February 1994, the “Lexington Herald-Leader” of Kentucky printed a piece by sports journalist Jerry Tipton who presented remarks from John Wooden:2
But Wooden shies from telling younger coaches what to do.
“I don’t like to give advice,” Wooden said. “I don’t know enough about the situation (each coach confronts) to give advice. I can give an opinion. That’s a big difference. To give advice would be ridiculous.”
In 1996 “The Delaware Gazette” of Ohio published a column by Joyce Fittro, a home economics extension agent. She communicated a notion which matched the quotation:3
The most important thing to remember when talking with adults is that active listeners don’t give advice, even if the speaker asks for it. True listening helps others come to their own conclusions.
What you can do is give your opinion or an example of how you or someone else solved a similar problem or ask, “What have you been thinking about it?”
In 1997 “The Indianapolis News” of Indiana printed a piece about John Wooden who regularly spoke with Steve Lavin, the coach of the UCLA Bruins basketball team:4
Since coming to UCLA, Lavin — a former Purdue assistant — has sought Wooden’s counsel on a regular basis, a wise decision considering Wooden already had won two NCAA titles before Lavin was born.
“I’ve been very impressed with the way this young coach brought this team along,” Wooden said. “I visit a lot with Steve. I don’t give advice, I give opinions … on whatever he asks.”
John Wooden died in 2010, and the Associated Press published a piece about his legacy. The article quoted former UCLA coach Jim Harrick as follows:5
“He had as little ego as anybody I’ve ever known. He would never give advice, but he would always give opinions,” Harrick said.
In conclusion, John Wooden did employ the quotation: “I don’t give advice, I give opinions”. Bill Walton credited Wooden with this phrase in his 1994 book “Nothing But Net”. Wooden also received credit for an exactly matching statement in 1997.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Andrew Munro whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Thanks to Luther Mckinnon who pointed to a typo.
Image Notes: Basketball together with a net from Tom Briskey at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
- 1994, Nothing But Net: Just Give Me the Ball and Get Out of the Way by Bill Walton with Gene Wojciechowski, Chapter 2, Quote Page 20 and 21, Hyperion, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1994 February 20, Lexington Herald-Leader, Not even ‘mad scientist’ can fully explain UK rally by Jerry Tipton, Quote Page C3, Column 2, Lexington, Kentucky. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1996 February 17, The Delaware Gazette, Willingness to be good listener is not passive process by Joyce Fittro (Home Economics Extension Agent), Quote Page 5, Column 3 and 4, Delaware, Ohio. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1997 March 28, The Indianapolis News, Wooden still afflicted by March Madness (continuation title: Wooden) by Bill Benner, Star Page D1, Quote Page D2, Column 5, Indianapolis, Indiana. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 2010 June 6, Jackson County Floridan, Wooden remembered as great man by Associated Press, Quote Page 3B, Column 1, Marianna, Florida. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎