Available 06/05/26
On this episode of the Samson Strength Coach Collective, we sit down with Sports Performance Coach Gage Taylor to discuss how adversity can become a catalyst for growth. Gage reflects on his athletic journey, the injuries and setbacks that challenged him, and how those experiences ultimately led him toward a career in strength and conditioning.
Throughout the conversation, Gage emphasizes the value of resilience, mentorship, continuous learning, and staying open-minded throughout your coaching journey. He shares practical advice for young strength coaches looking to establish themselves in the profession while remaining grounded in their purpose and values. Gage also discusses the importance of being proactive, creating opportunities, and learning from every challenge that comes your way.
Key Takeaways
- Challenges and setbacks often create opportunities for growth.
- Injuries can provide valuable perspective and shape future coaching philosophies.
- Mentorship and networking are critical for career development.
- Staying open-minded helps coaches continue learning and evolving.
- Faith, purpose, and personal values can guide professional growth.
- Young coaches should take initiative and create opportunities rather than waiting for them.
Quote
“Be an initiator. Don’t sit around waiting for opportunities, create them.” — Gage Taylor
Gage Taylor:
try to be an initiator. So I all anytime anything came up, I try to be an initiator. I always try to jump on top of whatever said so thing it is so I can have the opportunity to make my director’s job easier. And once I did that, you know, ⁓
It just it creates more trust for the director to throw more opportunities or task at me and then that way we can build that relationship and there’s growth from both sides that he’s benefiting from not having such a high workload and then you’re benefiting because you’re just growing as a young coach and and developing. so I would first just say that. and come come in with you know, if
It’s easier for young coaches to or just coaches in general to kinda have like a closed mindset. I would just encourage just keep a open mindset. don’t feel like you know everything. Take that humble pill. and just try to learn as much as you can and
whether that’s programming or or whatever the case may be.
Samson:
What’s going on, Samson Strength Coach Collective Listeners? On today’s episode, we have Gage Taylor, sports performance coach. ⁓ what’s funny about this is we had some information down ⁓ from guests for CSCCA. I reached out to Gage and I said, Gage, would you you know, I’ve got your information down as a possible podcast guest. Would you like to come on? And Gage said, I didn’t even know I was signing up for that, but yeah, hell yeah, I’d like to come on. So I like to hear that, man. We like people who are excited about it. So thank you so much for coming on the show.
Gage Taylor:
Yeah, I appreciate you for giving me the invite.
Samson:
Well, I’m stoked about it. And I’ve got to give our listeners a little bit more background too. We actually have an athlete in connection. you know, I was coaching at App State. I’ve been coaching at App State. and then, you know, you’ve obviously been a Dallas Baptist for people who are absolute collegiate basketball sicko’s and follow Sunbelt, men’s basketball, and division two is Lone Star Conference, right? Lone Star Conference basketball. If you’re an absolute sicko and you follow these things along, you’ll know Xavion Brown.
Gage Taylor:
Yeah, yeah.
Samson:
One of the best defensive players I’ve ever seen play the game, ⁓ transferred from App State to Dallas Baptist. And and you got to work with Xavion for two years. Is that right?
Gage Taylor:
Yeah, man, he’s a freak. Freaking nature, for sure. ⁓
Samson:
What was his what
did you what did you have his vertical at when you when he was with you?
Gage Taylor:
You know, we we do a we usually do a ⁓ like a combine like MBA style stuff when the guys report in August. And I I don’t remember what his vert was, but we do like a standing and then an approach. And I remember we ⁓ after we did the approach, we kinda put it
the vertech up up against the backboard and he was well over the top of the box on the backboard. He he was I I’m pretty sure if I remember right, he was jumping like a forty-six approach or forty-five, something like that. And then the standard was round forty.
Samson:
Yep. Yep. Similar similar to what we had. And ⁓ you know,
he was what cracked me up was like one of the best jumps I’ve ever seen in my life. His shoes weren’t tied. And we looked down and his shoes were untied. And like if you know X, then you know for a fact that’s just kind of how he operates, you know. So he’s an awesome dude. ⁓ but I’m glad you got a chance to coach him.
Gage Taylor:
Yeah.
Yeah, he’s also always rocking them ⁓ them goofy socks. He’s always got like some cartoons or something on his socks. ⁓ But
Samson:
Yeah. Yeah. He’s a big goofy socks
guy. He’ll talk to you about anime, any type of sports, any single thing that’s going on. He’s very knowledgeable on a lot of different stuff.
Gage Taylor:
Yeah.
Yeah, he’s really cool. He’s good dude.
Samson:
That’s awesome, man. Well, unfortunately, this whole episode can’t be about Xavion Brown, but it is being about Gage Taylor. Okay. So Gage, can you kind of just give us your background you know, through your athletic career, strength and conditioning, and then ⁓ what your current position is.
Gage Taylor:
Yeah, so ⁓ born and raised like Archdale, North Carolina, I usually just tell people I’m from I’m from High Points a small town. ⁓ Archdale is. Grew up like a normal kid playing playing all sports, growing up, super competitive. started playing tap tackle football when I was six years old and got into baseball when I was four and basketball soon ⁓ around eight and kinda carried that on all the way through high school and and high school
Cellar ⁓ was a little bit like is when my football career started to take off. ⁓ I was a decent high school football player, ended up getting ⁓ two division two ⁓ offers, ended up going to Barton College where I played running back for five years. ⁓ and just like growing up, being super competitive. You know, my dad was a football coach, my brother played sports growing up, so I had an older brother who’s about ten years older than me. just being super competitive and not being the most talented guy.
⁓ on my teams. I was always super curious on like especially with my with my frame. I’m I’m around five, six now and when I was little I was a lot smaller too compared to all the other kids. So I was always curious on trying to figure out like how can I stand out? How can I become a better athlete? So always asking my dad questions and he didn’t really know nothing. Like I remember like I was probably
seven years old like how do I get faster how I get faster he’s like well just stretch just do a lot of stretching and I was like okay I’m gonna stretch I stretched every day did my pushups sit-ups all those normal things like kids typically do ⁓
⁓ but so after once I committed to Barton, you know, I played there for five years during my time at Barton, undergrad, ⁓ majored in exercise science and health promotion, majored it or got a minor in business administration. ⁓ and during my recruiting visit, like my visit to Barton, like that’s when I figured out what exercise science was and I could actually be a strength and conditioning coach and ⁓ always had like a
extreme respect for my high school strength coach.
Y as you know, you’re in North Carolina, like in the high school sector, there’s not like true ⁓ strength conditioning coaches at at high schools un unless you’re private, a private school or Christian school. But ⁓ my strength coach, my football coach, ⁓ he did a lot for me. he was a role model for me and he helped me a l ⁓ along my athletic career. So I kind of looked up to him and going going to Barton and once I figured out like hey, like I can I can learn exercise science and I can make this
Profession. ⁓ I was all about it. So originally I I wanted to be a physical therapist, ⁓ just because like I kind of taught myself like throughout high school, like I didn’t really have somebody to really train me or anything like that. And ⁓ so I I kind of ran into a lot of injuries and stuff, and I was
pushing workout super hard and hitting a lot of volume, listen watching a bunch of bodybuilders and stuff on YouTube and just going really hard. So I I ran into a lot of in injuries. ⁓ just trying to become the best football player I possibly could. So I kinda initially wanted to be a physical therapist for that reason. But ⁓
quickly realized like that’s not a population I want to work with. I kind of want to be surrounded with athletes. And ⁓ that’s just the population I resonated with the best. And I feel like my purpose ⁓ would be fulfilled doing that. ⁓ so during my undergrad, I I interned with ⁓ Elon Sport Sports Performance Football with Nick DeMarco. the year after that went to a local high school, ⁓ the strength conditioning coach. He had previous years in the college sector.
at that high school. it was Fike High School with ⁓ Coach Cameron Avery. He’s now actually the football strength conditioning coach at Barton as well as the offensive line coach. I’ve noticed that that’s been like a popular trend that, you know, in the Division II like there’s starting to be SNC ⁓ as well as like position coaches. So I think that’s kind of pretty cool. And then after that ⁓ I interned with UNC football. ⁓
During my time actually I want to speak on this. During my time at Elon, ⁓ for those listening, you definitely need to reach out to Nick DeMarco. It’s a great internship program. You’re gonna learn a lot. ⁓ it was a base of all my strength conditioning knowledge that I’m going in. Like
I was twenty, so I I didn’t even I wasn’t even doing I was still doing ⁓ core ⁓ classes so I wasn’t even getting into the ⁓ exercise science courses yet so I was I was still really fresh in the field so that opportunity really helped accelerate my knowledge in the field. ⁓ but I was actually let go from from that ⁓ internship program. so during my time there
You know, with Elon being forty five minutes up the road, ⁓ there was a lot of background stuff going on and within my family. ⁓ and I was going through a lot of things, a lot of difficult times and and I was I was ⁓ I was out real late trying to tryna fix a family matter and you know at Elon during my time there, ⁓
They actually provide housing which is which is really great. So I ended up getting back to the housing at like five AM and ⁓
And I I was like, okay, well I’m just gonna get like an hour of sleep. Like I’m gonna get an hour of sleep. And I slept through all my alarms, showed up probably like an hour late. And ⁓ my my mentor at the time, Jordan Newsma, I I believe he’s still with ⁓ the 49ers, he brought me into the office and was just like, like your actions are just un unacceptable and we’re gonna make an example out of you and we’re just gonna have to like let you go.
And I completely understood and I was like, I completely understand. And he was just talking to me like I think you’ll like bounce back from this, like this will be a great learning opportunity from you and all those good things. And I was just like, Yeah, I’m not gonna make any excuses. ⁓
You know, just kind of took it to the chin. ⁓ so we fast forward and went to the the so during that time was a really good opportunity for me to learn. My next internship, I wanted to get a lot of more hands-on ⁓ coaching experience. So when I was at the high school sector that they gave me the opportunity to run the JVs as well as be a running backs coach for Fike High School in Wilson County. And that was a great experience. Gotta learn a lot, worked on a lot of my programming skills.
during that time with ⁓ coach Avery. And then UNC football. ⁓ got to learn from a lot of great coaches there. ⁓ you know, the system that they ran with with Coach Hess ⁓ was
some somewhat similar to ⁓ how Elon how they operate and run things so that was a great learning experience. I got to learn under Coach Hess, ⁓ Coach Blue, Coach Q, Coach D Mog, ⁓ and Coach Simon, all great coaches. and then so once once I finished my ⁓ my last my last season. So during my last season I had my C S C S ⁓
And I I kinda took on a lot of loans because during my during the master’s program, ⁓ you know, you don’t get academic or financial aid scholarships was what the majority of my scholarships were because I was on a small athletic scholarship. ⁓ kind of realized like I I don’t wanna financially I don’t wanna keep packing on these loans. So I moved away from football even though I had two years of eligibility left because I had some unfortunate injuries. I red shirted and then had medical red shirt, ended up having
like two surgeries during my playing career ACL and sports hernia. ⁓ I knew it was probably time to put it up and get the opportunity to kind of get my school paid for and start ⁓ working towards strength and conditioning more. So had the opportunity to ⁓ work at DBU. I just finished my grad assistantship there, been there for two years. ⁓
Man, there was a lot of growth. A lot of growth there in my graduate my GA ship. ⁓
The director there, Dave, Dave Trevigno, ⁓ worked closely with me. He gave me and the other GA, which you actually have here on the podcast, Wakeman Chamel. he gave us full autonomy. We were treated just like assistant straight to positioning coaches. We had our own team. We did all the communication between ⁓ athletic trainers and sport coaches. there was no like looking over the shoulder, no hand holding, none of that. but he was there for a good resource. So anytime I had questions or whatever I can
We can bounce some knowledge off each other and and learn from each other, but ⁓
Yeah, that was a great experience. Got to work when I was during my time there, I ⁓ we kind of talked on it. assisted with men’s basketball. ⁓ my other teams were men’s soccer, men’s tennis, men’s golf, hockey, dance, and men and women track and field throwers. ⁓ so I had I had men’s tennis my first year there, and then the program shifted into ⁓ club. We didn’t train club. ⁓
And then my second year there, we we actually had a ⁓ our assistant strength conditioning coach. He ⁓ ended up deciding to get out of the strength conditioning field. ⁓ and we weren’t able to hire another strength coach. So that’s when I picked up on men’s soccer and tracking field throwers into my second year. And now I am currently working with H2F at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Samson:
Wow, dude. I mean, I love the background. I think it’s absolutely fantastic what you can ⁓ kind of give us, you know. But I’m I’m really curious, can you kind of take us back to Elon a little bit? You know, I appreciate you being open and honest about it, but like to me, that’s something where a lot of young strength coaches will kind of fall off the path of being a strength coach from there, right? That’s something where, you know, it’s your first, you know, or second internship, kind of your second experience where you’re going through this and
⁓ you know, it’s it’s ⁓ something where a lot of people have slept in before, you know, and a lot of people haven’t even really had to face the consequence of getting let go. You know, like you said, you took it on the chin, but what was your mindset like, you know, immediately after that? And then what kind of inspired you to keep going with strength and conditioning?
Gage Taylor:
Man, it it was pretty emotional. Like I was pretty tore up ⁓ tore up by like them telling me that. You know, like I put myself at a very high standard. So, you know, I felt like I let them down doing that. ⁓ but always knew like what my purpose was and what I’m truly passionate about. ⁓
And you know, during that time I learned so much information. I s I still to this day, you know, go back to that internship manual and maybe pull some stuff back, some resources. ⁓ But yeah, man, I I think it just comes from a deep understanding of my why. Like going into football, like all that passion that I had for my sport and that that work that I put into football, like ultimately I wanted to become
an an NFL running back. Like I I remember at age six, like as soon as I started playing football, I told my mom, like, we’re gonna make it. I’m gonna go to the NFL. Like I’m gonna take care of you. That that type of stuff. I’m sure many people, many strength coaches can relate to that type of that type of thing. ⁓ but all that work ethic and all that passion that I put into my sport. It I mean with me just being the size frame that I was and
not being the most athletic guy in every single building, I had to put a lot of work in and I had to buy into that process. And that’s what ultimately made me fall in love with strength and conditioning because I reaped the benefits. And I seen like once I so once I got started going into high school and I started hammering down weights and training super hard, that’s when I started just bypassing everybody because nobody was working as hard as I was. So just me reaping those benefits, I seen the value in it.
And I seen the way that I can ⁓ alter and change people’s life and be a blessing in their life, just like my high school strength and conditioning coach was for me, and just like my college strength and conditioning coaches were ⁓ for me. So just like that, that little, you know, adversity that I had to overcome and Elon, it was just a little, a little bump in the road from
Samson:
Well, I love that you’re able to to take it and grow from it and continue to get better. You know, ultimately I like to hear about challenges. I like to hear about difficult things that people have had to go through and had to learn about. Is there anything else you want to share with us? Not to just make you, you know, put everything out on a plate while we’re doing the podcast, but have there ever been other any other challenges you faced or anything else that’s kind of been a a learning moment for you in your career?
Gage Taylor:
⁓ initially when you said that I was gonna talk about my ACL ⁓ my ACL surgery because it was during my freshman year and it was literally on the first carry of the game, you know, I was all hyped up. I had a wide zone, cut it up, bypass first second level was just one on one, meeting the free safety, went to make a cut. As soon as I plant my foot planted, my knee popped, rolled over and
You know, I instantly I knew what it was. And ⁓ I was gonna talk about that because that was a big that was a big shifting point for me spiritually. So spirit spiritually like is a big part of my life being faithful to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and being a college football player and the journey that I had growing up, my identity was all embedded in the football. And once that injury happened, I realized how
like fragile my life was ’cause football was stripped away from me. It was during COVID, so we played in the spring. So I ended up that was only the second game of that season. I ended up missing the whole next season. ⁓ and that was a hard time for me taking football away from me. That was all I had. It was all I worked for. It was all I focused. But then that focus for me transitioned to what’s truly important and and that’s in my faith and ⁓ you know, how I carried myself and ⁓
just what’s truly important in this life and ⁓ just being a disciple and and trying to change other people’s lives and I believe that’s that’s my calling and that’s what the Lord wants me to do as a coach and ⁓ just to be able to ⁓ pour into to the younger generation athletic population and ⁓ now with me being the tactical sector trying to be a blessing for those soldiers that fight for our country. But ⁓ you said
Can you repeat the the end of the question referring to the I know I kinda went in my athletic journey, but I wanna refer it to co coaching.
Samson:
Yeah.
No, no, no, that’s perfect.
You know, I I appreciate you bringing up that challenge. You know, any other challenges you may have faced or any other lessons you’ve learned ⁓ throughout your strength and conditioning career too.
Gage Taylor:
Yeah.
⁓
I would just say
I would say s some challenges I had was like during my GA ship and afterwards to find a job. Because I did so me and my wife were getting married in August and sh so like when I was finishing my GA ship, you know, I made a really good name for myself in the Dallas area where I worked. ⁓ during my time there, ⁓ I didn’t mention it, but during my time there I I ⁓
I worked for a performance course. ⁓ that’s a that’s just a company in in the Dallas and Oklahoma area ⁓ where they contract strength coaches out to to high schools and train them during the off season during the summer. ⁓ and I made a name for myself doing that. They had a really good summer with Crandall High School and ⁓ actually right
before I accepted the job to Circo, I was supposed to be the the site coordinator there and I was gonna have four assistant coaches and I was gonna run the program. ⁓ so just like I would say that going to Dallas was a challenge for me just because I wanted to be I wanted to make my wife happy
And be able to put her in a situation where we’re closer to family. So both of our family is from North Carolina. We we started Dayton in high school. So both of our family is here and ⁓ it was better for her mental health to be, you know, closer to family instead of Dallas. And I’ve had, you know, stuff come across my table during my GA ship of ⁓ Division II jobs that opened up in Dallas or or Texas in general and ⁓ some other places that kind of opened up. There were some other places that you
know because of my connection with my director at DBU, ⁓ those jobs opened up, but ultimately they didn’t line up with my values, so I couldn’t accept them. So my just my area or my selection of places to work was very selective because of the the location. So I wouldn’t I wouldn’t go back and change where I landed in my GH spot, but I wish
I would have tried making better connections earlier on so I can still c stay connected with people because at the time I didn’t I didn’t really put in a whole lot of thought like where how much value it was for me and my w and my wife for like the location of where I work. ⁓ and now that’s like a big big point on where I wanna be at. So ⁓
I wish I just would have done a little bit meta with just keeping up my connections. And a lot of that had to ⁓ you know kind of stem from Elon a little bit. ⁓ you know, I I had a I had like two well ever since then, like even my GA ship
You know that that conversation that’s I wanted to talk about it, ’cause that conversation always comes up. I was like, What what’s going on with Elon? What happened to Elon? ‘Cause everybody knows Coach DeMarco. He’s he’s well respected in the field. So even if I don’t have him on my on my reference, ⁓ on my references, on my resume, they’re still gonna call Nick DeMarco ’cause it it’s on my it’s on my resume. So I kept it on my resume and ⁓ you know that conversation came up for my GA ship talking to Dave Travino and
we talked over things and obviously that worked out well and then I got a interview with ⁓ canon school with coach coach pal he’s the director there at canon school ⁓ and his his son actually is an athl he’s a football athlete at Elon so when he see when I so I got the interview there and ⁓
⁓ in that process, he told me he was like, as soon as I see an Elon, I called Nick DeMarco. And I was like, well that’s fine. Like I have it I have it on my resume for a reason. Like I was open about it. Like we talked about it. ⁓ and he was like, man, you need you need to go, you need to talk to him. You need to talk to him. He doesn’t even know you’re still a strength and conditioning coach. He thought that was the end of your career. And
And ⁓ he was like, Y you need to have a conversation with him and like talk to him what happened and ’cause I I wasn’t you know, I didn’t tell him what what happened. I just told him like I’m not gonna make any excuses, like I understand and there’s a there’s a lot of stuff that I’m not putting into this podcast with stuff that was going on ’cause it’s little personal and deep but
⁓ so I I so I called him up and you know, we talked over things and ⁓ obviously Nick DeMarco, he’s a really good person and a good coach and ⁓ you know he told me like you keep it on the my resume ’cause, you know, we talked over things and he understood and that was a really young coach and ⁓ there was a lot for me to learn and he understood what the stuff that was going on but ⁓
Yeah, I shout out Coach Powell. I I appreciate him for encouraging me to do that ’cause that that was that was helpful ’cause it it kept coming up in in all my interviews and stuff and I it it started to affect it affect me a little bit. I actually was it came up ’cause I was gonna be the first GA at at Barton College where I played. ⁓ and that conversation kinda brought up and it kinda affected my ability for that position to open up. and then I ended up taking the
position at DB but yeah.
Samson:
Was it was it difficult to initially have that conversation? You know, I obviously there was a positive result from it, but was it difficult to kind of call up?
Gage Taylor:
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure. Like ⁓ like going back with how much respect he has in the field, there it’s like a little intimidating, like reach out to him after I already kind of messed up being in his program. I didn’t know how he would if he would even respond back. ⁓ so yeah, there was some hesitation there, but ⁓ you know, I think it’s good that we kind of just smooth things over and ⁓ so yeah.
Samson:
Good. Well good. I’m glad to hear that. I’m glad it has a positive resolution to it as well. ⁓ you know, and I I I’m glad he knows that you’re still actively a strength coach too. That’s good for him to know. Yeah. Well
Gage Taylor:
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Coach Powell
⁓ told him that stuff and he was like, I didn’t know he interned at UNC or I didn’t know he’s a GA and stuff. It’s funny. Yeah, yeah.
Samson:
And well, now he found out. Now he knows. And that’s good. That’s good.
I like it. ⁓ you know, I wanna want to go back to you mentioned your initial injury. I mean, it’s the first carry of your college career, that’s very difficult to go through. And then obviously you talked about finding a kind of a higher purpose in life, finding something that can help direct you and then being able to transform that into the athletes. Do you think that going through that experience and and kind of having to struggle with
injury rehab and then I think you mentioned a hernia later on in your career as well too, like these things that kind of took you away from football ⁓ and transformed you into coach. Do you think those experiences help you coach your athletes now and especially the ones who are injured, maybe coming back from an injury, are you able to relate to them because of those injuries?
Gage Taylor:
a hundred percent, yeah. So like during my during my ACL rehab is when I went to Elon. So I like I think when I reported to Elon, I was probably like four weeks out of surgery. I was still or three weeks, something like that. I was pretty fresh and still in a brace and
Jordan Newsma, he was a division one cornerback, I believe. Don’t quote me on that, but ⁓ he also had ACL surgery and he kinda I think he w had a lot to do with Elon’s return to play protocol. So I got to learn a lot from him.
As well as as so I had a sports earner during my time ⁓ at UNC and Coach Q kind of helped me a lot during that rehab process. So I got to learn from ⁓ Q and then you know like just going through that and then my teammates seeing that when I was at DBU and they seeing how hard I worked and they seen the processes that it took for me to come back. Like I had guys like when I was a player come up to me and ask like
like asked to make them programs, like asked to help them with their rehab and their injuries and ⁓ for sure, yeah, it help it helped me relate to the athletes, like what they’re going through, especially, you know, it’s very common for athletes to kinda have their in in their identity built into their sport. You know, they were they were everybody was the guy in high school, you know, when you go back to your hometown they’re they refer to you as that’s the guy that made it and his said so sport and whatever the case may be. So like
When that sport’s stripped from them, there’s a lot of emotional, psychological factors that take place. So just being able to ⁓ meet those athletes where they’re at ⁓ is is really important during the rehab process as well as psychologically getting them back to return to the field to to their demands of their sport. ⁓ and yeah, I like I learned the best from doing so like
having these injuries was like a blessing in disguise, especially that ’cause I strength touch this ACLs are so ⁓ so common and that just gives it gave me a little bit first hand knowledge going through that myself ⁓ and to help those guys kind of go through the correct process and to get back to their sport for sure. It helped a lot.
Samson:
Well, I love it because it you know, it seems like you’re really able to handle adversity and turn it into something positive in the long run, which is, you know, obviously kind of what coaches do is their natural path of their process, right? Is you know, we see athletes encounter adversity, we help them through that adversity, whether it’s not being able to play, being injured, or you know, got getting the playing time that they want, or just, you know, general life, you know, and it’s kind of coaching them through. It might even just be a sticking point.
Gage Taylor:
Yeah.
Samson:
on, you know, a specific lift, whatever it may be, our job is to help coach them through it. So I really like how you’re able to take your personal experiences, kind of help transform them, you know, into a positive environment and then help do the same thing for your athletes too. ⁓ I’m curious, you know, you you’re going into your first full time job. You’ve had a lot of experience, obviously, but you’re going to your first full time job. What are the ways or the areas that you want to continue to grow as you ⁓ encounter this new job?
Gage Taylor:
Yeah.
Yeah, so working with tactical strength conditioning, there’s a wide range of individuals I could work with. You know, there’s gonna be people who were probably that D1 athlete and can pick up on stuff a lot easier than the other guys. And then there’s gonna be those individuals that never touched a barbell in their life. And then it goes from like
chronological age as well. Like you might have guys in their mid thirties. You might have guys that are 18, fresh out of high school. ⁓ so just being able to ⁓ like I felt like I’ve always been confident in my ability to relate to people and to build relationships with people. But ⁓ just further that that skill from an interpersonal relationship level and and just being able to
just connect with people with so many different backgrounds with so many different cultures and ⁓ so many different training ages and ⁓ that way we can build trust, create buy-in and ⁓ have productive programming.
Samson:
Absolutely. Well, the connections are also what drive the enjoyment of the career too, right? That’s where you can really appreciate everything and ⁓ you know, ultimately get the full satisfaction out of the career as well. You know, you mentioned ⁓ one of your regrets or possible things you wish you did better was networking, which is I think every single strength coach will say they wish they did a better job at that at the start of their career. So you’re not alone in that. I can say myself, I wish I did a better job with that.
Gage Taylor:
Yeah.
Samson:
you know, it’s something where you get told a lot when you’re younger that’s really important, you know, and and you kind of just like, yeah, yeah, whatever, you know. And then once you once you kind of progress through your career, you’re like, damn, that really was important. Like I really needed to do that and I really needed to kind of help build those connections. ⁓ you know, so again, I want to mention, make sure you know you’re not alone in that. I think if you talk to any strength coach, they struggle with it. But ultimately, you know, there’s other people, a lot of our listeners are young interns or
Gage Taylor:
Yeah.
Samson:
People who are looking for GA opportunities. What advice would you give for them if they were looking for a GA opportunity or ⁓ have just become a GA and are just starting now? Is there any advice you’d like to impart to those coaches?
Gage Taylor:
Yeah, I think GAs probably look a little bit different across the board. I’m not sure if a lot of GAs ⁓ get the autonomy that me and Wakeman got at DBU. ⁓ I d I know I’ve heard from coaches they always say like it’s hard to come with good GAs nowadays and ⁓ I would just say like going into whatever said so organization that you’re going into just
Be attention to detail to what how your director operates, ⁓ what he’s asking of you and try to take take things off of his plate, off of his table. ⁓ try to be an initiator. So I all anytime anything came up, I try to be an initiator. I always try to jump on top of whatever said so thing it is so I can have the opportunity to make my director’s job easier. And once I did that, you know, ⁓
It just it creates more trust for the director to throw more opportunities or task at me and then that way we can build that relationship and there’s growth ⁓ from both sides that he’s benefiting from not having such a high workload and then you’re benefiting because you’re just growing as a young coach and and developing. ⁓ so I would first just say that. ⁓ and come come in with you know, if
It’s easier for young coaches to or just coaches in general to kinda have like a closed mindset. I would just encourage just keep a open mindset. Don’t don’t feel like you know everything. Take that humble pill. and just try to learn ⁓ as much as you can and
⁓ whether that’s programming or or whatever the case may be. I know a lot of coaches they have like a strong philosophy or whatever as a GA as you’re going into those things, try to try to challenge what your philosophy is if if you do have one and ⁓ try to try new things, try to ⁓ get out of your comfort zone. like don’t get complacent. Don’t get don’t be in this comfortable place where you’re not where you’re just trying to play it safe. Try to put yourself
and an opportunity where you can grow ⁓ and then that way you’re just more prepared going into your first full-time position ⁓ yeah but yeah
Samson:
Yeah, no, no. I think that’s fantastic. And honestly, I think the second piece
of advice, I think the first is great. ⁓ you know, like you said, taking the initiative, trying to be kind of the fire starter, right? But I think the second piece is ⁓ really good advice for all coaches to hear. I mean, honestly. ⁓ you’d be amazed at how as you progress through your career, you know, you personally get into times where you kind of stick with what you’re comfortable with, right? You’ve got a system that works, and so you kind of operate with the same system and then
You don’t necessarily make as many tweaks or as many changes or continue to try to self-educate as much as you did when you were younger. ⁓ you know, you’ll experience it. I’ve experienced it myself. you know, so I think it’s a great piece of advice for older strength coaches too, is just to kind of try to be open and listen to other ideas, right? And I’ll never forget I had to I don’t know if you’re familiar with Gota or, you know, kinda like that training system, but it’s a funky training system. It’s a little weird, but I remember
Gage Taylor:
Mm-hmm.
Samson:
Initially my first thought was like,
hell no, I’d never use anything like this. And then I kind of just, you know, said, you know what, I need to have a little bit more of an open mind. And and so I kinda learned a few things and I picked up a few things from that, right? So you can learn something from everybody. And I think it’s great for you to kind of continue to, you know, as coaches grow older, continue to keep an open mind as well too. So I think that’s fantastic advice. I’m cracking up at ⁓ you asking your father about, you know, how to get faster and you said you were going through stretching every single day, right? Like
Gage Taylor:
Yeah.
Samson:
I’ll never forget. My dad was a track athlete. ⁓ you know,
he and I were built very different. ⁓ he was, you know, he must have been five eight, a hundred and sixty-five pounds. I’m about six feet tall, two seventy. So we’re very different builds and everything, and we played different positions and did different things, right? ⁓ and so I remember asking him questions about it, and I got a pretty similar response too. And I’m cracking up just because again, my
Gage Taylor:
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Samson:
My path went the same way where I went, you know, the first ever book I got was Arnold’s Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding, you know, and I just did a ton of bodybuilding workouts and just crushed myself in the gym nonstop. Like there was a year straight where I front squatted every day, you know, just did some dumb stuff. Were there any workouts that you had when you were younger or anything that you kind of put yourself through that you’re like, man, I can’t believe I used to do that?
Gage Taylor:
I was ⁓ I was telling the one of the assistants this recently and he was he was like astounded that that even happened. But I used to I don’t know, I used to be I used to have a really bad ego and I I was a high competitor and like we were from a small town, so like I’m in the gym and like if another guy comes in and says he’s like from
the other high school, the other rival high school or whatever, I was like, I’m gonna make sure he I’m gonna leave after him. Like I showed up before him, I’ma leave after him and you know, I would do workouts for two hours and there was I I don’t even know what the workout was. It was probably I probably went in there and did only biceps for probably over an hour.
And I woke up the next morning with my elbow stuck and it wouldn’t unlock. Like I literally had to put in a heating pad on my elbow and my bicep for over a multiple hours just to like slowly start to loosen up my bicep. And that thing was sore for weeks. And that probably happened twice. So I didn’t learn.
Samson:
That’s awesome though. I mean, but those are like kind of the stories you never forget. You know, I’ll trade you one. I’ll
go back with mine. we had I was interned underneath a really, you know, well-known strength coach. He was awesome to work with. and I remember, you know, kind of as an intern, I was like, well, I want to be same thing, I want to be the last to leave, right? And his whole thing was he has to be the last to leave every day. And so we ended up, you know, we were like 7 p.m. ⁓ we obey we both went over, he’s like, hey, let’s go do an arm pump, right? And I was like, yeah, why not?
And so we go through an arm pump and and it it was you know Tennessee football at the time and basically what their workouts were was you know three by fifteen on you know ⁓ bicep, tricep, you know, dolt deltoid trug, you know, basic basic stuff. And so we go through it, we do everything, and then we finish up and both of us like without saying anything kind of understood like we’re just gonna go until somebody quits. Right. You know, like you know, we and so I started another pump after that, he started another one.
Gage Taylor:
Yeah.
Samson:
It literally got to the point where I was just they had the turf right outside the way room. I just started running half gassers. Like I just ran out of stuff to do. Like I couldn’t even, you know, know what to do anymore. And then finally Josh Palmer, ⁓ you know, NFL wide receiver now, came in at like, you know, eight thirty and was like, Hey, can somebody stretch me? You know, and immediately I was like, Yes, me, please. ‘Cause I’ll tell you what, like the coach was older, but he was not giving up.
Gage Taylor:
Mm-hmm.
Samson:
And so that was gonna be the first time I was really gonna lose on something like that. And so I I got saved by Josh Palmer. He doesn’t even know how much I appreciate him for that. But again, those are the stories you remember. Those are the things that are really fun about lifting. So I’m glad you were able to get into it and get excited. It happened two times though. What was the second time?
Gage Taylor:
Mm.
Probably the same markout. I don’t don’t even remember. I was I was probably I had to be 15. Like this is when I was like a freshman in high school and you know I’m on JV trying to get to varsity and whatever, but just stupid, stupid training. But yeah, definitely getting always always getting after it.
Samson:
Ha ha.
Yeah.
But
But gee, but it worked out for the best, right? Now you’re a strain coach and now you can help people stop from doing that too, right? And work hard but not go over train. Well, I always like to end on a fun question too, right? You know, and knowing you’re from North Carolina, I’m excited to kind of hear your answer to this. What is your cookout order?
Gage Taylor:
Yeah. Yeah, right.
Double cheeseburger, cheese, two quesad two chicken quesadillas, typically a bottle of water. Yeah.
Samson:
Yeah there we go. That’s perfect, man.
All right. So I’m two chicken quesadilla tray with ⁓ cheese curds, Cajun fries, and a cheer wine float. which probably explains our size discrepancy there a little bit. You get a little bit more focus on the protein. ⁓ but I always try to tell people that cookout is the best fast food restaurant I’ve ever been to. You know, I love I love cookout. I go all the time. I know it’s not that great a food, but like it’s just something about it that I love. And so when I came up here to interview at App, ⁓ I remember, you know
our head coach for basketball kind of made like a joke about cookout or something and I was like, Y’all have cookout there? And he’s Yes we do. And so I immediately on my drive up, I got in at like nine PM. That was the first thing that I hit ’cause I was over in Texas for two years where we didn’t have any cookout. ⁓ so I I like to bring it up with anybody who’s from North Carolina ’cause as you know it’s a pretty big thing, right?
Gage Taylor:
Yeah, it’s a lot better when the the cookout trays were five dollars back in high school. Now they’re like eight or nine, probably ten. I haven’t had cookout in a while. I need I need to go.
Samson:
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
All right, well
you go get cookout tonight and I’ll get cookout tonight. We’ll send each other some pictures of it. What yeah.
Gage Taylor:
Hey before I get could you ⁓
could you send me some info on that did you say it was Gota, the training program? Or ⁓ Yeah, I d I’m not familiar with it. You guys send me that.
Samson:
On the gota, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
Yeah, I’ll definitely send it over to you. It’s it’s interesting. And a lot of strength coaches, ⁓ you know, who are listening may be groaning right now because to be honest, the way they market it is basically all weightlifting is dumb as hell. You know, like you need to do very, very specific stuff. But I can certainly send you over some videos and some different things to pick up on ’cause when you get into the mobility side of it, it’s really not bad, you know. ⁓ and it’s got a stigma around it. But again, you can learn something from everything, you know. ⁓
But hey, well, Gage, I really appreciate you coming on, man. It’s been great to get to know ya. I will say I’m really impressed with yourself and with Wakeman. you know, those are two of the kind of the best GA interviews I’ve had, you know, where p young strength coaches coming on who have a lot to speak about and know about their values and know about the things that important. So I’m impressed with you two. I think it’s fantastic.
Gage Taylor:
I appreciate that. Yeah.
Samson:
Absolutely. Well,
if anybody wants to li you know, reach out to you or if anybody wants to follow you on Instagram, what would be the best way to do that?
Gage Taylor:
Instagram, you can follow me, ⁓ gage dot tailor21.
Samson:
All right, perfect. That was your football number, 21. Hell yeah, there you go. I like it. Well, Gage, I appreciate you, man. Thank you so much for coming on the show.
Gage Taylor:
Yeah. Never changed it.
Appreciate you, guys.
