Available 7/3/26
On this episode of the Samson Strength Coach Collective, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at UT Tyler, Morgan McCrary, joins us to discuss his journey through nearly every corner of the strength and conditioning profession. From JUCO athletics and private sector coaching to the collegiate level, Morgan explains how each experience shaped his coaching philosophy.
Throughout the conversation, Morgan emphasizes that relationships, communication, and trust are the foundation of every successful program. He shares how he builds athlete buy-in, develops accountability, and encourages athletes to “flip the switch” once they step into the weight room. Morgan also reflects on overcoming setbacks, staying motivated throughout his career, and why adapting your coaching to the environment and athlete is essential for long-term success.
Key Takeaways
- Building trust starts with genuine relationships and consistent communication.
- Every coaching environment offers valuable lessons that shape long-term growth.
- Athletes perform best when expectations and accountability are clearly established.
- Adaptability is one of the most valuable traits a strength coach can possess.
- Career setbacks become opportunities when approached with perseverance and a growth mindset.
Quote
“I call it flipping the switch. Whatever you’ve got going on outside of the weight room, when you’re in the weight room, it’s time to go.” — Morgan McCrary
Morgan McCrary:
So I call it flipping the switch. Whatever you got going on outside of practice, outside of the classroom, or outside of the way room, like when you’re in the way room, it’s time to it’s time to go. Like we’re not, you know, we’re not worried about any of those external factors. ⁓ I’ll have a conversation with these guys ahead of time, like before, just kind of get a feel, let them know, like, hey, you know, I’m personable, we could talk, but it once we get in there, I need max effort, I need good intent, no goofing around,
Connor:
What’s going on, Samson Strength Coach Collective Listeners? On today’s episode, we have the head strength and conditioning coach at UT Tyler for Football, Morgan McCrary. Morgan, thank you so much for coming on, man.
Morgan McCrary:
I appreciate you for having me, Connor.
Connor:
Dude, I’m stoked. ⁓ you know, and again, I always I always gotta paint a picture for our listeners. Some people watch on YouTube, but a lot of people just listen. Morgan’s jacked. I got to meet him at the conference. I was this jacked guy came up to me, and then we started talking ⁓ just a little bit, and then we had to get each other on the podcast. So we were just talking about this pre-show a little bit, right? Like at CSCCA, you bump into somebody, you meet somebody for the first time, or you see old friends, and it’s like a two to three minute conversation because then you immediately got to go talk to somebody else.
Morgan McCrary:
Mm-hmm.
Yep,
Connor:
And so
Morgan McCrary:
yeah.
Connor:
it’s it’s that’s like the beauty of it is you get to meet so many people. The downside of it is you don’t really get to talk that much. So look at us. We got we got a full forty five minutes to talk right here.
Morgan McCrary:
Exactly.
Yeah, this is awesome, man. I appreciate it.
Connor:
Well, I’m stoked about it. Let’s get right into it. Can you just give me a breakdown of your career and then what’s led you to UT Tyler?
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah, so just a small correction. So here at UT Tyler, we do not have football. So it No, no, you know, you kind of you got me excited, man. I was like, shoot, are we about to get a football program that I don’t know about? But but ⁓ no, so no, for sure. ⁓ so you know, just to give you a quick little rundown, man. So born and raised in North Las Vegas, Nevada. ⁓ grew up with sports my whole life. ⁓ I ended up going the JUCO route. So I went to a school called Arizona Western, Avenue, Arizona.
Connor:
my apologies, man. I don’t know why I said that. That is g yeah. Thanks for correcting me.
Thanks for correcting me.
Morgan McCrary:
Played football there before I went to Montana State Northern, small school out in Haver, Montana. Played four years at DB there. started all four years. towards the end of my career, I did my first internship with cross country with strength conditioning. ⁓ again, I wasn’t even you I just kinda needed something to get my foot in the door. And then ⁓ from there I actually took a high school job at the local high school. So I was an assistant DB’s coach and I was the head str ⁓
The head football coach for JV, and then I was also the strength conditioning coach for the entire program, which is actually what, you know, kind of made me want to get into that school. But did that for two years before going off to play arena football for a year. did that. And then in the middle of my season, I actually had one of my mentors reach out to me about an unpaid internship opportunity with the Texas Longhorns. And I was like, shoot, I don’t care. Paid, unpaid, like I’m gonna go ahead and pack myself and go. And he was like, Well, how are you gonna work?
Like how you gonna pay for everything? And I actually had a job with Walmart at the time. So I was able to just kind of transfer over. I was working from I wanna say like five to two PM at Texas and then go take a quick nap and go to work from like four to ten. And you know, I found some roommates over there at Austin. ⁓ and they were supportive and everything was going smooth from there. To me, I’ll just have it be in the environment. ⁓ spent about three months there before I got approached with an opportunity to take a GA position under Coach Youth at Incarnate Word. ⁓
Great opportunity. Spent a year there before I took a paid internship at Auburn under Coach Dom and his staff. Again, great opportunity. Learned a lot. ⁓ but at that point in time, I was about 31 years old. I was like, man, like I’m not making enough money. I kind of got to do something for me and my family. You know, I got wife and I have a kid now. So I went the private sector route for a little bit. So for about a year and a half, I was working at D1 training as the head speed and strength coach. Still had that itch to get into strength and conditioning, the college sector. And, you know, this opportunity came up.
And the pay was good. It kind of just made sense. Tyler’s a beautiful place. ⁓ we have a lot of resources here, ⁓ similar to the D one programs. ⁓ and you don’t really see that D two level. So to me that was like a big green light for me to go ahead and take that opportunity. And now here I am.
Connor:
Man, I love it. And I that’s why that’s where I got messed up because I remember you were a football player and then that’s why I said football. So I appreciate you.
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah. And and my whole
background my whole background was football before this. So yeah. No worries, man. Yeah.
Connor:
Yep. Well, again, I apologize for that because I I like to I try to be on point with it. So
but you know, I I love the the journey through it and we’re I definitely want to dive into the difference between the private side, the high school side, collegiate sector, all these different areas you’ve been. You know, I’m curious, you said your first GA opportunity or sorry, first opportunity to work in strength and conditioning was with cross country. ⁓ you know, what was that like for you, especially going from a sport like football to then working with cross country? I mean, they’re almost
Morgan McCrary:
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Connor:
Complete opposites from a a needs and a demands, ⁓ you know, from a strength and conditioning or a science perspective. What was that, you know, kind of first experience like working with them?
Morgan McCrary:
Honestly, like I treat every sport the same. I just like seeing growth in athletes and I wanna you know, I love the training aspect, no matter if it’s golf, football. ⁓ I just like to see people get better. But ⁓ I’m gonna be honest, I think the coach I was working with, he just needed a body, still wanna take over the the off season working house. He wasn’t there for anything. So like I just kind of ran the show. I was going based off what I was learning in the C S C S book or, you know, an undergrad and everything was like three by fifteen. You know, it doesn’t matter for backstory. They’re probably super sore, but
I’ll tell you what, the energy was good. You know, we had good music playing. So like I just had them doing some footwork stuff, try to keep everything like ⁓ aerobic based. so we were just we weren’t pushing like a whole lot of heavyweight. It just more, you know, up tempo and not a whole lot of rest in between. They loved it. I don’t think it was, you know, the best type of stimulus we were supposed to give But ⁓ again, it was to me it was just a learned opportunity to kind of get a feel for, you know, if I even wanted to do this. So
I I also needed for like an undergrad credit and I was still playing football at the time, so it was just an opportunity for me to ⁓ you know, just kind of get a feel for everything.
Connor:
Yeah, I you know, I think it’s always so interesting to start working with teams that you’re not really well acquainted with, right? ⁓ you know, for me it was swim. Like I never grew up, I didn’t know any swimmers. I didn’t, you know, I barely swim myself. And so working with swim, like, you know, you kind of think it’s gonna be this like drastically different or you know, they may not be invested in the weight room, like in it just in your mind when you first kind of before you start working with them when you’re a young coach, right? ⁓ and then I found out that swimmers are like the hardest workers you can possibly be around.
Morgan McCrary:
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Connor:
And cross country is just such a demanding sport. Mentally it’s challenging, physically it’s challenging. And so these are people who came here to work. and I think that’s always such a cool experience when you first start working with them and find out like, man, these guys are here to work. Like they want to get better, they they want to do everything they can. Yeah.
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah.
Seriously.
They just want someone who cares from my experience. Like some of them don’t get that exposure. You know, they just practice their sport and they’re curious what the weight room’s like. So you get them in the weight room and they have a coach that actually cares and isn’t gonna just, you know, go through the motions. I think they appreciate that a lot.
Connor:
Yeah, absolutely. And again, you know, some training’s better than no training, right? So I I go back and I look at the first programs I wrote for my teams and I was like, damn, I was I was not doing what we needed to do.
Morgan McCrary:
For sure.
Yeah. ⁓ Yeah, don’t
get me started on that. I’m sure if I would have wrote that program now with some of the teams I’m working with, I’d probably be fired. So good thing.
Connor:
Hey, but it’s all growth.
It’s all, you know, we continue to grow and that’s all that matters. ⁓ okay, so you know, you mentioned kind of having a different journey where you were first started out in high school. ⁓ you know, I again I do want to touch about these different levels, but I have one more question first. Like you go out to college, you go to work at Texas, ⁓ and you know, it’s an unpaid internship. ⁓ like you said, you’ve you’ve you know you’re developing a family at that point, like
Morgan McCrary:
For sure.
Connor:
How did you keep the motivation for this? Because I I I I think I know your answer, but it’s something that I’ve just noticed. And I don’t mean to be like the guy who’s like, you know, I’ve only been in strength and conditioning for 10 years, right? But I’ve just noticed there’s a little bit of a shift where younger interns or younger GAs just don’t have that same mentality of like, you know, I’m gonna go out there and we’re gonna make it work no matter what, because this is what I need to do. Right. Like I my my experience was the same starting out going to Tennessee.
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah.
Yeah.
Connor:
I was not getting paid for a full year and a half and it was like, Well, I’m gonna make it work ’cause I know that this is what I want to do with my life. Like how did you stay motivated? How did you kinda, you know, keep that mentality of like I’ve got to do whatever it takes to be able to get to where I eventually wanna be?
Morgan McCrary:
Right.
So man, that’s that’s a really good question. But ⁓ if I’m gonna be honest, if I said I didn’t have highs and lows, I’d be lying to. ⁓ but it kind of started like my career, I was like, I I’m gonna bet on myself, you know, and I knew that University of Texas was, you know, outstanding program and I’ve I kind of had some mentors kind of guide me in the right direction in terms of hey, if you want to stay in this industry, this is the kind of the route you have to go, you have to build your resume. So for me, I’m like, you know, Texas Longhorns, coach Beck, really knowledgeable and well known person, his staff is awesome.
So I figured if I go there and put my best foot forward, I’m not gonna fail. That’s kind of been my mindset with anything. Like, you know, you go out there, you be yourself, and you know, you’re a genuine person, something’s gonna happen. God’s gonna create a path for you. So ⁓ to me it was like I’m going and I’m I won’t be denied. So I I took that opportunity. ⁓ I will say it kind of got hard during my GA at UIW because that’s when reality started hitting. Like, and you know, I’m single at this time too. So let’s just keep that in mind. Like
I didn’t really have anything to lose. I didn’t have anything tied to me. I didn’t have a house. You know, I was just paying rent. So for me, ⁓ when I took that GA opportunity, you know, just to throw you some numbers, ⁓ had tuition cover and I was making four hundred a month. And compared to Walmart, I’m making going from making sixty thousand to four hundred a month, you know, it’s like ⁓ it’s a huge drop. But I knew that this is what I wanted to do and that’s what I went to school for. And if I knew I knew if I didn’t take that opportunity, it might not never come again. So
I actually met my wife while I was doing my GA at URW and she found out how much I was making and she was like, How are you surviving? And ⁓ you know, didn’t question anything. She didn’t like, you know, judge me for making $400. She was just like, You need to eat, like you have no meal plan, like you need to make sure you’re taken care of. She had more faith in me sometimes than I had faith in myself. And she kind of kept me going. So ⁓ you know, it was a grind, you know, but I was passionate about what I was doing.
I was learning a lot under Coach Youth and his staff. And I was in it for the long run. I had already made the the sacrifice, the commitment, and there was no turning back. I truly figured that God would make a way. and then again, that that unexpected SEC opportunity popped up. And ⁓ I was halfway through done with my master’s, and part of me was like, Okay, I’m about to go take this opportunity, the paid internship, so I can’t finish my master’s. But again, my wife was like, No, you have to finish that. Like, so I took out some loans to cover that while still.
Take an opportunity out at Auburn. And then I will say that that’s when I had some lows for sure because, you know, stressful environment. We’re working crazy hours. I’m sure you know about that. ⁓ not a whole lot of days off. ⁓ and again, I had roommates, man, who were just like, you know, I’m I’m like 30, 31 at this point, and you know, slamming the door at 3 a.m. And and that’s their experience. They’re 18, 19 year old kids trying to live the college life. I get it. But you know, me being there, you know, making how much money I was making, it was just it was a little rough.
And ⁓ I had to make a decision. I man, I need more money. Like I I as much as I love this place, like I have a family, you know, my car is breaking down, health, you know, health issues are starting to pop up. I’m like, I gotta I need benefits. Like th the the the true things started to matter. You know, I could no longer just chase the thrill of it. And I had a lot of trust in my coaching ability because of the people who kind of helped grow me. And again, it was just another sacrifice I had to make. I was like, you know, I’ll I’ll find a way back, you know. I
I’ve made a lot of connections. I’ve learned a lot. And, you know, I I trust the process. So going, I’m not gonna lie, going the private sector wasn’t ideally what I wanted to do, but it’s what I had to do to kind of make the money that I needed to, you know, help pay bills and, you know, cost of living is crazy now. So like, you know, I had to do that stuff. And ⁓ again, I was just kinda I had opportunities even when I left. Like I had a few directors reach out, which I’m very grateful for and I didn’t mean to turn them down, but it you know.
Realistically, I just couldn’t take the money that was being offered. So I had to wait for the right opportunity. And ⁓ this one came up and you know, it’s been honestly really good for me. So the only downside is there is no football. But like I still I still treat all the athletes, all the sports with the same amount of care and attention that I would as if I was coaching football. So
Connor:
Well, you know, maybe I just spoke it into existence with the intro for the show. Maybe we can get some football going. All right. ⁓ what you know, I I think a lot of strength coaches can relate to your story. You know, I think a lot of them, ⁓ like they said, there’s highs and lows, right? Like I’m I remember ⁓ my first ever internship, like getting up at 4 30 and hearing chains, you know, like in the weight room when people are squatting. I’m like, this is it, like this is what I want to do.
Morgan McCrary:
Man, y we’ve talked about it, so we’ll see.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Connor:
And then you get into it, right? And then you see you start saying, Okay, well I’m gonna dedicate my life to this. I’m gonna move for this. And then it becomes real. And when it becomes real, it’s it’s either really exciting at times or it’s you know, it’s really low. Like what was your self talk like during the low times? Like what what were the things that you would say to yourself to keep pushing?
Morgan McCrary:
Did I love what I do? ⁓ that I’ve come this far. And if I turn back now, like everything that I’d, you know, put into this is gonna be for nothing. ⁓ kept my Bible close. I was really in touch with the word. I wake up every morning, you know, early in the shower. I’m just praying to God. You know, as crazy as I sound. I’m just praying ten, fifteen minutes to help me get get me through, help me keep me motivated, you know. And I I would ask him if something wasn’t for me, then you know, don’t don’t put in my path. So,
I’d say those were the self talks and I hadn’t you know, my wife who’s been great, she would always just speak life into me and remind me how far I’ve come and, you know, to just keep pushing. So Yeah.
Connor:
I mean, i
I I don’t think it sounds crazy at all to me, right? Like I think I think ultimately, you know, for a lot of people, religion or what their faith is can really help ground them. ⁓ you know, but even if people who are don’t walk that, you know, kind of path in life, I think ultimately, ⁓ you know, they need something, right? There needs to be something. There needs to be a greater purpose, there needs to be something that can help keep you going. And it sounds like you had two with your wife too. Like I wanna shout out your wife because I can just tell just from
Morgan McCrary:
Mm-hmm.
For sure.
Yeah.
Connor:
The fifteen minutes we’ve been talking about this, like, you know, she means a lot to you and to your career. So I think that’s fantastic to hear.
Morgan McCrary:
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, man. It’s she’s been awesome. She’s ⁓ she’s definitely a big piece of what keeps me going.
Connor:
Man. I I love it. Well, maybe we’ll get her on as a guest next and we’ll talk about the strength coach wife experience. Yeah. I mean, it it might be cool, man. Seriously. I th got my kind of gears turning a little bit. ⁓ so you’ve got a lot of experience, right, at different sectors, like we talked about with high school, with collegiate, with the ⁓ private sector. What are the different areas that you have had, you know, or so obviously you have this experience, right? What are the different things you’ve seen amongst these areas? You know.
Morgan McCrary:
She’d be more than happy. Right, right. Yeah.
Connor:
what ways are these different sectors different and then what ways are they similar?
Morgan McCrary:
Well, they’re they’re definitely similar when it comes to the athletes just want to be coached for the most part. ⁓ now what makes them different is what are you gonna expose them to to get them better? You know, sometimes you’ll see, you know, these young K through twelve kids doing these super complex workouts, and you know, it’s you’re just kind of setting them up for injury and they’re not gonna get a whole lot of adaptation. ⁓ and then vice versa, with more advanced athletes. If you simplify it too much, you’re gonna get bored.
probably going lose some ⁓ athletic benefits and even some strength and power benefits as well. So ⁓ that was something that I kind of had to learn in the private sector. Like I knew that simple training, my that’s kind of my philosophy, like simple training is is pretty effective ⁓ as long as you’re intentional about what you do and ⁓ you kind of make sure that you’re tracking like their progress. So when I went to the private sector ⁓ you would you would notice a lot of things with
These kids, like they might be able to run, but not effectively. They might be able to jump, they can’t land, you know. So breaking things down for them to be able to do the the very minimal things that are required for their sport would be essential. So whether those are just, you know, building a solid foundation of strength first, teaching them how to squat, teaching them how to hinge, ⁓ building unilateral strength, you know, being able to do a push up, things like that, you know. ⁓
kind of gotta regress that far down. Now compared to an athlete at the college level, even some guys who are about to go pro who’ve been training their whole life, you know, they probably know how to squat. You know, you might have to, you know, reinforce some range of motion ⁓ you know, situations a little bit more, but like for the most part, you can get a little bit more complex with them. You might not have to regress all the way down to just one extensive jump. You might be able to go straight to intensive or sorry, flip that intensive to extensive to where they’re able to do like, you know,
multi-directional bounds or jumps, ⁓ stuff like that. when it comes to the lifting, their complex movements, they could probably learn to clean a lot better than a kid. You could, you know, you don’t need to teach a kid how to clean. just expose them to some jumps, some max effort jumps, some throws, you know, some some sprints, things like that, it’s still gonna kind of target the same stimulus. So ⁓ I say each phase was definitely different and each phase allowed me to become a better coach.
By seeing what works and what doesn’t, especially like, you know, like in the college level, most of those most of those guys and girls have a pretty solid foundation of training. But every once in a while you’ll get a couple of athletes who, you know, are fresh out of high school, maybe they didn’t have a strength coach or they didn’t touch away room at all. So now I could kind of peel back and be like, hey, we gotta start with the goblet squat. You know, something as simple as that, while everyone else might be able to do a front squat, back squat, things like that. So
having having that background of working with all different types of populations definitely transfers over in a way.
Connor:
No doubt. I c I mean I can only imagine how useful it can be, right? Because again, you know, I look back to my time at Tennessee where I first started out, I was like, I’m I’m gonna be football strength coach. That’s it. And obviously I’m sitting here as a basketball strength coach right now, so things change, right? But at the end of the day, like one of the best experiences I had was working with men’s golf, was working with ⁓ you know, tennis, was working with softball and just getting exposed to all these different things. So just on a a micro level with the collegiate sector of getting exposed to a bunch of different sports, but then
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah. Yeah.
Connor:
I can only imagine working them within the private sector, within the high school sector. It’s just more experience. It’s just more tools that you’re kind of adding to your toolbox. You know, I’m curious with ⁓ especially with kind of the private sector or the high school side, you one of the first things that you mentioned is, you know, there’s there’s a desire to go complex or too complicated very fast, right? You know, and I think a lot of it comes from social media. ⁓ how how do you kind of handle that? You know, let’s say a client comes up or
Morgan McCrary:
For sure.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Connor:
⁓ you know, in high school, people believe that they should be doing triphasic training already before they can really even fully squat. How do you handle those situations, you know, and and what does that progression look like once you kind of get them bought into just being strong or just being, you know, technically sound before we move into the more complicated stuff?
Morgan McCrary:
Right.
So first and foremost, I try to explain to them why we’re doing what we’re doing. ⁓ and normally they have there’s good response to that. ⁓ secondly, as we’re kind of going through a phase, especially when it comes to like range of motion, I’m a big range of motion guy. athletes will start feeling better immediately. They’ll start feeling more flexible. So they start seeing results quickly. And then as they start
you know, feeling better and more confident, now we’re able to progress a little bit faster. Or not even fast, but we’re able to progress to what they’re probably seeing on social media. So ⁓ I think just kind of explaining the importance of what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and honestly even feedback. So like video feedback, I’ll record some things, be like, hey, look, you want to squad, but look at your depth. Or look at look at how you’re not under control on the eccentric portion of it. You know what I’m saying? And those are all things that we need to stay healthy and to just, you know, get stronger.
And be be better athletes overall and avoid injury. So ⁓ I think just communicating with the athletes and ⁓ just being open and not closed off. I think that kind of creates that buy-in. And then when they start feeling good and you know, you start hearing feedback like, hey, this is the best. I felt like you know something’s working. And like I said, like we have ⁓ here at UT Tyler, we actually have a lot of technology for division two school, which is awesome. So we’re able to track jumps, we’re able to track our, you know, fly tens.
⁓ 10 XLs, ⁓ RSI, all that stuff. So when they start seeing those numbers go up, they’re like, okay, this stuff is actually working. And then they’re, you know, they’re feeling better in their sport too. So
Connor:
Yeah, no doubt. I mean, and again, I think I really like what you say about not being closed off, right? ‘Cause I think it’s easy. Like I I’m I come I’m kind of a knee jerk reaction guy, right? Like i there’s certain things where there’s a lot of different methods to get things done, right? And strength and get a thing is the most gray career I’ve ever seen in my entire life. But if it’s something I might not necessarily agree with, like my initial reaction is always like, No, why the hell would we do that? Right. But if if the athlete brings that to you and that’s your reaction, then they’re not gonna bring
Morgan McCrary:
For sure.
Yep.
Yeah.
Connor:
Pretty much anything else to you, right? And they’re gonna say, well, you know, Connor’s not listening to me or Morgan’s not listening to me. So why would I be open to having a conversation with him? Like I love that you mentioned the not being closed off piece because I think, you know, we hear it a lot with our strength coach friends where a lot of people are closed off to different things. But when it comes to the athlete, you’ve got to be open to it. And it can be a much more beneficial conversation in the
Morgan McCrary:
Right.
Yeah.
I feel like you create a lot more buy-in that way. You know, they see that you’re human too and you’re willing to listen. Cause there’s don’t get me wrong, there might be times where like, you know, hey, can we incorporate this or hey, I saw this on social media. If it makes sense, you know, I’ll consider it. But if it’s something that’s outlandish, I’m just like, No. Like we’re not getting nothing done with that. You know what I’m saying? Like we’re not we’re not providing enough of a stimulus to actually get something out of it. So
Connor:
Especially those initial conversations too, right? Like, you know, once you’ve been working with somebody for two or three years, you can hit with a no. Like, we’re just not doing that, right? You know, like but
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They c you
kinda have to build that trust first and then from there it’s it’s smooth sailing.
Connor:
For sure. Well, you know, coming from a building trust perspective, how many teams do you work with at UT Tyler?
Morgan McCrary:
So I oversee 17 Olympic sports. ⁓ I directly work with baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball. ⁓ yeah.
Connor:
Okay.
How you know, how do you develop trust with your teams that you currently have right now? Like what are the things that you focus on, especially in a world where strain and conditioning, they try to specialize so much now? Or, you know, if you ask me, I say I’m a basketball strength coach, right? But I do also train women’s golf. Like how do you develop that trust with these athletes and when everybody tries to specialize so quickly and you’re working from a more global perspective?
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah.
Right.
I mean, I’ll be honest with you. I think when I first got here, there was not a whole lot of trust. People probably thought that I was coming from, you know, they heard private sector, they probably thought I was coming from crunch or something. And nothing nothing against that. But you know, it was just ⁓ I kind of had to earn that trust. And I think what it came from was ⁓ one, being able to demonstrate everything that I was talking about. If I’m gonna have you do something, I’ve done it myself, I’ve done research on it, but I’ve practiced it myself and I could show you how it needs to be done and it’s gonna be done.
At a high level and it’s be done effectively. So I think that’s a big piece. And then, like I kind of said, I’m gonna be honest, at first, I don’t know if there was a whole lot of trust and until they started seeing the results of them actually feeling better and things started making sense. They were feeling better by game day. ⁓ we were getting good numbers in the waiver. We weren’t chasing PRs or anything, but confidence was going up, technique was going up. We were able to absorb our landings a lot better. ⁓ just just those little things that kind of
⁓ make you more confident what you’re doing on on the field and on the court. ⁓ I think they were able to just kind of feel those benefits and that kind of created the trust. And I know after year one of being here, I think we’re in a pretty good spot.
Connor:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that’s I think it’s fantastic that you were able to develop that. You know, again, I think a lot of strength coaches can relate to that. Cause I remember coming in here, ⁓ you know, and and it was funny, like the men’s basketball staff was not used to strength coach coming to practice. Like they were not used to the strength coach going to film and doing stuff. And like so they were almost like, Don’t come. And I was like, No, no, no, I you guys hired me for basketball, I gotta be there for that stuff. Right. And then now, you know, they they’re it’s a completely different system. But that first kind of couple of weeks of being closed off and
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah.
Ha ha ha.
Yep.
Connor:
I’ll never forget, you know, the head coach one day called up the coaches. Like he like, Hey coaches, come in here during practice. And so I ran up to the huddle and he like give me a look like, What the hell is this guy doing in here? You know, and now we’ve got a great relationship ’cause like you said, you know, it shows from hey, I care about you and I’m gonna help produce results for you. And that’s all you need, you know, that’s all you need to see from me to know that you can trust me. Yeah.
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah.
Yep, exactly. Yep. Spot
on. I actually had a very similar situation here. I was showing up to all the practices for basketball. And ⁓ you know, I didn’t want to overstep, but I think they might have saw it as like, hey, we never had a a strength coach here for practice or you know, he’s asking he’s doing meal checks. Like, you know, I’m over here tracking how many down and backs are doing in a game, you know, just to to track volume. And they’re like, Is he over here, you know, like taking notes? Like, no, I’m literally just trying to do whatever I can to create, you know, a good system.
And make sure that these guys stay healthy and they’re ready. So, ⁓ you know, kind of just going that extra mile I think sometimes kids, you know, especially at a smaller program they might see that as ⁓ doing too much or any you know, something like that. So
Connor:
Yeah, yeah. I I’ll never forget I made fresh fruit cups one day ’cause the guys were, you know, like they you know, it’s you’re working with college athletes, like there’s a lot of people who want to eat bad food and I mean sa I still do it too, you know, but like I’m trying to just get a little extra something. I l I literally remember one player was like, You’re doing too much, man. And I like, Well, you know, if you say that then I know I’m probably doing something good. You know. Yeah.
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah.
Yep.
You care. Exactly. Exactly I
I kinda I I feel like you kinda have to ignore these athletes. Like if you’re not if you’re not constantly in their ear reminding them things, you’re not doing enough. So
Connor:
No, for sure, for sure. And
like, you know, that’s what ⁓ one of our one of my favorite players I’ve ever had just transferred out to another school and he was a guy you had to remind about every single thing, right? And his weight can get out of control quickly. Like if if you’re not weighing him in every day and everything like that. And so ⁓ you know, it was funny because he used to hate doing weigh ins with me. Like every day he’d come in, we’d weigh in, you know, we’d adjust this program based off of what his weight was, what what he needed to see you know, what we needed to see from the day. And he got to the new school and he wasn’t getting weighed in every day.
Morgan McCrary:
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Ha ha.
Mm-hmm.
Connor:
And so he started gaining a little bit of weight, but then asked that strength coach, like, hey, I actually need this. Like, can you weigh me in every day? Can you stay on, you know, on top of me and keep me accountable? Like, I think it’s cool to be able to see, like, okay, at least he understood, like, I was annoying him, but at least he understood there was a purpose behind it.
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah.
For sure. And I hopefully that other strength coach took that into account and maybe started weighing him. Because again, that’s gonna create more binding. It’s like, okay, this coach cares, you know, so.
Connor:
Yeah.
He did, which which I’m glad to hear because now he’s down five pounds. And I was worried about my guy. So I’m happy to hear. Yeah. ⁓ okay, and so I think a big part of the trust too is kind of your principles, right? Is laying down solid principles and living up to those principles. What are your core principles as a coach? What are the things that if I were to come in and and watch a Morgan McCray lift that I’d be able to identify as okay, this is Morgan’s style, these are Morgan’s principles.
Morgan McCrary:
Nice. Nice.
So I call it flipping the switch. Whatever you got going on outside of practice, outside of the classroom, or outside of the way room, like when you’re in the way room, it’s time to it’s time to go. Like we’re not, you know, we’re not worried about any of those external factors. ⁓ I’ll have a conversation with these guys ahead of time, like before, just kind of get a feel, let them know, like, hey, you know, I’m personable, we could talk, but it once we get in there, I need max effort, I need good intent, no goofing around, you know. And
They seem to buy in. And I also believe in that there’s four pillars to ⁓ performance. And those are four P’s. So the first one I like to go by is purpose. You have to have a why of what you’re doing, what you’re doing. If you’re just kind of there, you’re just going through the motions. Second’s gonna be passion. ⁓ just gotta be passionate about what you do. Again, it kind of goes hand in hand with purposes. If you’re not passionate, you know, you’re not really gonna care about what you’re doing. And then third, I would say ⁓ perseverance.
Things are gonna get hard and you gotta know how to to bounce back. When you don’t when you’re at low moments, how do you how do you pick yourself up? How do you pick up your teammates? And then ⁓ persistence. You’re not only gonna have one bad day. So, like how do you show up day in and day out? Even on you know, your good days, how do you find yourself to level out? On your low days, how do you find yourself to level out? You gotta stay consistent. and that’s as a coach, that’s as a player, you know, and that’s just in real life. So
Those are kind of the standards that I hold my guys to. ⁓ I think they hold each other to that. And ⁓ yeah, that’s those are kind of my my standards and I think it’s been pretty successful.
Connor:
Do you lay those out for them all at the beginning of the year? Like do you explicitly state those and then and then kind of dive into each one with them?
Morgan McCrary:
Yep.
Yep. A hundred percent. And then even with the recruits who are coming in, you know, I’ll talk with them and then we step into that weight room. I’m like, hey, look, it’s time to lock in. And honestly, we even do ⁓ pad jacks is what I call them. It was actually something that I learned from Coach Beck at Texas. I’m sure he got it from somewhere else. But I really loved his principle of how he goes about getting the guys to lock in. Like we could be talking, all that stuff, but once we do our pad jacks, we’re locked in, we’re in sync. And it’s just five jumping jacks, five seal jacks, and a five
crossovers. So they’ll do that and they all do it in cadence and that tells me we’re ready to lock in. If we’re off cadence, they’re gonna see a side of me they don’t they don’t really want to see. ⁓ but normally like we don’t like in the beginning of the year we might see that but as we get going, the guys start to kind of we don’t you know we don’t take any steps back. So
Connor:
Okay,
and so w you know, what happens like, you know, like you said, there’s some sometimes there’s a side view that people don’t want to see. I think a lot of strength coaches can identify with that. Like what happens if you see a player who’s not able to flip the switch, right? Like, you know, who is is clearly distracted by other things going on. And you know, obviously there’s a lot of different situations where that could be, you know, but what happens when you when you see that with the player? How do you kind of approach those situations?
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
It varies, honestly. If it’s just a individual player, and honestly it depends on the team too. Some guys, like, you know, I could call them out in front of everybody and they feel embarrassed and it gets them to to lock in. Other people, they might shut down. So I’ll point to sign and be like, hey man, what the hell’s going on? Like, I need you to fix like fix it right here, right now. You know, and you have that talk with them and normally they lock in. So, ⁓
That’s kind of just how it goes, to be honest. There’s been times where I’ve I’ve popped off on a whole team because of one person and ⁓ they’re kinda looking like, Hey coach, like what the hell I’m doing everything right. And I’m just like my bad yeah, like but you know, so and so got to me. And ⁓ I feel like again, they’re just that happy medium. You can’t get too high, you can’t pop off too much, and then you can’t just be too latched at the same time. Cause they the guys are always watching you, so
Connor:
Yeah, I think, you know, too, like you said, if you if you do it too much too frequently, it really loses its, you know, kind of ⁓ meaning, you know, like I I used to kind of think I had to be like that, you know, be a little too aggressive and then all of a sudden like I like, Man, they’re not even listening to me when I get like this. They’re just waiting for me to stop talking, you know, and then they’re gonna move on about their day. So I’ve switched it’s it’s been a growth lesson for me personally throughout my career and I love what you say too, right? ‘Cause I asked you a very broad question. Like there’s a lot of different situations. You have to handle everything differently. ⁓ you know.
Morgan McCrary:
For sure. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Yeah.
For sure.
Connor:
We I we have a rule. This is this is I’ve got two rules in the weight room. The one is no no talking when I’m talking, right? And then the second one is no skipping sets for skipping reps. Like it said, just try to keep it simple with them. And then we had last year we had a player skip a set and skip reps on another set. And so I knew had to call them out. The rules it’s fifty burpees for everybody in the room. Cause it’s just something that sucks. Yeah, it’s like I I want it to be a one one time, we’re done, nobody ever has to do this again.
Morgan McCrary:
Nope.
Yep.
Whoo. Yep.
Yo
yo.
Connor:
And
I I usually call that player out, but I remember this player specifically, I was like, if I call him out, his confidence is low, you know, he’s a brand new member of this team. Like he’s I already know he’s struggling, making connections with the guys. Like this could be something that could end up making or breaking some of his relationships, right? Because then they’re gonna be like, this is the guy who made us do 50 up downs and everything like that. And so it was funny because I I mean, I I basically just said, Hey, somebody’s skipping sets, you know, we gotta make sure we do our do our 50 up, 50 burpees, and we’ll be be on with our way. And the guys are like, who was it?
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah.
For sure.
Connor:
You know, and I was like, nah, I’m not gonna say, you know, I was like, Yeah, I’m not gonna say they’re like, Who was it? Like I’m going back and forth and I was like, No, I can’t do it. And then I called that player afterwards, like you said too. Like I think that’s the when you don’t call him out in front of the team, you always gotta talk to them afterwards, especially. ⁓ and and you know, I could tell he was like, Thank God you didn’t call me out in front of the team. You know, so it is context dependent. There’s a lot of different ways to approach those situations.
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah. They’re ready, yeah. You know?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And sometimes you just don’t want to mess up the flow of something. Like we’re doing I know we were doing intervals at Auburn one time and everything was going smooth and one athlete kind of chirped at me a little bit. And if I would have just stopped everything that I was doing and, you know, cuss this guy out or, you know, whatever, it would have it would have threw everything off. You know, and other players would have like, hey, like what’s going on? Like everything’s fine. So again, kinda goes back to what you said. You just gotta there’s a time and place and you gotta know how to approach it.
Connor:
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely. ⁓ you know, obviously you’ve you’ve had a lot of experience within the field, you’ve seen a lot of different things. Like what is the main piece of advice that you would give to younger strength coaches? If you had a young strength coach reach out to you and say, Hey, I really want to get invested in this field, what are the main things that you would say to kind of help them come along?
Morgan McCrary:
I would say be ready to learn ⁓ and network. Don’t, you know, I I understand like you’re an undergrad and all this knowledge is fresh, but you know, like there’s so much out there. You need to learn from different cultures. There’s multiple ways to get something done. So, you know, just because you just learn what triple extension is, don’t go into a a new weight room where people have been there for years, you know, guys are veterans in their field and you know, go there and try to tell them how to do something. So I’d say just network.
Be open minded to different training philosophies and be ready to learn. Ask questions and don’t be afraid of fail. That’s I think that’s a big one. So I’ve seen a lot of interns, you know, they get somewhere and they’re a little quiet or hesitant. Like, you know, take those chances. If you get cussed out by the head guy, like take it on the chin and keep moving. You know, because they’re probably gonna appreciate that in the long run that you kind of stood out and did something a little bit different from everyone else who’s a little hesitant. That’s the only way you’re gonna learn is like you gotta get thrown in the fire and you gotta you know, learn how to get out. So
⁓ I’d say those are the main things and yeah.
Connor:
Yeah, I you know, he what you say about not being afraid to fail makes me think of it’s something I learned from one of our is he’s he’s our biggest coach here. ⁓ he’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever been around, right? But one of the things he always says is your volume is your confidence, right? Like so if we we always talk we we’re a defensive oriented team, everything we do is about defense, and so we gotta talk to each other on defense. And if we’re not talking or if we’re saying something but we’re not loud about it, he’s saying, You don’t know if you’re right or if you’re wrong. And he said, I’d rather you be loud and wrong and then we can fix it.
Morgan McCrary:
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.
Connor:
But the
last thing that I want is for you to be quiet or just not say anything at all. Because again, you’ve got to fail to continue to grow. Yeah. So, okay, I like that. I’m gonna I’m gonna use that. Next time he uses the voice, your volumes, your confidence, I’m gonna bring up not being a mouse. I like that. So I’m gonna turn it on you here, right? What are some failures that you’ve experienced in your career and then how did they help you grow?
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah.
Exactly. Yeah, you can’t be a mouse.
Yeah.
I have three that I could probably think of off the top of my head. ⁓ I’d say there was one time and I’m not gonna name the institution, but I was ⁓ I saw a specific field workout that was on the card and I was like, Hey, I want to demo. And you know, this is my first gig. And I’m like, you know, the assistants are looking at him, they’re like, Do you even know what this is? And I’m like, Yeah, I did it. They’re like, Okay. And they probably knew I did it. They’re like, Okay, let’s go ahead and demonstrate it. And then I demonstrated it was completely wrong. They said, No, and that’s why you’re not demoing. I was just like, Well, damn.
At least I showed them that I was eager, you know, I wanted to do these things. And I actually feel like that helped build our relationship a little bit more, you know, because they were like, okay, he’s not scared to do these things. I’d say that. ⁓ a failure that I had, ⁓ I’d say was at one of the bigger institutions I was at. And it was me kind of, you know, taking that role and thinking, hey, you know, I’m coming from an institution where things worked really well. This has got to be the only right way to do something.
So I take those philosophies over to a different area. Instead of adapting their philosophy, I’m still kind of ⁓ stuck in what I was learning at the previous one. So ⁓ just learning how to to adapt, I’d say. You know, that was that was probably one of the failures. But other than that, you know, I’ve had a few different interactions where, you know, something might not go correctly, but I don’t see it as a failure. It’s just like a learning curve. It’s like, okay, you know, this person wasn’t moving correctly, or I programmed this, we might have to change this. So
⁓ I see failures as just opportunities to learn and grow from to be honest. Things maybe just don’t go as planned and you gotta adapt. So
Connor:
Which is the whole principle of strain and conditioning, right? Is not nothing goes as playing. You know, I I don’t even write out an annual plan anymore because there’s a too much you gotta adapt to. And so I I program month to month and then we go from there, you know. So I I love the Yeah. my goodness, bro. And I’ll never forget my first year at Texas Tech, I wrote out the full annual plan and I was like, boom, perfect. We’re done. I’m done programming for the year, right? And then like first practice in.
Morgan McCrary:
For sure. Yeah.
Yep. Yep. We have a plan and we we try to stick to it and we make adjustments as needed. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Connor:
We went like three hours, you know, on like a summer practice. And I was like, damn, okay, program out the window. Yeah. I just wasted.
Morgan McCrary:
yeah.
Gotta go make adjustments. Yep. Exactly. And I I
it it’s funny, I tell sorry to interrupt, but I I tell my the young coaches all the time. And I’m like, when they when they first hear that, I’m like, Yeah, we don’t write an annual plan. Go ahead if you want, but you’re gonna see. There’s gonna be a lot of changes to it. And they look at me kind of crazy until they start to see they’re like, Okay. So
Connor:
No no.
Yeah,
that’s well that’s the that’s the project that everybody’s gotta do, right? And exercise science and you know, and these train the conditioning classes is okay, finally write it out, write an annual plan. And I think that, you know, it comes across to the students as like, okay, this is your this is what you’re gonna do as a strength coach. It’s like, no, this is just a test to make sure that you know how to, you know, train in different phases and get the most out of where you are in the season. But I don’t know I don’t know a single coach that I’ve talked to right now who actually legitimately writes out a full annual plan anyway.
Morgan McCrary:
Mm mm. There might be a handful, but again, I’m sure that they don’t stick to it. There’s there’s no way. So yeah.
Connor:
Yeah. Yeah. It’s impossible. I mean, there’s no way.
Well, I love what you’re saying about the adaptability piece too, and and I’m sure that’s such a big lesson for you in your career because ultimately, like we said, you’ve been in a lot of different sectors. So you can try to take something from ⁓ you know, the collegiate sector and bring it to a private sector, and it’s just not going to be able to work out to that extent, right? Like I always think too, you know, we’re fortunate in the college section because right now
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah.
Connor:
You know, we’ve got players who are locked in with us and they’ve got to do what we say, right? And if they don’t get it done, you know, like if they don’t come to lifts, like there’s consequences for it. Versus on the private sector, it’s a lot different. So I think that adaptability piece is huge and that I can definitely see how that’s a full lesson you’ve learned throughout your career.
Morgan McCrary:
Yep. Exactly.
Mm-hmm.
For sure. And just going back to like that private sector, man, is I I worked with I still got some clients from it, but I’ve worked with guys who are 60 who just need, you know, general movement. And then I got some athletes, you know, college athletes or high school athletes. And again, some of those guys might, especially high school athletes, they’re probably getting a lot of training at the high school.
Who uncontrolled volume and you know I gotta ask them after have those conversations, like, hey, what’d you guys do? What’d you do in the last 24 hours? What’d you do in the last 48 hours? Okay, you hit these boxes, you know, maybe you didn’t check, check off your plyals. So we might, you know, shift the workout towards that. Or, you know, you haven’t done any sprints. If if the times allow us to, you know, the recovery times allow us to, then we might put our focus more towards plyals and sprints. So it just varies, man, honestly.
Connor:
Yeah. And you can’t go have a conversation with that head coach, right? You know, like if you’re in the private sector, you can’t go up and say, Hey, I’m planning on doing this on, you know, XYZ this day, whatever it may be. And, you know, when you’re working with the a private sector coach, like there’s no way that you can go up to talk to that, you know, head sport coach or whatever that was and and ask them to modify what they’re doing. That conversation wouldn’t go very well.
Morgan McCrary:
Exactly.
Yeah.
They they right,
right. They hate it actually. They used to be like, don’t go train with that guy. And I’m like, Okay. I mean, I I specialize in this. You’re you’re this type of coach, which, you know, all respect, but I mean, you don’t have a background on strength and conditioning. And I wish it could there could be like a better partnership where it’s like, hey, you know, you folks on track piece, just communicate with me. Send me, you know, what their practice schedule was like or ⁓ what they were doing and I could try to work around it. And believe it or not, I actually had
Some of the coaches who were like really who cared a lot about their athletes, they would actually tell me like, Hey, this is what practice, like these are the days they’re going hard, this one they’re not going hard. You know, and this is where I need a fresh. And it’s like, Okay, these are the days I need to see you. You know, we only need one to two sessions, nothing crazy, and we wanna get after it. So
Connor:
Yeah, I I I’m a firm believer that every disagreement starts with miscommunication, right? And so the more you communicate, then the easier it’s going to be for everybody in the long run. So I love that you were able to take that approach with your with your athletes that you’re working with in the private sector. Okay, I always end on a fun question here, right? So I always like to, you know, just know I’ve obviously lived in Texas for a little bit. You’re living in Texas right now. Favorite barbecue. What is your pick? If you could pick any specific type of meat and give me two sides, that’s your favorite.
Morgan McCrary:
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Man, I gotta go with ribs and then I love me some the mac and cheese if it if it’s good, you know, because it’s like it or miss sometimes, you know, it might not be seasoned enough or flavors not all the way there, but ⁓ give me some ribs, some mac and cheese, and I’d have to say some coleslaw. I love coleslaw, to be honest. But again, it’s what was it?
Connor:
Mm-hmm.
Boom, there go. Oil or mayo based?
Is it oil or mayo based? What’s your co what’s your coleslaw preference? Or vinegar? Mayonnaise yeah. Yep.
Morgan McCrary:
Mayonnaise. Mayonnaise vinegar. Yeah, yeah.
It ⁓ but again that’s hit or miss too. If it’s too dry, I can’t have it. So but ⁓ in Tyler we actually got a place called Stanley’s. Very good barbecue, man. If you ever come out, you gotta go try it out. ⁓ it’s affordable too, but really good fall off the meat ribs or fall off the bone ribs.
Connor:
Yeah. You got did you find a spot out there?
Nice.
Yeah, hell yeah. I used that the other day actually. We were one of my interns wanted us wanted me to sprint with him and he he’s way faster than me and I was like, nah, man. I was like, I I want my meat to fall off the ribs, I don’t want to fall off my hamstring, right? Well, Morgan, man, thank you so much for coming on the show, dude. I I really appreciate it. And like I said, like it’s very cool for me to be able to meet up with people that I met at CSCCA and then have full fledged conversations with them and get to really talk things through. So
Morgan McCrary:
Mm-hmm.
Right, exactly, exactly. Yep.
Connor:
I really appreciate you coming on, man.
Morgan McCrary:
I appreciate you having many. I was looking forward to it. So
Connor:
Yeah. Well, if somebody wants to follow you, ⁓
you know, or kind of keep up with you on social media, what would be the best way to do that?
Morgan McCrary:
they can follow me on Instagram, Coach Mo. ⁓ underscore coach underscore mo. that’s my main form of social media. Working on getting a LinkedIn, but I’m gonna have a LinkedIn, but not not Twitter, sorry. But yeah.
Connor:
Okay. Yeah.
My my LinkedIn is about as outdated as humanly possible. So I I I gotta work on that. Well, seriously, Morgan, I appreciate you, man. Thank you so much for coming on.
Morgan McCrary:
Right.
Thank you, appreciate it.
