On this episode of the Samson Strength Coach Collective, Connor Agnew interviews Maggie Smith, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at Northern Kentucky University. Maggie opens up about her journey from two-sport high school athlete to strength coach, detailing how she managed motherhood during her GA role and transitioned from personal training to collegiate athletics. She offers key insights on cultivating trust with athletes, maintaining a positive training environment, and staying adaptable throughout her coaching career.
Key Takeaways:
Coaching while raising young children requires flexibility, support, and perspective.
Building authentic relationships with athletes can redefine the coaching experience.
Creating a positive environment in the weight room is essential for long-term athlete development.
Transitioning from personal training to collegiate coaching demands humility and a growth mindset.
Asking questions and finding mentors are crucial for early-career coaches.
Consistency and kindness go a long way in athlete engagement and program success.
Professional athlete experience offers a unique lens on performance and discipline.
Adaptability and openness to pivoting are critical in coaching careers.
Quote:
“It’s just so cool to see athletes interact with my child… bringing them to the field and seeing how that changes the dynamic—those moments are special.”
— Maggie Smith
Spotify • YouTube • Apple Podcast
Never Miss An Episode Join Our Newsletter
Maggie Smith :
Yeah, you know, Sarah was always like, hey, like, bring Henry in, bring Christopher in. And I’m like, really? Like, you think that’ll work? And she’s like, yeah. And I did. And it’s so cool to see the student athletes respond to babies and young children. I mean, you see a different side of them. It was when I first brought them into baseball, I was like, gosh, like, hey, like, I don’t know how this is going to go. These are baseball guys. it was like, all of a sudden, they just, it was like a ⁓ switch that just flipped and they were just like.
⁓ hey, Henry, like, do you want to, you know, and just like high fives and fist bumps. And I’m just like, this is so cool to see you all interact with my child and yeah, to bring them to the field and have them run around on the baseball diamond or take them to the soccer field and having them, you know, kick the ball at halftime or at the end of the game. It’s just, it is really cool.
Connor Agnew :
What’s going on Samson strength coach collective listeners on today’s episode, we have assistant strength and conditioning coach for Northern Kentucky University, Maggie Smith. Maggie, thank you so much for coming on.
Maggie Smith :
Yes, thank you. I’m excited. First time for me, so this is awesome.
Connor Agnew :
I’m super excited as well
too. It’s always my favorite when I get to interview somebody it’s the first time on a podcast. Cause I like to think of myself as the softball of podcast interviewers. Like Samson has the move the needle podcast, which is hosted by two really great coaches, Hunter and Mike. But they are like, they dive as in depth as possible into things. ⁓ And I like to think that we have a little bit easier conversation. So that’s my hope for this one. Perfect.
Maggie Smith :
Good. Perfect. I’ll keep the nerves down then. Yeah, I’m excited.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, just a typical conversation. That’s all we’re having. ⁓ you know, well, OK, can you just give us your background of your career? ⁓ What’s led you to Northern Kentucky? I know you’ve been there for a long time and then what’s your kind of transformation has been during your time in Northern Kentucky?
Maggie Smith :
Yes, that’s what I love.
Yeah, so in high school I was a two sport athlete. I played soccer and ran track and had a love of weightlifting. So after freshman year, you’re allowed to take a strength class. So sophomore year, I signed up for that and had great athletic success on the field and on the track. So I thought, well, junior year, let’s it even harder. I started doing two a days. I would go in early and work out with the football team at 6 a.m. before school. And then I would work out.
during school for my class and then usually go to practice after that. ⁓ Unfortunately, I put on a little too much mass and it just wasn’t ideal for my performance and ⁓ ended the career not on a high note. And so I knew going into college, I wanted to hopefully prevent this from happening to young athletes. So I went into Northern Tech University where I also
played soccer and ran track. We were Division II at the time and exercise science was my major. And ⁓ the end of it I had to do an internship as we all do and I found my professor and I found an internship with PitFit which is training race car drivers. So my dad and I used to always go.
to Mid-Ohio and Indianapolis. We loved IndyCar, we loved Formula One, so I had a passion there and I was like, wow, how cool would this be if I could train race car drivers? So moved up to Indianapolis for about a month, worked with ⁓ race car drivers, IndyCar, worked with their pit crews, worked with some car guys, actually worked with some Indianapolis Colts too, and then some general population for their fitness classes, and had a really good time. It was awesome, you know, meeting the athletes, getting to know, you know, a professional athlete and how they work out.
⁓ There were a couple whose personalities just didn’t have a lasting effect on me and I was like, well maybe I don’t want to work with professional athletes. So, you maybe I’ll go into just in a sense collegiate strength training. And so I had to do observation hours as well. And my sister worked at a, she was a fitness center manager at a recreation center and she goes, come, you know, come do observation hours with us. And I’m like, no, I’m not working with General Pop. Like don’t want it, I want to work with athletes. She’s like, come on. I was like, all right.
I went and honestly after day one fell in love. The energy, the culture of the clients and the trainers was fantastic. And I knew, I was like, this is it. This is where I want to be. And so I got a job there working the front desk. And in the meantime, I studied for my personal training certification and became a personal trainer and was there for 13 years. And COVID happened at the end of that and the culture shifted.
all the trainers pretty much left. ⁓ And so I knew I needed to shift a little bit. I wasn’t happy in that environment anymore. I knew I wanted to still be helping people get strong and keeping them healthy and active. It just wasn’t in that environment. So luckily I found Northern Kentucky did an online master’s program. So I signed up for that. I had a one year old at the time. So I knew I was like, okay, I can make this work a personal training and going back to school and.
kind of just see where this allows me to pivot to afterwards. And I met with the director because I’d never done online before, brand new to me. met with him, had a great conversation, and I don’t know if it was later that day or the next day, he sent me an email and he was like, hey, are you interested in being the GA? And I was like, well, what does that entail? He’s like, well, you get perks, school is paid for and…
You get paid a little bit and you get to have the experience of working with your assigned teams. And I was like, okay, I’ll have an interview with the director. he hooked me up with a director of sports performance, Sarah. And I had an interview with her later in the week and it went really well. She offered me the spot and I was like, well, just give me 24 hours to think this over. Because me being a mom was number one. So I knew I had to choose between the GA and personal training.
So I just had some hard conversations and was like, hey, I need to pivot. Let’s try this. So I had the week, said goodbye to my personal training clients and signed on to be the GA and worked with baseball, women’s soccer, men’s and women’s tennis. And ⁓ two years later, thankfully a position was opened for a part-time strength coach here and applied for it and got it.
I’m starting my second official year as the assistant strength coach, but I’ve been here for four years. So, and I added on men’s, women’s cross country into my team. yeah, kind of a different career path, I think, than your normal average strength coaches. Yeah. Perfect. Perfect.
Connor Agnew :
That’s what we love. You’re like a podcast host dream because there’s a lot of questions that I can follow up with. I mean, the first
one and I think obviously, you know, I think it sticks out to a lot of people. Like I just had this conversation yesterday with a young intern who’s a senior and he’s trying to go into a GA opportunity next year. And he just said, you know, what is some advice that you have for me? And I said, ultimately, like your GA opportunities when you have to be the most selfish of ever like in your life. And that’s where.
⁓ You have to spend all your time at the facility, do all these things, right? And basically this is where you, this is the two years that people talk about grinding as much as possible. And I was like, then after that, you can let up and it doesn’t have to be this whole harto strength coach kind of, I’m here at four and I leave at 8 p.m. or whatever. But ultimately, like that’s the advice that I give him. That’s the advice I give to pretty much anybody going into their GIA opportunity. But for you, it’s obviously a different scenario of being a mom.
Maggie Smith :
Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew :
What was that experience like? Like what did you weigh in your decisions when first deciding to accept the position? And then how did it go for the two years? Was it two years that your GA was? Yeah. So how did it go for those two years as well?
Maggie Smith :
Mm-hmm. Yeah, two years.
Yeah, so I mean, was a lot of conversation during it was kind of the end of COVID. So my son wasn’t in daycare. He was being, you know, kind of ⁓ tossed around between like my mom and then ⁓ my husband and I. And so it was always just making sure one of us were home while the others were working. Thankfully, you my mom’s retired, so she’s super helpful ⁓ as well as my dad. And ⁓
Yeah, so it was just making sure mom was always number one. And thankfully, the director, Sarah, who’s still here, ⁓ she didn’t have a child at the time. She does now, but she really understood it, even though she didn’t have a child, which was really nice. ⁓ you know, usually you’re supposed to work a certain amount of hours. And I tried to get there, but it was like, hey, you know, I want to be home with Henry and ⁓ I need to be home. you know, she was just she allowed me that.
which was really nice. During our interview, she knew that I was grinding at the beginning. mean, our rec center was open from six to nine, and I was in there almost every single minute, just working, working, working. And then, now is my time to kind of be a mom, but then again, I transitioned to career, so I wanted to put that work in, but then again, it’s like, okay, falling back to I’m mom first, and then I’m this second. And so,
having just a lot of conversations with my husband and my parents of like, can we handle this? What does this look like? And thankfully Sarah was just super flexible. And I just appreciate her so much that she just allowed me to not always have to be in here all the time because it is a traditional thing. know, when you want to be a GA and you’re young, like you got to be grinding, you got to be doing everything. And, you know, I didn’t in a sense show up like that, but I was still respected and she still appreciated me in it.
ended up working out, ⁓ you know, thankfully really well. So yeah, I’m really appreciative of her and her patience.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, but you were grinding in a different way. know, obviously being a mom, there’s a lot, you know, cause when I was a GA, if I wasn’t at the facility, I was probably playing Xbox or something, you know, instead of taking care of another human being and ⁓ having a, you know, somebody I’m married to as well. So ultimately a very different experience, but I think that’s just so cool. ⁓ And what’s interesting to me as well is that I feel like it’s probably one of the most challenging ways you can approach your GA.
Maggie Smith :
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Connor Agnew :
⁓ And then on top of that, deciding, okay, this is still the career for me. Like going through such a challenging experience, but then deciding, okay, this is what I really want to do. Like, would you make that same decision again now being on the strength and conditioning side of things?
Maggie Smith :
Yeah, absolutely. And funny enough, my husband and I were like, well, we want to have another child. And so the GA kind of had that timeline of like, well, we can have the next one kind of then, not sooner, but a little bit later. And so it was funny, my second year I was pregnant pretty much the whole time ⁓ that I was finishing up my GA. And I walked in graduation, and four weeks later to the day, I had my second son. So yeah, it was a pretty cool experience. And really, the athletes, it was really cool. Hopefully.
Connor Agnew :
Wow.
Maggie Smith :
to see me be pregnant and be able to coach them and move around. was pretty cool, kind of once in a lifetime sometimes.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, I know. I do think that stuff is so cool. I don’t have kids yet. Hopefully it’s in the future for myself and my wife. But one of the things I love about college athletics is watching younger families. I mean, we have two coaches on our staff here. One has three kids. We’ve actually, all of them have kids. Now that I think about it. But one brings his six-year-old son to practice almost every single day.
Another has his son come by and you get to watch him grow up and you get to see the relationships that they develop with the athletes tool too. It’s just such a cool experience to see that. And they get to grow up with a lot of great role models around. I’m sure. that what you’ve seen too?
Maggie Smith :
Yeah, you know, Sarah was always like, hey, like, bring Henry in, bring Christopher in. And I’m like, really? Like, you think that’ll work? And she’s like, yeah. And I did. And it’s so cool to see the student athletes respond to babies and young children. I mean, you see a different side of them. It was when I first brought them into baseball, I was like, gosh, like, hey, like, I don’t know how this is going to go. These are baseball guys. it was like, all of a sudden, they just, it was like a ⁓ switch that just flipped and they were just like.
⁓ hey, Henry, like, do you want to, you know, and just like high fives and fist bumps. And I’m just like, this is so cool to see you all interact with my child and yeah, to bring them to the field and have them run around on the baseball diamond or take them to the soccer field and having them, you know, kick the ball at halftime or at the end of the game. It’s just, it is really cool. And you know, my boss now has a little girl and it’s so cool to see her just running around on the court for in basketball and just her little outfits. And it’s just, it’s awesome.
It’s really cool.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah.
Yeah. I’ll never forget when one of my best friends brought in ⁓ his child for the first time. He had a kid when he was a soccer strength coach for Tennessee. And just a funny story with this too, our director at the time, Dan Worth, he’s very big into like genetics and seeing how people are built. And he told me he liked me the first time because I had a big head, you know, and he was like, I always loved looking at head size. I’m like, all right, dude. so yeah, he brings his daughter in and ⁓ he meets her and he’s like, she is so cute.
Maggie Smith :
Okay, yeah.
Connor Agnew :
He goes great head, slightly bow legged. She’ll be a great sprinter. I was just like, all right, like relax. Exactly. And she is, she’s super fast now. think she’s seven now. So she’s super fast, which is just awesome. I think, I think that’s one of the sides of athletics that you don’t typically get to see, you know, unless you’re involved in it every single day. Cause you know, that’s concern of mine too is how much can you actually be home for your family? But knowing that you can actually bring your kids in and
Maggie Smith :
There you go. Mm-hmm. Look for that little toe in for those sprinters. You’re like, you’re going to be a quick one. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew :
bring your family in and have them be excited about being there. It’s very cool.
Maggie Smith :
Yeah, and we’re fortunate enough, you know, we have three strength coaches on staff and then we have a GA. So ⁓ our load in a sense is pretty light, I feel like, to other places. So there’s a lot of freedom to be home when needed and if needed. So that’s an awesome perk to have.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, absolutely. Well, you you also say you spent 13 years as a personal trainer and then transitioning into the collegiate side. Like how was that experience changing from, it’s a different field essentially, you know, it’s a subsection of the field, but you treat things a lot differently. My interns who have been personal trainers before always have a lot of questions about why we operate the way we do within strength and conditioning. So how was that experience for you, especially with 13 full years, that’s a really long time to be in one subsection and then switch to the other.
Maggie Smith :
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and thankfully, I worked with kind of every age group. So I did get to work with athletes that were high school and college. And then I worked up to my oldest client, I think, was almost 80. So ⁓ I had a little bit of some young life ⁓ in my everyday, which was nice. yeah, transitioning, thankfully, Sarah was pretty hands off with me, which I think is somewhat kind of rare. But she knew I had that experience.
So she allowed me to have a little trial and error and let’s see how this goes. And she provided feedback when needed. I would come to her with questions. ⁓ honestly, I’m not the yell in your face cuss at you. So it was pretty seamless to transition from one to the next. I just had to be sometimes a bit more vocal and be a bit more of a leader and a little less conversation like you would in a personal training session. ⁓
Yeah, thankfully my athletes were super patient with me and accepting and just knowing where I came from and that just made it so easy to really transition into that role and you know after two, three years kind of developing into the strength coach that I want to be and ⁓ yeah it’s thankfully the freedom has helped me.
grow into a direction that I want to be and not forcing me into some place and someone that I don’t want to be. So yeah, it’s different, but I think it all works together.
Connor Agnew :
That’s awesome. you know, seriously, it really is a good testament to, to having good mentors and people who allow you to kind of work your way through things, especially with your experience. Like ⁓ you have more experience as a PT alone than I do as just a regular strength and conditioning coach. So if you were to come work with our department, you know, I’d be asking you a lot more questions probably than you’d be asking me. So it certainly makes a difference. You know, what were kind of some of the things that surprised you about strength and conditioning?
Maggie Smith :
Good question. I feel like I wasn’t surprised by much. I think just because all the years under my belt. ⁓ Maybe having relationships with student athletes, know, my big thing, I’m trying to talk to them as much as I can. And I think the surprise came when I would talk to them, how mature they were in having a conversation back with me. And I really appreciated that.
So I think I was surprised maybe more with my athletes and how they responded to me because a lot of them didn’t know how old I was, that I was a mom, that I came from a different career. And so I kind of hid that just a little bit, didn’t want to overshare, just because I didn’t know how they would take that. I was almost worried, like, are they not going to think I’m qualified to do this job and whatnot? So I think the surprise came the more I shared.
the more they connected with me and the more responsive they were and respectful to me. And they’ll come up to me, hey, how’s Henry? How’s Christopher? And I’m like, they’re great. Thanks for asking. What are they doing? They’re curious. They want to know. And ⁓ I think that was the biggest surprise is them doing that. it felt really good to me. And it means a lot to a coach to see the younger generation, how responsive they are and appreciative.
They actually do want to know about you. ⁓ yeah, so that was probably, honestly, the biggest surprise that I’ve had. And you know, I’m still pretty new to the strain and conditioning world, so I’m sure I’ll have a lot more surprises come my way. But that’s been the initial one so far.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, I like what you bring up there and I appreciate that you say the younger generation as a whole because I feel like when I talk with other coaches, there’s a lot of almost negative talk about the younger generations because of the social media lack of attention span. And there’s been research that comes out that shows that these things are legitimate problems compared to previous generations. ultimately, it feels like how I would imagine
Maggie Smith :
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew :
you know, somebody who grew up listening to jazz, but thinking about like EDM music, right? And like, they’re just like, this is crazy. I can’t believe that people are, this is the world now, right? But then I think about, okay, well, I love EDM. You know, I love listening to EDM. What’s going to bother me in 20 years? You know, and I’m going to say, this is crazy and this is dumb, right? So I appreciate you saying that because ⁓ I found the exact same experience is that people really care and people are really invested. Like when I came back from my wedding, that was like the number one thing I talked about for a week. And it wasn’t just like, how was the wedding?
Maggie Smith :
it.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew :
It was like, okay, how was this? What about this part? Yes, yes, exactly. Yeah, 100%. And it feels like you can be closer to them. It feels like you can develop even better relationships with them.
Maggie Smith :
Those little details, yeah. Just makes you feel really good. You know? Yeah.
Exactly, yeah. I think that’s just super important and obviously I love building relationships and so when I can chat with something about something we have in common, it just builds that trust and that buy-in just so much more. It makes it happen so much more naturally and organically. So yeah, lucky.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah.
What are those things that you really focus on when building relationships? What are kind of the key points that you really kind of try to hammer home when starting with a new team or starting with a new athlete?
Maggie Smith :
Yeah, so ⁓ usually I’m able to get the roster a little bit in advance of when I’m gonna see the athletes which is nice because I My goal in the first two weeks is to know everyone’s name usually now it’s within the first week But when I was brand new and I gave myself two weeks, but now it’s like, okay How soon can I get to them? So I’m googling them. I’m checking their Instagram if it’s not private and I’m like, okay Where are they from? You know, do they have a dog? What’s do they have siblings? What other sports did they play?
So that way when I meet them, I’m like, oh, he’s, and I’m like, so where are from? And I can try to have a connection, like, oh, I vacationed there, whatever it may be. And so, yeah, I think just building that relationship is just super invaluable. I hope my student athletes find it, you know, genuine too, because I appreciate when my athletes come early to lift, because then I can be like, hey, how you doing? How’s the day? You know, it’s like, fine. I’m like, oh, OK, so like, did you eat before this? You know, and they’re like,
like she wants to talk to me. So I’m trying to really have as much conversation with my athletes, a genuine conversation that I can. So ⁓ that way the buy-in and the trust is there. So it’s nice because now my athletes, for the most part, know me. they’re like, hey, Maggie, yeah, so I had this to eat. I feel like they’ll tell me more things. And the conversation is just that much more meaningful and makes you feel good. So yeah.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, they can definitely sniff it out when it’s not genuine.
Maggie Smith :
Absolutely, yeah, they’ll call you out and you know, I let my ⁓ teammate or my teams kind of in a sense do their own thing in the weight room. They’ve got a lot of free reign. They can choose the music. You know, I don’t mind. I just want it quiet when we start. ⁓ But yeah, so I give them a lot of freedom, ⁓ but also, you know, hoping for a lot of respect as well too. And they give that to me so they they earn the freedom to kind of, you know, go off and try a few different things that.
you know, maybe a regular strain and conditioning coach wouldn’t allow them to do. But yeah, I appreciate my athletes and until they show me that I shouldn’t allow them all that freedom, you know, I’m gonna let them go. So yeah.
Connor Agnew :
But the freedom is way more fun, seriously, because that’s where you, like you said, you get to see kind of more genuine, ⁓ you know, I would say examples of who the athletes are. ⁓ It’s tough because I remember I’ve always, I’m a very similar type coach to you. I don’t really yell a lot. ⁓ I remember when I was younger, I used to try to like hype people up a ton, you know, but now it’s kind of more just like, all right, let’s just have a great lift. But our lift yesterday, even I was like, you know what? This is as loose as it could possibly be, but then I’m.
checking reps, I’m checking sets, everybody’s doing everything that they need to do and they’re getting really high quality work done. They just happen to be laughing and dancing a lot in between. And I was like, you know, what’s the problem with this? Like, why am I so anti this? It doesn’t have to be this militant style. There can be a lot more freedom. And I think the athletes like it a lot more that way. They like coming in when it’s like.
Maggie Smith :
Absolutely, and like women’s soccer, I learned so many different dance moves from them. They’re hilarious. You know, and their song choices. you know, then sometimes baseball turns on things and I’m like, do we like this music? Like, really? And they’re like, Maggie, it’s bad. And I’m like, it is bad. But hey, if it gets you guys motivated and wanting to work, who am I to say turn it off? So yeah, go for it.
Connor Agnew :
Hehehehe
Yeah,
absolutely. And it’s just, you know, it’s fun. You get to see the genuine side of them and they actually want to be there, which makes a big difference, seriously. ⁓ You you mentioned something really interesting ⁓ at the beginning, which was that you just found a love for weightlifting early on in your high school career. ⁓ A lot of times what I’ve noticed with, ⁓ you know, females is that typically they’ll start stuff a little bit later in college when they get exposed to it. They don’t, in my opinion, society doesn’t kind of push.
Maggie Smith :
Yeah, exactly. It does.
Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew :
females towards the weight room earlier on. ⁓ I remember like in our extra lifting hours at my high school, it was all guys all the time. ⁓ And it was a very, you know, like it was exciting for me. And I remember there were other female athletes that I was friends with who were like, yeah, I’d love to like weightlifting and everything, but it kind of just seems like a bro fest a little bit, right? ⁓ Which was, which is correct, you know, and that’s what it was like. But you mentioned lifting with the football team. You mentioned an early love for strength and conditioning. Like how did that first come about?
Maggie Smith :
Yeah? yeah.
Connor Agnew :
And what was ultimately the driving force for you to continue with it and continue to grow your love for weightlifting?
Maggie Smith :
Yeah, so my mom was a physical education teacher growing up and she was actually mine and my sister’s PE teacher in elementary school. And so she would get up every morning at like 4 4.30 and work out. so seeing that.
I was like, okay, I wanna be like that when I grow up. And so ⁓ I had just a really good friend in high school whose dad was the strength coach. And so he would kind of pull me along and be like, come on, let’s go, let’s do it. And I’m like, all right, totally. So there were one or two girls every now and then I’d be like, hey, come meet me at weights. And they’re like, ⁓ we’ll see, we’ll see. But mostly it was just me. ⁓ so I think having him pull me in and then also knowing the strength coach was really helpful.
⁓
I just became so addicted. know, guys love seeing a girl lifting heavy weight and so therefore I would put as much weight on that bar that I could muster out. And just hearing them cheer for me and you know…
keep going Maggie it was like okay let’s do more let’s do more and so it just really motivated me and just you know made me want to keep doing it because I was having such great success in the weight realm and then when I came to NKU you know we were division two I think truest arena which is our weight area was built maybe the ours my sophomore year and so we we weren’t working out but I was going in there asking questions like hey can I can we do a workout like and so I was going in there as much as I could and then
And then when it wasn’t open, was going over to the rec center and doing my own thing. So I just, you know, after what high school kind of did to me, I was like, well, I can still do this. It just needs to be done in a different manner. You know, you don’t know what you don’t know. So I just kept trying to educate myself.
and it’s just stuck with me my whole life. I of course I love seeing athletic performance results, but now being a mom, you know, how can I keep up with my one and four year old and not feel like I need to lay down at the end of the day completely exhausted? You know, I still want to have some energy. so, yeah, it’s to me, it’s just been super addicting. And it was a very positive experience in a sense from day one, even though the career didn’t end and that put a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth.
It was just inspiration for me to just keep going and get better. And so that’s what it led to. And I think that’s what I try to instill in my athletes too is I want the weight room to be a very positive experience and a warm welcome. So that way, we’re teaching these kids not just the X’s and O’s and how to lift, but also what’s life after this. And I want them to see a weight room.
And remember, I had a really positive experience in that weight room. That’s a safe space for me, and I’m going to go to it as much as I can. And it may not always be perfect, but it’s a place for me to go that I know I’m safe and I enjoy, I have great memories of. And you know, that’s just what I’m hoping ⁓ carries my athletes through, you know, to their next big chapter in life.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, I just, love that. And I think it’s just so important because I mean, if I were to ask my team right now, who wants to go to the NBA? Everybody’s raising their hands, right? And ultimately ⁓ my three years I’ve been here, we’ve got one guy who’s been able to have a two way contract, right? And so ultimately it’s just not in the cards for everybody, but everybody is going to continue to have to be physically fit for the rest of their lives. And one thing I tell them too is you guys are naturally going to be leaders having been college athletes.
Maggie Smith :
Yep.
Yeah.
Connor Agnew :
⁓ You’ve been around leadership a lot more whatever career field you go into you You know people will typically see you as kind of leaders and you’ll be more confident and you’ll be more comfortable working in team settings so Ultimately like that happens and you become leaders of your family and you set the example for them So you have to have these basic tools to be able to keep enjoying lifting and it’s discouraging to me it sucks when you see people who just like
when they say like, once I’m done with volleyball, once I’m done with basketball, I’m never gonna lift again, because I’m sick of lifting, or whatever. Maybe it’s like, well, what can we do? Like, seriously, what are the things that we can do to make it more positive for you? Because it’s sad when you see people on planes who can’t lift their own bags up overhead, right? When it’s just these basic small activities that just really affect your life, once you get older, if you’re not able to continue to stay physically fit, those things are gonna be a struggle for you.
Maggie Smith :
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Connor Agnew :
I love that you focus on that because it’s a huge part of life. It’s something they really need to be concerned with.
Maggie Smith :
Absolutely, yeah, and you know, we don’t have many kids that go to that next level. Fortunately, I’ve had a handful of baseball guys that have, which has been nice, and you know, I’m always asking them questions like, well, hey, what’s your strength coach doing? What’s going on? ⁓ But yeah, you know, when I hear, very few, but when I hear the I’m done when I’m done, it’s like, well, hopefully you take a little break, but then you come back and you realize.
You know, I did have a lot of fun here and it doesn’t have to be as intense or I don’t have to always do all the sets and reps but yeah, hopefully they find that they want to get back to it, that they missed it little bit.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, I really hope for these. And there was, I remember there was one player we had with basketball who was awesome. I loved working with him, but his diet was terrible. And I was like, dude, the moment you stop working out, like you’re going to gain 10 pounds. Like, I’m just telling you this, like, so don’t stop working out. And I was like, and you need to fix your diet. And we just had that type of relationship where we could be very open and honest with each other. And so he stopped working out and then he became a GA and he’s, you know, stressed all the time and everything.
Maggie Smith :
Yeah.
Connor Agnew :
didn’t cut out the Burger King and he texted me, he’s like, all right, I gained 10 pounds, what do I do? I was like, yeah, I told you was gonna happen. ⁓ But then luckily after his hiatus, he made it back to exactly where he needs to be. So I’m happy with that. Thank goodness, yeah, seriously. And especially the ones who you don’t expect to, those are like the best texts to receive when it’s people you don’t really expect. Yeah, and they send you a text and you’re like, yes, please. Another really cool experience that you mentioned too is working with Pitfit.
Maggie Smith :
Right?
Good. It’s nice when they come back home. ⁓
Yeah, absolutely.
got him.
Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew :
I
think that’s so cool. Like you said, your family, know, even pre-show you were talking about how you guys love Indy car racing. You go to the Indy 500 every year. You know, how is that experience to be able to go home and tell your parents that you’re working with Indy car drivers and professional drivers? Because I remember when I worked with the jets, like I watched the jets growing up with my dad. My dad was always like, you got to meet Antonio Cromartie. You got to meet Nick Mangle, you know, like all this stuff. It’s a really cool experience. So how was that for you?
Maggie Smith :
you
Yeah.
⁓ Yeah, was ⁓ probably left me speechless. I mean, when I first saw Scott Dixon walk down the hallway, I’m like, my gosh, there he is. And I just kept walking, and I was like, wow, okay, I get to meet him today. This is pretty darn cool. And then JR Hildebrand, I got to meet, and Pippa Mann, and then up and coming James Hinchcliffe. And when James came on,
Jim, my boss, had to leave you. He I’m not just not gonna be here a little time. Do you think you can handle this? And he’s like, you’ll have other people. And I was like, yeah, I got this, totally. So I called my dad. I’m like, dad, who’s James Hinchcliffe? He goes, you need to Google him right now. You need to figure out everything you can about him. And ⁓ so I did. And I mean, we had some of the best relationships, just him and I talking about whatever. But ⁓ I’m sure.
my dad and mom are better at telling you how I responded because I was probably just giddy and it was just so cool. And then, know, after a while it starts to soften but still it’s like when they walk through the door you’re like, my gosh, like I’ve watched you on TV for so long. And then I went to Mid-Ohio and Indycar and saw you race and now like I’m telling you what to do and you know, marking down your reps and your sets and it was just, it’s such a cool experience.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah
Maggie Smith :
I’m really glad I got to have that experience because it showed me ⁓ it’s within reach. How quickly I was just at Northern Kentucky University and then after a little bit of investigating and talking to my professor, he’s like, hey, I found this place. And I’m like, yes, please. And it was amazing. So how quickly your life can shift and being able to pivot, I think, is really important. Of course, when you’re young, you don’t have a whole lot of responsibilities in a sense of being a mom and
you know, work and whatnot. So I think when you’re young, it’s just super important to be able to pivot in those situations and say, yes, if it feels right, and it sure as heck felt right for me. And I think that’s just, it’s really important. And getting out of your comfort zone, you know, the comfort zone and then where the magic happens is all out here. And making sure you’re in where the magic happens more than you are in your comfort zone, ⁓ I think is just super important and has a a huge impact on your life.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, absolutely. I had almost the exact same experience. Just like I said with the Jets with football, like I remember that was at my second ever internship and I was like, wow, this is so cool. Like where this field can take me. ⁓ You’ll appreciate this story too, ⁓ especially as an Ohio State fan. I met Terrell Pryor. He was with the Jets at the time and this was like, you when I was truly stepping out of my comfort zone, you know, I get a little like socially anxious. I get a little awkward sometimes. ⁓ It’s funny that I now host a podcast, right?
Maggie Smith :
You
Connor Agnew :
Ultimately, ⁓ we were meeting for the first time and he had like, he’s got massive hands. He’s like six, eight, you know, super tall football player. And he’s holding like three Gatorades in one hand and then like a couple of bars in another. And so he’s like, Hey, I’m TP, nice to meet you. And like, he holds out his hand and I thought he was like trying to hand me the Gatorade. So I went like double hands underneath like to go grab them. And he was like, no, man. And then like, I brought my hands back and then I don’t know what possessed me to do this. He’s like, I’m TP, like repeated it, like tried to give me a second chance. And I just went.
Maggie Smith :
Bye.
No.
Connor Agnew :
hands straight back underneath again. He was like, no, man, fist bump. And I was like, ⁓ for sure. sure. Yeah. I was like, cool, man. Cool. But it was cool because like you said, you get to meet these people who, you you’ve had ⁓ endless exposure to them on TV, but you never actually get to meet them. Then you find out they’re just normal people, ⁓ you know, who have their own lives and everything as well too.
Maggie Smith :
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not bad. Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah,
so yeah, was just talking average, talk, hey, what are you doing later today? Where are you going to dinner? How’s the girlfriend? Just average conversation. You’re like, okay, all right, yep, okay, perfect. Okay, yep.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, you’re just a dude.
So you mentioned, you know, your GA allowed you to kind of grow into the coach that you really wanted to be. And then I know you’ve already mentioned kind of one of your principles is having a positive weight room. ⁓ What are some of your other core principles as a coach? What are the things that you really focus on with your teams?
Maggie Smith :
I think just being consistent for them, showing up, obviously consistently making sure ⁓ I’m at lift or at practice as early as I can be to have conversations. then kind of leaving mom, wife, friend at the door and coming in as Coach Maggie for them every single time and being consistent in my attitude I think is very helpful to them because they always know who they’re going to get then.
So just making sure that I’m showing up for them every single day consistently. I think they appreciate. ⁓ then that just allows, you know, for the lift the day to kind of go as is. They’re not going in, what, is Maggie in a bad mood today? Like what, you know. So I think just making sure I’m consistent. And then like I said, I like being, if I can, if I don’t have a team, you know, showing up to things early if I’m meeting them on the field or obviously if they’re coming in the weight room.
going and talking to them like, hey, how you doing? And if I have a minute, going and sitting by them and like, hey, how’s the day? What’s going on? Talk to me. Building those relationships, like I said, for the buying and the trust. So really, are my go-tos. Thankfully, I don’t have to get upset really with my athletes, which is nice. ⁓ There have been a few times where I’ve had some resistance and
My thing is I kind of just get it with kindness. Like how kind can I be to them? Like maybe something’s going on. Hey, know, do you want to talk about it? What’s going on? And then usually it just naturally dissolves and, you know, we can move on. But there’s been, you know, a few times where I’ve had to get on a little bit and baseball, you know, one time was being a little rowdy and I didn’t mind it. You know, they were all doing what they needed to do. We were all safe. We all having fun. Well, then I could tell it was kind of
getting on the nerves of some of other players. was like, all I gotta nip this in the bud, because it’s not good when not everyone’s on the same page. So there were a few players around me, and I was like, hey, we’re going to have a little conversation about this lift afterwards. So finish up, because we were almost done. Finish up. And all of sudden, they’re like, turn the music off, get your lift done, clean it up, Maggie’s going to talk to us. And it was like, did I sound that intense? But I went in and talked to Sarah. was like, hey, I’m going have a little conversation. They’re being a little too rowdy, and I can just tell. And she’s like, ⁓ you’re
Okay, and so even she came out and I was like hey, you know if y’all want to act like average Joe’s and you know Do this and be all rowdy then we’ll just go to campus rec with everyone else You know and it’s pretty much all you have to say to a baseball players acting like average Joe’s and they kind of shape up so But it was it was just interesting to me of I didn’t yell at them I’m sure my tone shifted a little bit But you know don’t take my niceness for weakness and I think when they hear that tone change
It’s like, ⁓ okay, she’s, okay guys, listen up, you know? And so it’s nice that I don’t have to get angry at them to get that attention and to get what I need. ⁓ You know, and honestly, that’s happened once or twice and I’m entering year four and I’m grateful that I, you know, my athletes are nice and responsive and responsible and show up on time and all that stuff. So I don’t really have to get on them. So ⁓ I did work with women’s soccer this morning though, and I got on.
bit but so they’ll listen to this podcast and go wait a second ⁓ but yeah they I it’s you know you just find what team responds to what the best you know some years it’s you know I can stay calm and I’m good and other you know other teams athletes come in and I got to kind of just tune everything just a little bit differently ⁓ you know and I can see this you know and this women’s soccer team for instance ⁓ you know they’re getting ready to start their season they just needed a little
rein it in and so I got as like hey can we have a little real talk here and I said a few words and then afterwards I’m like hey I’m sorry like that’s not like me let’s have a great practice but like you know I just want to make sure that we’re setting the tone we’re getting 1 % better each day because at the end we all have the same goal so I just want to make sure you know that we’re we’re ready to go and do what we need to do so yeah
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, no, no, no, I think that’s awesome. And I think those two things go hand in hand when you talk about being consistent every single day and then also not having to be a scream and yell in your face type of coach. Ultimately, if you are the same every single day, they know any deviation from that means that something is probably seriously wrong, right? Or some grave mistake has been made too. Yeah, my players know when I stand in one spot in the weight room, that’s a problem.
Maggie Smith :
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Ready?
Connor Agnew :
Like, you know, cause you, every single time, every other lift, you know, I’m moving through as much as possible through the weight room, trying to go talk to everybody. When I stand in one spot and I’ve just kind of got my arms crossed, I’m looking at something, they’re like, all right, something’s going down. So we got to make sure we, you know, figure it out. So, ⁓ but ultimately that consistency piece really is what plays into it and allows you to kind of, like you said, you don’t have to be the screaming your face coach. You can just say just a couple of words and they’ll know that it’s different from how Maggie typically is. So.
Maggie Smith :
Mm-hmm.
What’s up? Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew :
Now we know
for a fact that we’ve got to correct what we’re Is it the same way with your kids too?
Maggie Smith :
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, definitely. You know, one is one years old, so he’s still figuring out. ⁓ But the other is four. And yeah, he knows, you know, when mama, mama’s upset a little bit. So ⁓ but yeah, he’s he’s very kind, you know, because when he gets upset, you know, Henry, do you want to hug? Do you need a hug? And so I’ll come over, mama, you need a hug? And I’m like, yes, I do. Please give me a hug to calm me down so I don’t yell anymore or whatever I’m doing. So
Connor Agnew :
Hehehehe
That’s awesome. Well, there you go. He’s very emotionally in tune, which is fantastic. So my final question for you, and you know, I’m just curious about this because you’ve had an extended career within the physical training field. know, you said it’s only your fourth year going into strength and conditioning, but I had that into your experience with the personal trainer at 17 years that we’re working with. And then let alone your own training age as well, too. You know, what advice would you give to young strength coaches at the start of their careers?
Maggie Smith :
Yes, he is.
Thank
Yeah, for me personally, I think asking more questions. I wish I would have asked a dozen more questions than I did. I view things from the back and I like to just see what’s going on. So for me, it would definitely be ask more questions. And then I think for everyone else, my goal, and I told Sarah this going in, was why I wanted to shift careers a bit was to never be the smartest person in the room. Otherwise, you’re in the wrong room.
And for me to make sure that I’m pushing myself out of my comfort zone just keeps making me better and better. And so I think saying yes to a lot within reason as a young strength coach is really important. Networking as much as possible. I mean, how easy is it now with social media? I’ve reached out to a couple of coaches that I really admire. And I’m just like, hey.
I’m a new strength coach and I’ve got some questions and they are super responsive and they’re big time names and I’m like, my gosh, like this person is messaging me back. Like he is taking time out of his day to give me feedback on a question that I have. ⁓ So yeah, I think just putting yourself out there. Like I said, comfort zone where the magic happens. Make sure you’re out there where the magic happens and I think that will just push you into, ⁓ you know,
such a better person and say yes as much as you can, work as hard as you can, all the obvious things. But then again, stay true to yourself as well. Things happen for a reason, I think, most of the time. And so there’s a reason why I didn’t have a great end of my high school career, which then led me into all the things and my next chapters in life. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m so happy where I’m at.
And ⁓ I just feel lucky, which I think is a lot of hard work and opportunity put together. ⁓ And so, yeah, I just, I appreciate all this and now I’m on a podcast, which is pretty crazy. Thanks, Connor.
Connor Agnew :
Well, was about to say, I reached
out to you over Instagram to be able to set this meeting up, right? So ultimately, I always, always encourage people to reach out. You know, the worst thing that can happen is you get no, or just not answer. And then ultimately like, what does that really change? Nothing. You know, one thing you said was asking more questions. What were the questions that you wish you asked more?
Maggie Smith :
Yeah!
Yeah. Yeah.
⁓ I think it’s like specifically at pit fit of honestly just like why do you train your drivers this way? You know ⁓ what goes into all of this? ⁓ What’s the season look like for them? So kind of those X’s and O’s questions ⁓ for that athlete and you know do you train? ⁓ You know cart guys different than Indy car guys and different things for them. It was really cool. They had a lot of hand-eye coordination stuff.
So I forget what the system was called, but it was all these buttons that would light up and then there would be ⁓ like numbers. So they would be telling me the number that they saw while hitting these buttons, but the numbers would only last a couple seconds. So I was, you know, just entranced with this machine, but ⁓ yeah, it would have been nice to know a little bit more. Do they help them with their nutrition and different things like that? I mean, now you have like an F1, you know, physio coaches and
They help you with all the breathing and the training and the therapy and they’re like an all in one. ⁓ I think just really seeing what Jim actually did with them versus my few weeks that I spent there ⁓ was honestly what I wish I would have asked. Just a better understanding of coaching.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, it helps you develop kind of your initial coaching process and then what goes into all future teams that you work with. Okay, my final, final question. Have you seen the new F1 movie? It’s awesome. It’s very cool.
Maggie Smith :
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
No, I haven’t. ⁓ My dad
saw it in theaters by himself and I’m like, really? Really? You couldn’t invite me? I’m like, come on. you know, it’s like, well, you’re right. I have the boys that are, you I don’t know if my one-year-old Christopher would have lasted through the movie, but ⁓ yes, fingers crossed. I’m hoping to see that. But yeah, when F1 is on, it’s always on at my house and the boys know, like, mama’s watching F1 and they got their cars and they’re all excited about it. So.
Connor Agnew :
I did the exact same thing.
Maggie Smith :
Still a very true, you know, avid Formula One fan and a little bit of an IndyCar fan as well still, especially when it’s the 500, so yeah.
Connor Agnew :
Yep, absolutely. That’s awesome. Yeah. I, um, I only bring it up because I was thinking there’s like a training montage where, know, they have the young, you know, kind of up and coming driver. Um, and he’s doing, you know, blood lactate threshold testing and all this stuff. And then Brad Pitt’s doing, you know, uh, chin ups and pushups and it just cracks me up. Yeah.
Maggie Smith :
Thank
Yeah, right. I know like
all the things that, you know, it’s nice coming back here being a Division I school now and, you know, seeing all the perks. I’m like, girls, guys, I didn’t have this. This is amazing. Making sure you’re taking advantage of every opportunity because this wasn’t here when I was here, you know, and they kind of, they know my age now. You know, I’m 36. I have two kids and they’re like, oh, you’re 36? And I’m like, yeah, I’ve had a different life prior and now, yeah, so.
Connor Agnew :
Mm-hmm.
Maggie Smith :
But yeah, I’m like this university is just, it’s amazing. I’m so happy and fortunate to be a part of it and I’ve got, I think, the best drink staff here to support me as well and I’m just so grateful.
Connor Agnew :
That’s awesome. What I love to do with our athletes is ⁓ remind them of pricing. What I’ll tell them is like, cause my wife is the dietitian here, I’ll say, she charges, I know for facts, she charges $75 per hour session with somebody who’s not part of the university. And so you can get this for free, right? Or like my personal training stuff is pretty much the exact same price as well too. like be aware of those things because these are all free resources for you. to take advantage of them as much as possible.
Maggie Smith :
Right?
Mm.
Yeah. Yeah, right?
And once you graduate, you best believe I’m going to start charting you. So take advantage, ask questions. so, but yeah. ⁓
Connor Agnew :
Exactly. Yep. A hundred percent.
Well, Maggie, thank you so much. I really enjoyed getting to know you better. know our listeners definitely enjoyed hearing about your experience as well, If somebody wants to follow you on Instagram, social media, what would be the best way to do that?
Maggie Smith :
Yeah, Instagram is pretty much where I post weekly reels of what my week is, and it’s coach period Maggie Smith. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, thanks Connor, this has been great.
Connor Agnew :
Awesome. All right. Well, thank you, Maggie. I really appreciate you.
Absolutely.
