S02-E210 Experiences in Strength and Conditioning with Keegan Smith

S02|E210

Experiences in Strength and Conditioning with Keegan Smith | Samson Strength Coach Collective

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Samson:
What’s going on Sampson Strength Coach Collective listeners? On today’s episode, we have Keegan Smith.

I’m very excited to have you on the show and we initially met. It must have been three years ago now. I believe when you came up here with Georgia Southern women’s basketball and we got to introduce ourselves and extremely personable guy. So I’m very excited to have you on the show man. Thanks for coming on.

Keegan Smith:
Absolutely, man. Hey, it’s a pleasure to be on here. Like we talked about a little bit earlier ago, you know, this is my first podcast. So wouldn’t want to be doing it with anybody else.

Samson:
Look at that. Thank you. That’s a great, I appreciate that, right? Because I always try to make people feel comfortable and feel like we can just have a good conversation. So, all right. Well, can you just break it down? Can you tell us the story of Keegan Smith and then what’s brought you to Georgia Southern?

Keegan Smith:
Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, so I was actually introduced to strength and conditioning at a pretty young age. I grew up playing high school football in the state of Alabama. And so ⁓ I’m sure as most people know, it’s pretty pretty big time football over that way. So as early as seventh grade, you know, they had us in the weight room. You know, so I have some memories of, you know, being 12, 13 years old, you know, working hard to try to get to the 500 pound club is a thing that we did. Whereas it was clean squatting bench, I think. But

You know, only the biggest and baddest were doing it at the time. So, you know, all the way through high school, just always being in a weight room and got really familiar with, you know, at the very least just the core lifts. So, you know, just being comfortable in the weight room was something that I kind of noticed early on, something that came a little natural to me. And then fast forward to, I ended up going to the University of Alabama as an exercise science student.

And, know, I think later on, this was around my junior year. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what I wanted to do. I think at the time I was thinking, PT, and then kind of looked at the coursework and what, what some of that stuff consisted of and quickly turned away. And so, you know, I’m, a really big sports guy. So I knew I wanted to be involved in sports and some capacity. ⁓ it started thinking a little bit about strength and conditioning. ⁓ and I was actually talking to a buddy of mine one day. He was a punter on the football team at Bama.

⁓ He was actually a former teammate of mine from high school. But I mentioned to him I might want to be a strength coach one day and he kind of mentioned how Coach Cochran and his staff ⁓ use a lot of interns, a lot of students to kind of help them out with their operations. So ⁓ he offered to get me connected with him. so ⁓ going into my senior year, I was able to get connected with Coach Cochran and them and got that opportunity. And so I did that for the entirety of my senior year over there and was it.

Awesome experience. We didn’t win a national championship that year. We did win the SEC, but I think just just being around that championship culture and it kind of hit the ground running full speed in terms of strength and condition and seeing at a really high level. So, ⁓ you know, once I graduated, I knew I wanted to continue to be in the field. So started to look for graduate assistant opportunities. And then another cool little story, the same guy that got me connected with Coach Cochran.

ends up transferring to Jacksonville State to play ball over there. And so I reach out to him and I just asked to get me connected with his, his training staff over there. And so I ended up talking with them and got lucky enough to get offered a graduate assistant position, which was a really good experience because it was a lot of help with the football team, but we also had Olympics sports come through our weight room as well. So I got to.

⁓ assist with some of the bigger teams like baseball, volleyball, those type teams. And then I actually got the opportunity to ⁓ program and oversee some smaller teams for myself as well. And so through that experience, I started to learn a little bit that I might be more of an Olympic style type of guy, like on the Olympic side of things. So around the time I was about to graduate from grad school, an opportunity at Louisiana Tech opened up

with on the Olympic side of things with coach Blake Talis, you know, got connected with him and and he ended up bringing me out there with him. So helped him out with everything basketball and then kind of the same thing got to, you know, program and oversee for some of my own teams as well. ⁓ Loved my time there. It was awesome. But, you know, it was only a part time gig. You know, you always hear, you know, part time gig, full time hours. So from day one, Blake was really good, though, because

From day one, he said, start applying for jobs. know, start applying for your full-time job. I’m glad you’re here to help me, but my job is to get you to a full-time spot. And so, man, I probably applied to a hundred jobs in my time there and went through multiple different interview processes, but it was really good practice and good experience and just, you know, getting to get connected within the field and talk to other coaches and get a lot of interview practice. so… ⁓

Eventually was able to land, you know, the full-time gig over at a small D one basketball school in Virginia called Longwood University, but got the gig over there with women’s basketball and some other teams as well. But that’s when I kind of got to start running my own basketball team. So it did that over there, spent about a little over a year there. And then, ⁓ you know, started missing home a little bit. I always jokingly.

would tell the people in Virginia this, ⁓ but I don’t believe that Virginia is truly the South, at least the part that I was in. so I’m like, you know, I’m a Southern boy. I was missing home a little bit. ⁓ you know, my guy Blake from La Tech actually reached out to me one day and kind of told me about an opportunity down here at Georgia Southern, got me connected with them. And after talking with, you know, my current director here, Kim, you know, it was a no brainer, you know, to come back down here. So.

Got the opportunity here. ⁓ I’m going on year two now or just finished up year two. But yeah, over here working with women’s basketball and women’s tennis and you we have a great staff over here. We have our own Olympic staff of six and so we operate out of two different weight rooms. We just opened up a brand new weight room over in our new basketball arena. So it’s really nice to have such a big staff because we’re not spread super thin.

We each have two or three teams and we’re able to really hone in on those. But yeah, man.

Samson:
We used you guys as an example when we were trying to get a third strength coach hired. ⁓ I remember reaching out to you and asking how many you guys had on staff ⁓ because we were trying to get a third full-time strength coach and then we reached out and said, man, like Georgia Southern’s got six guys on staff right now. So if this is our rival, we’ve got to make sure that we’re competing with them. So you guys helped us out a little bit on that front. So it’s always great. ⁓

I want to go back to the early straining conditioning, because this is actually a conversation I was just having yesterday with one of our guys who was in here lifting. Like that time is so informative. And I feel like when you are, like you said, in seventh, eighth, ninth grade, you can either learn to love or absolutely hate the weight room. And it’s all based off of the coaches that you had. Like what were some of the things that your coaches did that help foster your love for the weight room and help understand that this is a place for building you up, not breaking you down?

Keegan Smith:
Yeah. So, I mean, to be honest with you, I don’t think any of the guys that were running our lifts were probably truly certified or true strength coaches. It was just our football coaches doing it. But I think what one thing they did really well was just really emphasize how important what we were doing in the weight room was going to translate out to the field. And I think for us to like the school I was at at the time, they were winning state championships, like back to back. And so

Like we would go watch the older guys lift and like those guys are superstars to us, right? And so just kind of watching them and seeing what they were doing and, how much time and effort they were putting into the weight room. Like for us, it was, it was a no brainer, you know, to get in there and get after it. And like even I can remember in seventh grade, us kind of self leading it a little bit and getting onto guys that maybe weren’t, you know, doing as much as they should have been. And so, yeah, I think just once again, like being in that chain, kind of like I talked about.

at Alabama, like just being in a championship culture from starting in seventh grade, like we knew it was the only option was to lift, you know.

Samson:
Yeah, it just truly does make a difference because I remember in the sport that I was doing at the time was shot put, right? And so for me, ultimately, like that was a direct input and output, like how much work I put in the technique obviously helped with ⁓ how far I was throwing the shot put. But at the same time, like ultimately how much work I was doing in the weight room, the stronger I got, the further I could throw it. And it was very easy to see those things. And like you said, having guys to look up to, like we had an older guy. ⁓

Dan, I can’t remember his last name right now. I was going to name drop it, but I can’t remember anymore. But he was dead lifted like 315, which at the time when you’re in eighth grade, you’re like, this is the strongest human being on the planet. I can’t believe he’s actually dead lifted 315. And so he got me excited in the lift and it just made the world a difference. But I just think it’s so funny that we’re sitting here as two strength coaches talking about this and the way you’re missing something we gravitated to so early on. And it obviously changed kind of the trajectory of our

careers and I don’t know if this is the same for you and I guess this is my next question. When I was in school, like you said, I also didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a strength coach or not, but when I ultimately looked at what I enjoy in life and what I wanted to ⁓ see myself doing for the next 40 some odd years, it was going to be in a weight room and it was being a part of it. Was it the same case for you going back to your good memories of the weight room and growing up in that development type of area?

Keegan Smith:
Yeah, no, for sure. And like I said, I think first, I’m like I said, I’m a huge sports guy, right? And so I love the weight room. I love coaching. I love being in the weight room. But my favorite part is getting to be a part of teams, you know, getting to get into to be on get be there on game day and be at practices and travel with the teams. Like I just love the culture of being a part of a team. And so for me, like I think we have the best job in the world. The fact that, you know, we get to wake up on

Samson:
Yeah.

Keegan Smith:
in the sun belt, Wednesdays or Thursdays and Saturdays and go watch a game and sit on the sideline and cheer our teams on. So for me, I think first and foremost, comes to just being part of a team, just being around sports. Sports are everything to me, so.

Samson:
Yeah, it’s so cool, right? That we just get to watch games, you know? And that’s what I tell people all the time. It’s just like, yeah, I literally, like you said, I just wake up, we’ll stretch some guys out and then we’ll get a pregame meal. And then there’s nothing I can do during the game. Maybe a guy cramps up and I can help out a little bit there. But outside of that, like I’m handing out Gatorade cups at halftime, whatever it is. But I’m just enjoying and you get to watch a game and you have a little bit more emotional investment in it. Like when the Jets lose, obviously I’m upset because I’m a Jets fan, right?

But when, you know, Af State loses, I’ve been supporting this team and I’ve been a part of this team. And so when they lose it, it really bothers me. But when they win, it’s really, really exciting. Yeah.

Keegan Smith:
Yeah,

no doubt. I think too, like you said, just winning. Winning is awesome. I think I hate losing more than I like winning. But I think it just goes back to like I talked about, you know, in high school and then being at Alabama, just, you know, like I want to win a championship just as bad as these athletes do. You know, I’ve been lucky enough to put five rings on my fingers in just seven years, right? And so that’s one thing I really preach to my teams too is, ⁓ you know, like winning a championship doesn’t happen in a day.

Samson:
Hehehehe

Keegan Smith:
It’s a culture driven thing and it’s something that you have to be a part of day in and day out. And it’s a mindset.

Samson:
Hmm.

I think you had a really unique experience too, right? Because you go to Alabama and it’s funny that you say like, well, we didn’t win the national championship that year, right? And it’s just like, this is a program that obviously is built around so much success that it’s just like, if you don’t win the national championship, it’s like an off year, right? You still won the SEC. And I know every other school in the SEC besides maybe Georgia would kill just to win the SEC that year, right? And so it’s just so funny to see that, you know, but.

to be a part of a program like that, I’m sure taught you a ton about culture development and what it really takes to be successful. Is that right?

Keegan Smith:
Oh, absolutely, man. Like I can remember like my first week being there. And this is just a little story about how just like alpha mentality around the entire place from coaches all the way down to interns, you know, to us. And so, I mean, I can remember my first week being there. I think it was a Friday and we had just finished a really hard conditioning session out on the track. And I’m not going to name drop these two guys, but both of these guys are starters in the NFL to this day.

And probably about 10 yards away from me, I look up and these dudes are just throwing hands, just going after and I was like, whoa. And then these are big guys, like no shorter than six, five and no lighter than 250. So, I mean, I’m watching two grown men throw hands and I’m like, whoa, like this is real deal. This is real deal stuff. But it wasn’t out of any hate or anything. They were just, they wanna win. They wanna win championships and.

Samson:
Yeah.

Keegan Smith:
You know, it’s a dog eat dog mentality and you know, there’s there’s five stars all over the place fighting for spots on the field and you know, they want to make it to the NFL and that like I said, they want to make sure that they’re winning championships year in and year out. So I think just like you can feel it in the air when you walk into the weight room or walk out onto the practice field. Just ⁓ you know the tension but in a good way, you know, because people are ready to put in the work and then you know you see someone like Nick Saban walking around and like I said, you can feel the tension but it’s in a really good way.

Samson:
Yeah, it’s a presence that there’s, know, success has been had here and success is going to continue to be had here, which is exciting. How was it working for Scott Cochran? Because I mean, whenever I talk about, it’s so funny, I’ll have a couple of my players send me videos, right? And like, it’ll be like Scott Cochran, like the initial one. And the biggest one is him always when he’s screaming on the field, then he goes and does the weight room tour and he talks about the 45s and like he puts spinners on it. And I’m like, yeah, that’s the video that like convinced me that straining conditioning would be a sick job.

Like that was the first ever video I saw about it and what opened my eyes to this career. You know, how was it working for somebody who was so revolutionary for a lot of younger strength coaches?

Keegan Smith:
Yeah, no, I mean, was awesome. I remember going into it thinking, obviously, you’re probably almost a little scared of him, because he’s a really intense guy when he’s coaching and when he’s out on the floor. But just a really good, genuine dude. He knows how to tone it down when he needs to. His door is usually always open, and we could just pop in and just talk shop a little with him. He’s a really good dude, really genuine, easy to talk to. ⁓

Like I said, obviously on the floor and on the field is super intense guy, really loud guy, he was real good to us.

Samson:
That’s awesome. And seriously, I’ve heard nothing but great stories about him too, right? And like everybody always says, never meet your heroes. And I’m like, that’s one I’d like to meet, you know, that he’d make a difference for me a little bit, I think so. ⁓ And so you talk about kind of like the air being different in an environment like Alabama, you know, how do you bring that to your teams? What are the things that you try to take with you to help them understand that, you know, it does take a specific culture to win and to be continually successful year after year.

Keegan Smith:
Yeah. So I mean, one of the biggest things that I’ll preach and like I mentioned earlier, first thing I’ve emphasized to them, like, Hey, I want to win a championship just as bad as you do. Right. So it’s not like a me versus you thing. We’re in this thing together, you know? And so, like I said, just preaching to them that you’re not just going to walk out, you know, during conference tournament and winning championship out of nowhere, right? Like it starts in the summer, it starts on day one and it’s a day in and day out process.

⁓ you know, it’s not going to happen in one day. You’re not just going to randomly show up and, and win a championship. And sometimes it might, it might take multiple years, you know, but just I think too, you know, specifically in the weight room, being able to identify some leaders or, know, maybe even if there’s already a captain on the team that kind of share the similar mindset is you and kind of, you know, grabbing them by the hand and saying, Hey, like let’s preach this to the rest of the team. It can’t just be me. I need you helping me with this process as well.

Samson:
And what are those talks with those leaders look like? Do you take them aside after the lift? Maybe before lift you come in and say, this is what I really want to focus on today. How do you implement that with those players?

Keegan Smith:
Yeah, so I think it’s a little bit of both, you know, whether it be, I mean, because usually those leaders are the ones that are going to come in a little early, right? So I think getting close with them and then just having, you know, personal conversations with them a little bit before the lift and maybe talking a little bit about, you know, if they’re coming from practice, how was practice and what do we need to do to maybe ramp up the energy a little bit or I feel or feels a great practice. How can we continue that into the lift? And then, you know, let’s say we have a bad day in the weight room.

Just kind of pulling that leader to the side and just talking with them and saying, hey, like, what can we do? What can we do different? How can we, you know, motivate your teammates a little bit more or in a, in even if they had a bad day, talking with them and saying, Hey, like, I expect more out of you. I need you to be more of a leader. ⁓ You know, I know you’re maybe having a rough day, but, you know, your teammates are relying on you to, kind of lead them through the tough times.

Samson:
I love the collaborative aspect of it, right? Because I do feel like a lot of times with athletes, they can almost see it as a you versus them, right? Like the lift is like this punishment or something that you’re going to do. If it’s particularly difficult that day or, you know, like, ⁓ I’m a big believer in the back squat, right? We love using back squat a ton. So guys get sick of it, you know, and they’re tired of it. And they’re like, well, why do we have to keep squatting? Why do we have to keep doing these things? You know, and it’s just like, obviously I’m not going to give you anything that I think would hurt you.

you know, cause my job is directly dependent on seeing you succeed. But at the same time, like you said, I want to win just as much as you do and we’re in this together. And so it’s not a me giving you something hard just cause I like looking at, you know, people doing difficult things and struggling to do those things. Sometimes it’s a little fun, you know, but at the end of the day, I want to see you succeed. So I love the collaborative piece to it. You know, how do you, let’s say a player first gets on campus and you’re trying to get them bought into that process of a it’s us together. You know, what are the,

conversations you have with them, what are the things that you do to help them understand that?

Keegan Smith:
Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing is just building a personal relationship with them. I think especially number one on the basketball side of things, but number two in this day, the transfer portal, you know, where like you may have an athlete come in that has worked with four different strength coaches already in their career. Right. And so I think just trying to maybe stand out a little bit compared to their other coaches and just say, Hey, I truly am here ⁓ to get to know you as a person.

And like we talked about, like I’m here to collaborate with you and win as well. Right. And so I think just, you know, getting them to buy in and getting them to trust in you always starts with, ⁓ you know, a genuine personal relationship with them. So just a little small things like every day when my athletes come in, I’ll have them do a quick foam roll session and I’ll just take 10 seconds, you know, just to either a handshake or a fist bump. Just have a quick conversation with them about.

anything other than basketball or lifting, know, like maybe it’s class, maybe it’s family, maybe it’s music, you know, whatever it is. And I think those small conversations over time can kind of, can kind of build up into a bigger relationship. But I think just showing them that, you know, you genuinely care about them as a person and not just as an athlete, they can kind of start to trust and buy in a little bit more.

Samson:
Yeah, I think you bring up a great point too with the transfer portal. It has become a little bit more transactional. It’s become a little bit more, know, like what can you do for me? And then what can we do for your career too? And I’ve even heard of some programs saying that they’re just going to lean a hundred percent into that and literally just say, if you come here, you know, we’re going to do this for you for a year. And then maybe you transfer after that and that’s fine, you know, but we’re going to help you get these results. And then as a strength coach, I’m going to help you.

put on this muscle or mass or whatever it may be that your specific goals are. And then we know that you’re probably gonna be out of here at the end of the year, so that’s it. And once it becomes transactional like that, I think it loses a little bit of the excitement of coming in every day and the joy of it. Because like you said, it’s cool that we get to go see the games. There’s no doubt about that and I love that. But at the end of the day, it’s all about actually getting to know these people and having a solid relationship with them. And that’s what’s way more exciting for me. I don’t know if it’s the same for you.

Keegan Smith:
yeah, for sure. Like you said, I mean, think just being able to see them graduate or being able to see like your former athletes get jobs is awesome. And, you know, I do think we’re losing a little bit of that with the transfer portal, but, you know, at the end of the day, you know, we get most of these kids only for a year. I mean, not even, you know, in the, in the basketball world, maybe eight months, right? And so just really maximizing our time with them ⁓ from a physical development, but also making sure we’re helping them develop as people as well.

Samson:
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and the graduation piece is so interesting to me too. Like, how are these people graduating? Like, the guys who are going to four schools in four years, like, there’s no way you’re getting a degree. Like, I can’t believe it.

Keegan Smith:
No, and see, we’re really lucky here. We have a program called Apex, which kind of collaborates with the student athletes and helps them get prepped up for when they do graduate. And so I think if some of those ones are graduating with maybe more of a basic degree, we’re at least exposed them a little bit to career opportunities and kind of things beyond ⁓ athletics.

Samson:
Yeah, yeah. And that stuff is so important too, because there’s certain guys on the team who you love to death and then they’re like, what’s your degree in? Like, Rec Management. I’m like, okay, what do you want to do with Rec Management, And he’s like, well, I don’t know. Hopefully play basketball. I’m like, there’s gotta be next steps. So that’s an awesome program. I really liked that you guys have that. So you mentioned at Jacksonville State kind of understanding and obviously your career mostly started off in football and then.

And first of all, actually, the punter, he’s got to be in your wedding man or something with the amount of connections he gave you to first start off with with Alabama and Jacksonville State.

Keegan Smith:
Man, hey, I owe that guy my whole career.

Samson:
That’s awesome. But you you worked with football at both. And then obviously when you’re at Jacksonville state started leaning a little bit more towards Olympic sports. What drew you to Olympic sports? What was kind of the pull ⁓ for you to switch over from football?

Keegan Smith:
think for me it was just more of my style of coaching. I think working for a guy like Scott Cochran early on, and this was all of us in terms, we felt like we had to be Scott Cochran Jr. And bring that intensity and bring that he would call it juice. And I do think in the football world there is a place for that, right? I think you probably have to be somewhat of a version of that in the football world. Whether it’s genuine or not, think a lot of

Samson:
Mmm.

Keegan Smith:
head football coaches and a lot of players are probably looking for that. But I don’t want to call it laid back, but more like just not as intense, not as much screaming and yelling. And don’t get me wrong, like if I need to yell, if I need to be intense, obviously I will with my teams. But like if I try to go into a women’s basketball lift coaching like Scott Cochran, I don’t think it would get very far. So obviously, you you’re going to adjust your coaching styles a little bit depending on what team you’re working with specifically. But

⁓ I think it just kind of paired up a little bit better with my style of coaching. ⁓ And also on top of that, like I’m a huge football guy. And so being able to on Sundays, you know, watch NFL or even on the back end of Saturdays, watch a little bit of football and not have to really worry about anything else because I’m not involved with any football team, right? Like I’m over on the Olympic sides, coaching these guys and girls up, and then I get to watch my football on the weekend. So.

Samson:
That’s awesome. No, and I agree like the laid back style to me is more enduring, I would say. Right? When I think about how I could come into work every single day. Cause I remember when I was working with football, was the same thing. was that you had to be this super juiced up guy. You had to be overly excited, you know, and really, really have a ton of energy, which is fine if you can do that. But I remember like leaving at the end of the day and I was exhausted.

And then it was like, okay, can I really do 40 years of this every single day? Probably not, right? And so that’s the same thing that pulled me over too. But with you having your relationship based coaching too, and really trying to develop these relationships, I feel like it makes it a little bit easier versus, okay, Keegan’s always the hype guy. He’s the guy who is a little bit more laid back, but we can have a little bit more of a conversation as well too. Has that been your experience? Does it make it easier to have those relationships and develop them?

Keegan Smith:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think too, just the numbers too, right? When you’re looking at a hundred and nowadays, 105 football guys versus my 13 basketball girls, like that’s only 13 relationships that I have to create and I can make them a lot more genuine versus I kind of know 105 guys. but I get to really, really know these 13 girls. And so like I’m very relationship driven and being able to, like I said, have those genuine relationships with.

Samson:
Yeah.

Keegan Smith:
13 people versus a somewhat relationship with 105. So I think it definitely helps.

Samson:
Yeah, that’s one of the big things I always bring up too when people ask me why basketball is we’ve got 15 guys on the team. You can know 15 guys way, way better than you could 120, right? It’s literally, mean, because I remember Tennessee carried 120 and that was 10 times the amount that we have on one team right now. Like, and obviously you have your position groups and you get close with them, but like, I’d rather when we go out and see a full team play, I’d rather know everybody’s story and know what everybody’s going through. I think it just makes it way more fun. Yeah.

Keegan Smith:
Yeah, no doubt.

Samson:
Well, you talked about your coaching style, and I’m always curious about coach’s principles as well, too. What are some things that really drive you as a coach? And obviously, you preached to your team, understanding that we’re together. But what are some of your core principles that you really hang your hat on as a coach?

Keegan Smith:
Yeah, I mean, I’d say the first one is, ⁓ you know, just making sure that we’re drilling the details. And this is something I’ll always tell our teams, you know, early on in the summer, or even if I’m talking, you know, with recruits is like, we’re not going to do anything crazy out of this world. You know, I’m going to keep it really, really simple with the programming, but I need you to really make sure that we’re attacking the details of that simplicity. Right. And so whether it’s how we set up the weight room or how we clean or our squat technique,

or how we warm up. Like I said, it’s never going to be anything that’s overwhelming to you, but we really got to make sure that we’re drilling the details in those things. So I definitely say that’s one. ⁓ I think another one is, you know, I like to create an athlete led environment. And that’s what we touched on a little bit ago with, you know, just kind of early on trying to, you know, identify your leaders in the weight room. ⁓ Or like I said, if you already have a captain on the team, I think that helps as well. But

Um, just really setting them up to be able to, you know, lead their own environment. Obviously I’m here to coach you and here to, program for you and make sure everybody’s all good. But, know, I want them to sometimes set the tone. Like I want them to sometimes run the warmup if possible, you know, like I don’t want it to just be them listening to me talk to them all the time or coach them up all the time. Like I want them to coach each other up. I want them to lead themselves to the warmups or lead their teammates to the warmup. So I think just creating an athlete led environment.

I think it helps with a little bit of buy-in as well. know, letting them pick the music or letting them get some sort of selection with, you let’s say it’s a squat day and we’re in the off season. Well, if you want a back squat or front squat, I’ll leave it up to you. You know, like whatever I can get the most out of you with, let’s do it. So I think things like that. And then think the last one for me is just, you know, trying to enhance the student athlete experience as much as possible.

You know, I want the athletes to enjoy their time with me. ⁓ you know, I, I get it that, you know, every athlete doesn’t love the weight room, but I’ll tell my athletes this sometimes it’s like, I don’t need you to love the weight room, but I do need you to be in love with the process of getting better. And sometimes that involves, you know, being in the weight room and doing stuff with us. you know, whatever I can do to, you know, enhance their experience, like without them, my job doesn’t even exist. Right. So.

kind of just knowing the role of, you know, I’m here to support my head coaches in any way possible. And then, like I said, support these athletes as much as possible as well.

Samson:
And so the athlete experience is always so interesting to me, right? Because I get lost in this. This is like a personal fault of mine, right? Is I get hung up on the wins and losses. Cause like you said, I hate losing more than I love winning, right? And so, there’s a lot of emotion tied to each of those two. How do you not get lost in that emotion piece? And what I’ve noticed is as I gain more experience, I’m not getting better at it. I’m actually getting worse because then I’ve seen teams work in the summer and I know, okay, this is not how winning teams act.

And so then I get more upset. And then I feel like you can kind of ding into the experience a little bit and make it just not as high quality. Like how do you as a coach not get lost in that and really keep the athlete experience as the main thing.

Keegan Smith:
Yeah, I mean, like I said, I think like you said, obviously wins and losses are big time for us. But I think just not letting them see that emotion, right? Like if we take a tough loss, like don’t let them see it on your face. Don’t let them see you. You know, if they’re watching back on film, don’t let them see you slaps into your chair after a bad play. know, keep positive body language, ⁓ you know, on the outside that they can see. And obviously it’s okay to be upset about it, but you know, just don’t let them see it. ⁓

And I think just constantly reminding yourself, like I mentioned earlier, like why I’m here. You know, I’m here because of them. Without them, my job doesn’t exist. Right. And so just like I said, keeping it where, you know, I’m reminding myself that I’m here to service them, you know, and, not making it about myself and not taking things personal, but just remembering that I’m here to enhance their experience.

Samson:
That’s a great reminder. And I appreciate it because I love to make things about myself. If we lose, it’s because of me, right? It’s something that I did, right? Except for all the other factors that go into it. And we’re obviously just a small percentage of it. then, and so obviously the player led workouts for me are always the most beneficial and that’s where you see the most out of our athletes. But what do you do in situations where you don’t necessarily have a vocal leader for the team? Like I think about.

Keegan Smith:
Right.

Samson:
past teams we’ve had, like where we’ve had two guys who were really, really good lead by example kind of guys. But if you were to ask them to give a motivational speech before a game, it’d be like, all right guys, let’s go do our thing. You know, then that’s what all they’ve got. You know, what do you do in those situations? How do you kind of try to foster? ⁓ I mean, well, I guess this is my question. Do you try to foster a little bit more vocal leadership from those guys? Do you try to identify maybe younger guys who could potentially be good leaders or do you really just hang their head on that leading by example?

Keegan Smith:
Yeah, I mean, I like to just really let them be who they are as a person. Right. And so I think we could try to tweak some things about them, but I wouldn’t want to force an athlete that is more of a lead by example person to have to be a vocal leader. But, you know, like you said, if we are in a situation where, you know, I’m kind of noticing, all right, we don’t really have a vocal leader in here, but we do have a few that can lead by example. I think just small things like using them to help demo exercises or just kind of.

you know, not saying it out loud, but really emphasizing to the team, like, Hey, I’m really leaning into this person and I’m giving them a lot of love and I’m spending a lot of time, you know, hoping them improve. Like maybe you should do what they’re doing, you know? And so, ⁓ I think athletes, like they notice everything, right? So if they notice, know, you know, Hey, he keeps telling her a good job. Like what’s she over there doing? You know, and you look over and kind of see how she’s working and it’ll kind of rub off on you a little bit. So, ⁓ you know, I don’t think you necessarily have to.

to force one of those leaders to end up being a vocal leader, but just kind of leaning into what they’re good at and what they’re able to help you with in developing your culture and kind of going from there.

Samson:
Yeah, I love to do the clapping up. I’ll be like, everybody eyes on CJ right now or something. Because CJ is one of our best lead by example guys. It’s like eyes on CJ. Look at that’s a great RDL that he’s got right there. Clap it over CJ. And it kind of becomes funny. every once in a while, we’ll do a little joke about like, Mike grabbed a snack before lift and he usually doesn’t. Clap it over Mike. And everybody claps. And everybody laughs a little bit. But it’s an easy way to kind of highlight and just say, hey, this person’s doing a good job. And like you said, like.

Keegan Smith:
Ha

Samson:
If you care about doing a good job, you can understand that there’s certain habits or things that you do that get celebrated. And you might get a clap it up, which might be funny. And, you know, it might be a little awkward. And that’s why I love doing it too. Cause usually the people like get super awkward, especially when it’s like they’re in the middle of a lift and I’m like, Hey, everybody eyes on CJ, right? And they get a little nervous or whatever, but it’s always fun for me to, celebrate those things. I think it makes it very, very exciting. And then you talk about the details too, like.

I think details are so important. I think I got lost in that early on in my career. I kind of had a couple of years where I didn’t really worry about those things so much. When you say details, like you said, it’s leaving the weight room or how you set up the weight room. Is it logos up? How do you explain that to the athletes? Because even myself as a coach, I’ve gotten lost in those things where it’s like, does this stuff really matter? How do you explain the importance of that to those athletes?

Keegan Smith:
Yeah, so I tell them, I’m like, this isn’t military style stuff. You know, this is just about being an adult and taking care of the things that, um, you know, we’re providing to you and that you’re lucky enough to have as an athlete. So yeah, like we’ll do, we’ll do logos up. And that’s, that’s more of like an entire department thing, you know, on the dumbbells and stuff, but like, I’ll just really preach to them, leave it better than you found it. You know, I want whatever team comes in here after us to say, you know, Hey, that team picks up really well.

and they’re leaving the weight room in a good spot. And so, you know, we never want to be the team that everyone kind of rolls their eyes at and says, oh, you know, like they’re always doing stuff the wrong way or they’re always leaving a mess. You know, see, I really like to preach, leave it better than you found it. And I think most of that is probably just a little bit of my OCD too. Like if I see them leaving it the wrong way, it’s going to drive me crazy. And they know that. So yeah, just, you know, preaching to them, take care of the nice things that you have and be grateful for them. So.

⁓ like another thing too, and I think this goes into the athlete, lead environment is, and this is probably controversial. That’s what some other coaches might say, but I don’t do any sort of setup in the weight room. Like from day one, I teach the athletes how to set up certain exercises that we’re going to do. And I teach them to take pride in it. So, you know, obviously there are some things that I’ll get together that we’ll need for the day. But, ⁓ you know, I like to let them set the room up and, I think they enjoy it. So.

Samson:
I love that dude. so happy. found cause I don’t, I don’t set up anything either ever. It to me is the biggest waste of time for me to do a job for 15 athletes that they could all do one at a time. Right. And easily knock it out. And then it also gives them a lot more autonomy. My big thing too, is when we have recruits in, I’ll tell them, if you don’t know how to train yourself, if you don’t know after you leave here, how to do your own workouts or how to set things up yourself, then it’s a failure on me. And so if I do every single thing for them, then

you know, how are they ultimately going to know what they need to do? Or like, they’re never going to know what height the RFE pad needed to be. Or, you know, how did I set up a bands for this specific lift? And I do, I agree it’s controversial because some coaches are love the setup and I swear they get there way too early and they say, this is my reflective time or something like that. I hate setting up. It’s my least favorite thing in the world to do. So I’m so glad I found you.

Keegan Smith:
Yeah, I I think you touched on it where it’s like, could do it for 30 minutes or they could get it done in less than a minute, you know? And I think it’s gonna take you some time on the front end to show them exactly how you want it done, but it just helps you out on the back end for the rest of the year.

Samson:
Yes, yes.

I blasted one of my former interns. He was calling me and we were talking and he said, you know, we got a lift coming up in 45 minutes. I gotta start setting up. I said, 45 minutes? I you’re wasting 45 minutes of your day setting up for a lift and everybody else can knock this out right away. Like, what are we doing here? It’s a waste of time. So I do appreciate that. And so obviously you’ve had a lot of experience at different places, obviously going from Alabama to Jacksonville State.

Keegan Smith:
Hahaha

Samson:
to Louisiana Tech, then Longwood, now Georgia Southern. Like you’ve been to a lot of different places and you’ve seen a lot of things. We have a lot of young strength coach listeners or maybe even younger sports professionals. What is some advice that you would impart to these coaches as they’re beginning their careers? Besides not setting up, obviously.

Keegan Smith:
Yeah, I mean, I think the first one I would say, ⁓ and this is especially for interns and GAs is get close with the people on your staff, the people that you’re working for. These are the people that are probably gonna be teaching you most of the things that you’re gonna learn and most of the things you’re probably gonna carry with you in the long run. And so just kinda, like I said, get close with them, learn some of their styles, take some stuff from it and take some stuff that you’re like, hey, I’m never gonna do that. And I think that’s okay.

And I think too, so early on in your career, like these are the people that are probably gonna be on your shorter reference list because you are so early on in your career, right? So make sure that these people are saying good things about you when that time does come for a job to call them about you. And so I think kind of working outward on that would be get connected with strength coaches. ⁓

even just within your conference, Kind of like you and I did, get to ⁓ know the strength coach that works the same sport as you around the conference. Especially in basketball, we’re seeing each other twice a year, whoever the other strength coach is, right? And so just kind of build those relationships. ⁓ I mean, yeah, sometimes even three times a year at the conference championship, right? And so, yeah, I think just connecting with coaches that may have a job that you want one day.

Samson:
Yep.

Keegan Smith:
You know, and, um, you know, we say cold calls, but I think these days it’s just DMS and text messages, you know? And so, but just not being afraid to reach out to somebody that, that you may look up to or a job that you may end up wanting one day and just kind of asking them about their journey and some of the things that they’re doing. Um, you know, going to conferences and if you see somebody wearing a logo that you want to wear one day, go talk to them, you know, ask them how they got there and get connected with them.

⁓ and I think to add to their relationship piece is also get close with other people around athletics. Like some of the closest relationships that I have from some of these other schools are people that weren’t strength coaches, you know, like they worked in other departments. ⁓ I think especially at like here at the mid major level where. Like most of these assistant coaches are pretty young and they’re going to be head coaches one day. Right. And so just making sure that.

You’re getting close with them, you know, get close to the equipment staff, get close with the ATs because, you know, the carousel of jobs and athletics is never ending, right? And so just being able to be connected at so many different places through so many different departments is really important, I think. ⁓ And then I think another really big one too, especially in the day, the transfer portal where you’re meeting so many different athletes, you know, throughout the years, you know, as we know,

Most of the workers in athletics are former athletes themselves, right? So like we’re currently training the next generation of people working in athletics, you know? And so just, could be 20 years from now and you know, your former point guard might be an associate AD somewhere and he might call you up, you know, and just making sure that, you know, they’re carrying your name in a good way wherever they go. ⁓ And I think the last couple would be kind of what we touched on is like, don’t take things personal and don’t make things about yourself.

Right? Like I think it’s so easy for us as strength coaches to take things personal, right? Like if an athlete doesn’t love lifting or doesn’t love a specific lift, like it doesn’t mean they don’t like you. They probably just don’t like lifting, you know, or if a coach, ⁓ you know, cancels a lift one day, it’s not like coach looked at the team and said, Hey, you know, I hate Keegan. We’re not going to go lift today. You know, like there’s probably a reason behind it and that’s all right. Obviously we want to, you know, emphasize how important it is for them to come in each time that we have a

scheduled session, but you know, just don’t take it personal and be able to adapt from things like that.

Samson:
seriously, some awesome advice points. And I think there’s a lot of really important nuggets in there. The one I like that you really brought up is people kind of neglecting the assistant coaches, right? And they always get so concerned about the head coaches and the assistant coaches are, they’re all just future head coaches, you know, at some point, seriously. And the only thing I’d add to that too, is a lot of people like to almost complain about the head coach to assistant coaches sometimes. And it’s just like, okay, if that person’s thinking back to…

Okay, do I want to hire Connor down the line? And he was complaining about the head coach all the time to me, there’s no way I’m going to hire him because I know it’s not going to work out. Right. And so I think it’s just so important, like you said, to develop those relationships even outside of the actual ⁓ sport and like the equipment guys, like you talked about, right. Like we, whenever we have a new equipment guy start, I always buy a bottle of whatever liquor they like the most. Right. And then for some reason, Mike,

my gear always happens to have a little something extra or ends up, you know, making sure that it’s all here on time. And it’s just like, it just makes it easier for yourself when you get to know people outside of just strength and conditioning too. And it, and un-silos the profession a little bit too, cause I feel like you can be so crowded and sometimes people think, oh, strength coaches just want to talk to other strength coaches.

Keegan Smith:
Yeah, and I think too, just like with job hunts and job searches, right? Like if you know a guy at another school and even if he’s not in strength and conditioning, you’re able to get a little bit of insight on some jobs or some things that might be going on. So, ⁓ obviously we’re doing it for the actual relationship, but also being able to help you in your career as well.

Samson:
Yeah, that’s huge. And people like to not talk about the career. So I appreciate you talking about it because it is important, right? That is a realistic part of every single school that you ever go to is that there is always another job, you know, and so understanding how to best set yourself up for success is a real deal. So I appreciate that. Well, Keegan, man, I really appreciate you, man. It’s been awesome to get to speak with you on the podcast. Obviously, we’ve spoken outside of it, so I’m glad everybody else gets to hear you speak, too.

Keegan Smith:
Yes, sir.

Samson:
I hope it was a smooth ride for your first podcast. If it wasn’t, don’t tell me that. If anybody wants to follow you on social media, what would be the best way to do that?

Keegan Smith:
Yeah, so I’m on Instagram and that’s just keegs.smith. Yeah, that’s probably about it.

Samson:
Awesome. There we go. Well, seriously Keegan, thank you so much,

Keegan Smith:
Hey, I appreciate it. Like I said, this was my first one and wouldn’t want to do it with anybody else. It’s been a pleasure and an honor to be on here with you today, Connor.

Samson:
I’m glad that statement stayed the same from the end to the beginning there. So I appreciate that. Absolutely. Thank you.

Keegan Smith:
Absolutely. Yes, sir. Thanks for hanging tight with me.