On the latest edition of the Samson Strength Coach Collective, host Connor Agnew shares the personal experiences and professional reflections behind his decision to leave collegiate strength and conditioning.
Connor opens up about his departure from App State and how personal loss changed the way he thinks about time, family, and career priorities. The decision meant taking a closer look at what matters most to him and how he wants to spend his time.
The conversation also explores Connor’s experience with the changing landscape of college athletics. He reflects on NIL and the transfer portal, particularly how shorter periods with athletes can affect the relationships and long-term development that drew him to coaching.
Throughout the episode, Connor returns to the importance of making an impact. Helping athletes grow, building trust, and being present for family remain central to how he evaluates his next chapter.
For young coaches and those reassessing their own careers, this episode offers a personal perspective on recognizing when priorities change and making a difficult decision with support from the people around you.
Key Takeaways
- Personal loss can change how you evaluate your career, time, and priorities.
- Family deserves a place in conversations about professional goals.
- Meaningful athlete relationships are central to Connor’s passion for coaching.
- Connor reflects on how NIL and the transfer portal have affected his experience of athlete development and relationship building.
- Career decisions require honesty about what gives your work purpose.
- Support from colleagues and family can help you navigate a difficult transition.
Quote
“My passion is making an impact, not just winning.”
Connor:
really respect the decision I made because I feel like the career that I set out to have, I did everything that I wanted to do with it.
until the environment changed and because the environment has changed and and because my family needed me and I wanted to be with my family, I feel like I made a really, really correct decision.
What is going on, Samson Strength Coast collective listeners? today’s episode will be a solo episode. solo so if you will. I wanted to do this solo episode because I’ve shared this news with a lot of my dear friends in strength and conditioning, family and everybody. but I you know, the podcast has been a big part of my life. I’ve hosted it for three years now. so
There’s a lot of listeners and I I greatly appreciate each of you. So I wanted to share the news with y’all as well. And I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to talk about really a lot of my thoughts on collegiate training conditioning. and yeah, I guess I’m getting ahead of myself a little bit. I should probably share the news first. So you’ve noticed I if you pay attention or if you watch on YouTube, that I have a different background, you’ll see my amazing wife’s degrees. why
Wives. Yeah. Wives would be the plural. So wifes. Obviously, I have one wife. so the background has been different. I’ve been wearing a lot less of Abstate clothing. I’ve been wearing a lot more of the the Samson clothing. fantastic t shirt, by the way. got him at C S C C A. Special, special. and so, you know, I guess I’m formally announcing, I don’t know why I’m treating this like a press conference and not like a podcast. I’m formally announcing that I’ve left App State.
and part of a larger picture, I have left collegiate athletics. and man, what it was a it was such a tough decision and I wrestled back and forth you know with that decision for a really long time. and we’re gonna dive into it, right? And and kind of talk you through my thought process and
you know, why why I ultimately made the decision and then, you know, some of the challenges that came with it too. Like ’cause I can tell you right off rip, like I I almost felt like a hypocrite leaving. You know, I’ve hosted a podcast for three years about collegiate strength and conditioning. Or not sorry, not collegiate strength and conditioning, about strength and conditioning. but there’s been a lot of statements made by me talking about how amazing collegiate strength and conditioning is.
And there’s been, you know, a a lot of times I’ve backed it up or we’ve talked about coaches leaving and you know, I’ve talked about wanting to stay in this career for a really long time. so, you know, when you put your opinions out publicly, right, like things change obviously in life. but you know, it can be tough to kind of go back on what you said previously. and so I I don’t know. I there’s a there’s a lot of thoughts I have on it. And I I guess, you know, the best place to start would just be from kind of the beginning of, you know, when the decision first came up.
so, you know, as if you listen to I think the most I think it was the most recent solo episode I did, I think it was the New Year’s kind of edition, like review, kind of setting goals for the next year and everything like that. you know, I I mentioned that my father passed away. and he was the best man at my wedding, my best friend. I I mean, I could not ask for a better role model in life. I couldn’t ask for a better human being to be raised by.
Couldn’t ask for a better friend, you know, and somebody who was just absolutely amazing. and he he passed away in in August of last year. So it’s been a little bit over a year since he passed away. and how I felt about him, everybody in my family felt about him. you know, he was everybody’s best friend, right? And so it really took a toll on us as a family. and I have a a sister h here in Rochester.
I have a mom you know, who was married to my dad for you know, 30 years. and the family was was hurting, you know, and when it first happened, I really truly felt that there may need to be a decision where I decide to move to Rochester, which I did. living in Rochester, New York now, to be closer to family.
to be with my mom and sister. and to be honest, I remember speaking with my dad probably two weeks before he passed away. We were talking about getting promoted to the director position. We talked about you know how excited I was, how I thought that that was something that, you know, could really set me up for the rest of my career.
And I just was completely absorbed in strength and conditioning, I would say. and I just remember we had a great conversation about it. you know, he was very supportive of everything I was doing, you know, end of the call, how we always do. It’s like I miss you, you know, love you, and you know, hope to see you soon. And we were planning on actually going up to visit him in Rochester in September. and yeah, so it was my mindset prior to that was
Straight to get interesting rest of my life. We’re gonna figure it out. We’re gonna do it. and the word, the famous words of Dan Worth, we’re gonna slay dragons. you know, obviously there’s no way to really measure who’s the best director, who’s the best basketball strength coach in the country, but that was my dream. that’s what it was that’s what I wanted to do. and then my dad passed away and it really made me reflect on a lot of things.
It made me really take a lot of time and and think very deeply about what I wanted out of my life. and I turned thirty just, you know, just a couple of weeks ago. and so I knew, you know, I’m twenty-nine, like this is kind of the time to make a decision about what direction I really wanted my life to go in. And I just remember the thought that kept popping up was I have spent the last twelve years away from my dad.
Chasing this dream. And the entire time that he lived in, you know, New York with my mom. They lived in my parents lived in Pennsylvania. I was in Tennessee or Texas. you know, very, very fortunately for me, they they moved down to North Carolina to move close to my uncle. So that’s quite transparently why I took the job at App State.
was you know, I knew it’d be a good situation for me and I knew I’d be two hours away from my mom and dad. and so that’s why we made the move. so I got to see them, but like I mean, realistically and and I I think a lot of strength coaches can relate to this, I got to see them once every three months. And that was a lot better than what was previously ’cause it was probably twice a year. but
it was not nearly as much as I had wanted, but I always just kind of justified it by saying, like, okay, I’m I’m okay with this because I’m chasing my dream. And you know, I I I’ll outwardly say I’m a family person, and family’s most important to me, but do my actions really have to align with what I’m saying? And so when I lost my dad, I realized that I still had the opportunity to
be a lot closer with my sister and spend a lot more time with her, and be a lot closer with my mom and spend a lot more time with her, and be a lot closer with my wife and spend more time with her. And so I I I’ve always said family’s most important to me, and I think that making the decision to leave college athletics was me really kind of finally putting my money where my mouth is. because
I loved Collegiate Strength and Conditioning. I still love Collegiate Strength and Conditioning. but it was something that and it is something that will completely consume your life if you let it go in that direction. I know a lot of really smart and amazing coaches who have been able to find that balance and have been able to make it really work for them. Unfortunately, I chose the route. and you know, I I shouldn’t say unfortunately, I don’t regret a single thing. you know, obviously.
I I have some regrets about not being able to be closer with my dad. But like when I go back and look at how my life has turned out, I feel very, very fortunate to to have the experiences that that I’ve had. But I think I I made the decision to try to level up within this career as fast as possible. and so it came with sacrifices of moving really far away or taking jobs that I knew would come with
concessions or different things that would take away from my family life. and I was okay with that decision at the time and and obviously I always involved my family in those decisions and and they always supported me. And so that’s what made me feel good about making those decisions. But like obviously as a mom and dad, aren’t you gonna want to support your son’s dreams? Like aren’t you gonna want to see them be happy and chase the something that they’re passionate about. and so it
losing my dad really made me go down this gi giant thought process. I was thinking about it constantly. and so prior to that I was never thinking about it. I was just always like, okay, it’s gonna be clear to strength conditioning for the rest of my life. And and so and so that’s that’s what got the ball rolling. was just understanding that, you know, okay, I have put family aside for a long time. but I would also be
I I I would be, you know, not truthful if I was saying that there weren’t some things about Khledge Training Conditioning that were bothering me that helped me make the decision to eventually transition out. it was nothing to do with App State whatsoever. I mean Coach Kearns is absolutely amazing. That’s the best head coach you could ever work for. the staff was amazing. Getting to work with my wife every single day was amazing. Like there were so many positives to it. for me, it was
truly the i and just this is my experience, so I’m just gonna speak to it. I’m not gonna say that this is the state of college or anything interesting whatsoever, but it was the increase in the transactionality.
of collegiate athletics. and you know, specifically working within college basketball. I think any revenue generating sport, this is a lot more of a glaring issue. but you know, even speaking with others in Olympic sports and in the collegiate side, like I think this this is something that’s gonna come to a head eventually. the transfer portal has made it incredibly easy for athletes to transfer.
Obviously, or else they wouldn’t call it the transfer portal, right? But it has has made it incredibly easy for athletes to not stick into a process and stick with it. the benefits obviously is that if a situation doesn’t work for you, then you can leave. But when you’re a freshman, truly like what situation is gonna be great for you unless you’re the best player in the country as a freshman, right? Like there’s gonna be a lot of growing pains. and and that was what I really, really relished about
the career that I had was being able to watch somebody go from a freshman who was I mean, you name it right, like behavioral problems, not very talented, physically had a lot to work on. and then watching them grow into this person that was just a complete 180 of themselves for the better.
and knowing that I had a very, very small part in that process. Like that was what I loved about it. Like I loved watching people develop and grow and and just completely change and you know, completely revolutionize themselves. Like I just thought it was like so amazing and so unique of a career field that we were able to do that. And with the transfer portal and with NIL, I feel like we have lost a lot of that.
I feel like my experiences really pointed towards this is something where you are not gonna have these experiences nearly as much. because let’s say we get a freshman in you know, who has a lot of growing pains, and I spend a lot of time with them trying to help them navigate these things, right? Like and if things don’t go their way.
It is incredibly, incredibly easy to just hit the eject button and just, you know, hey, I was here, I did my eight months, I’m out. And just go somewhere else. And I’ve heard a lot of coaches talk about that. I’ve heard a lot of coaches express those sentiments. And I think I’ve always kind of just like pushed them away. I was like, no, it’s not real. You know, like I still can develop those relationships. And I think like when I really
We started this process of thinking about what I wanted out of my career and what I wanted out of my life. I then also kind of started this process of thinking about, okay, so what are some of the things that I’ve been ignoring a little bit? And that was certainly one of it, is that it I just feel like there’s a loss of that coach athlete relationship. And that personally is why I did the job. Like winning’s fun, being able to
go around the country and travel like dude, those things are fun, but I’m not passionate about winning by four points on the road, you know, against Southern Miss. No disrespect to Southern Miss whatsoever. Right. Like, but I’m just saying like that wasn’t my dream when I was growing up. My dream was to make an impact. And you know I think strength and conditioning coaches can still make an impact a thousand percent. And and I’m really I want to be clear on this. I’m really speaking a lot towards my experience and kind of like the collegiate basketball, the NIL
revenue generating sports issues that I really saw. my dream was to make make an impact and develop relationships and watch people grow from when they were 18 to when they were 22. my favorite athletes consistently were the ones who stayed, even a second year, because now a second year was almost like having somebody for four years. Like it was incredibly rare to to keep somebody for two years. And then on the off chance I had you I had
Two athletes, two athletes that were really significant in my career at App State that stayed there for three years, and I had another one who stayed there for four. And so being able to develop those relationships with them, like those are the athletes who still reach out to me. And like maybe it’s a knock on my ability to develop a deep and meaningful relationship within just a few months, right? But like the athletes that stayed were always the ones who I got to see do better.
And the ones who I got to see the transformation, and
Yeah, it’s cool to like say, Hey, we you know, this person dropped three percent body fat in the off season and and you know, ten weeks, like it’s awesome. Like again, that’s not what I’m passionate about. Like what I’m passionate about is watching somebody who came in who didn’t really have a lot of options in life. And then through this process where they thought basketball was the only option that they had, they found a lot of other things that they could do because they went through this process of self discovery and finding out that they’re actually this amazing human being who’s really talented in other areas.
They’re not just this basketball player, they’re a human being. And like that was the stuff that really made me excited. So I had a lot of frustrations with not being able to see that process unfold anymore. and it was it was very, very tough for me to understand that process. And I think I’ve expressed that sentiment before too. Like I don’t blame the athletes either.
Like it if I was 18 and I had an option to say, Hey, I could go make more money at this school or I could get more playing time and it’s gonna be boom, super easy for me to transfer. I could just do this with that really that many repercussions, I would have done it. I can say that a hundred percent, certainly. Like if you know, like in this I’ve said that before too about strength coaches, right? Like strength coaches preach loyalty a lot of the time and maybe I’m being hypocritical right now, right? But like
You know, if you got offered a twenty five thousand dollar raise, you’d look really hard at that job. Right. And now these athletes are getting offered a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand more or a million dollars more to go play somewhere else. Like, why would they not take that? And especially because they’re younger and they don’t really understand a lot of the process of getting better and developing. so yeah, so it was it was the process of losing my father, and then it was thinking about what are some things that have really frustrated me about the
the collegiate profession that I haven’t really paid attention to for a long time because I haven’t really ever entered the thought process of what if I don’t want to do this for the rest of my career. you know, another piece of it too, if I’m being 100% transparent, like being on a team that travels, I had it really easy. I had a staff that was amazing to work with. I had a
team that, you know, regardless of if you only had them for eight months at a time, like we always recruited players who were really high character, that I really enjoyed working with. and, you know, our travel schedule sucks sometimes. Like it’s a sunbelt. You’re gonna go on a bus and you’re gonna travel from Wednesday to Sunday. but I had a pretty good situation. And what I noticed was I was just spending so much time away from
the people who s really truly support me and I really truly love like my wife, like how amazing she is for understanding that, you know, this was my passion. This is something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Like she always was like, I’ll support you a hundred percent. And then when we started having these conversations about me possibly leaving Collegiate Athletics, she was like, Well, I can’t lie, like it would be a really nice to have you at home more.
Like, because that’s my best friend, right? Like, obviously you want to hang out with your best friend as much as you can. And yes, we get to see each other at work, but it it was one of those things where it’s just like, okay, so I’ve spending time away from my mom and dad, my sister, I’m spending time away from my wife, like, and we’re we’re chasing something that I think has a lot of merit, but then we’re also losing some of that merit through this process of NIL and transfer portal. So like,
How much am I really, really truly getting out of this? yeah. And so I I don’t, I don’t I don’t want to make this like a depressing episode, and I don’t want to make like cause anybody to have like an existential crisis or anything. That’s definitely not the goal. but I just wanted to be truthful. I wanted to be truthful about what my thought process was and what my specific experience was, what my own thought process is and what I’ve seen.
You know, so so it was it was those factors that really kinda led me to ultimately decide, okay, it’s it’s time. So at the end of last season I spoke with our head coach. He was his the awesome man, like Coach Curz is the best. And he was like, I completely understand you gotta go be there for family. you have to do the things that you feel like you have to do in life and you feel like you’re called to do in life and and and so he was really supportive. The rest of the staff was incredibly supportive.
And my friends were incredibly supportive as well too. And it’s interesting because I’ve had this conversation with a lot of different strength coaches and I feel like a lot of them share similar sentiments to me. and like I said, there’s some strength coaches who just personally have the ability to handle it. I I don’t want to say better, but maybe it is like maybe they can handle it better, or maybe they can maybe they thrive in shorter relationships or they thrive in this specific
realm, but it’s not where I thrive. So again, this is my personal experiences. you know, but a lot of coaches have like it it’s almost interesting how many coaches have been like, congratulations. Like, congratulations on getting out, you know. and I hate that it took me losing my dad to really sit down and really, really think about this process, right? But like I think also with how influential he’s been in my life, like that would be his, you know, his final
lesson to me and of course because he was always teaching me every single thing I ever knew, right? Like I’d still know, would be to really sit down and and evaluate and think about what you want to get out of your life and what do you want to get out of your career. so yeah, it’s a lot, it’s a lot to unpack. you know, it’s it’s I’ve had a lot of thoughts about it. and like I said, I wanna just get on the podcast and be transparent about it.
You know, so we’re living in Rochester, New York now. shout out the garbage plates. I grew up in Syracuse, so it’s about an hour away from where I originally grew up. but I can say, you know, a hundred percent genuinely I’d make this decision ten times out of ten. It’s been three months, so maybe we should do a check back episode in like two years. And maybe I’ll be like, hey guys, guess what? Big news, a solo episode.
It you know, maybe I don’t know what the future holds, but I I mean I really, really appreciate and I really respect the decision I made because I I feel like the career that I set out to have, I did everything that I wanted to do with it.
until the environment changed and because the environment has changed and and because my family needed me and I wanted to be with my family, I feel like I made a really, really correct decision. And I yeah, okay, so this is the the final piece I wanted to mention. I have notes on the side, right? And of course I haven’t looked at them once and now I’m derailing the podcast, so I apologize. Like the f the final thing that I want to mention too was
I I was very fortunate to have the unique experience of being a coach before the transfer portal existed to the extent that it does now. and before NIL was a hundred percent approved. and so I saw what could be. I was coaching through that transition process where people didn’t really know about the transfer portal, you know, like or like were kind of dipping their toes in. And then I’ve also been a coach throughout the process where
An athlete stops by the office, says, Yo, coach, I’m transferring. I’ll see you later. Thanks for everything. Right. And all of a sudden there’s a thousand basketball players in the transfer portal out of nowhere. Like, and so I’ve had those experiences. I know what this career could be like from my specific stance. and it it it worries me just slightly for younger strength coaches who don’t know what it was like previously. And you know, maybe this is just a
microcosm of change. I I feel like it’s a I feel like it’s bigger than that. I can’t lie. but you know, it’s one of those things I think about constantly too, right? Like everybody’s like, the previous generation is lazy and you know, whatever, right? Like that theme is always gonna exist for as long as this world continues. you know, and I’m sure there were a lot of changes that occurred for strength coaches who have been around since the start of the profession. But for me
I just feel like I saw a massive change and and I worry about new strength coaches getting into it and not not not getting delivered to them what was kind of promised. and not really being able to experience everything that I got to experience because I gr loved my time in collegiate athletics. Like I had ten year ten amazing, amazing years. I won a championship, won multiple championships. Like I
Got to be around a lot of amazing people and I really, really enjoyed it. But a lot of the stuff that I truly love was starting to be taken away from it just a little bit. so yeah. So again, it’s a it’s a lot of thoughts. but you know, my further update is again, I I I love it, I appreciate it. I’ve been able to work with some clients and
one thing that’s been really unique and interesting about it is it’s I don’t ever want to say athletes didn’t want to be there and didn’t want to get better, right? But but like, you know, at the end of the day, you gotta show up the weights. You know, like you’re gonna get, you know, like you’re gonna get in trouble. There’s gonna be consequences if you don’t show up to the things that you have to do. And so working with clients who actually want to make changes is very interesting. and people who who
have made the decision themselves to seek out personal training, wherever you want to call it, right? Like those this it’s very interesting to see how that process occurs. you know, because people have made the decision themselves versus being told, hey, you have to show up at weights at 6 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. but other benefits is like I I’ve seen I get that we my entire family gets together at least once a week. I see my
mom and sister at least twice a week and I get to spend all this time with my wife and really truly enjoy it. and so it’s just been it’s been a very, very beneficial decision for me. Yeah, and I don’t I don’t want to get on here and just ramble and just talk about a bunch of stuff that, you know, nobody cares about, right? But like I did want to address it. And I did want to be truthful because I appreciate
the listeners for listening for these past three years. I’ve been the host and those who’ve been the the listening before I was even the host it was probably a better show. you know, it’s been it’s been extremely fun to host the show and I always feel like I my goal is to be transparent and not be like the fake podcast host who’s like, Yeah, everything’s amazing and it’s not.
Maybe I did do that to a little bit of an extent, you know, this past year when I was kind of going through the thought process, but I also didn’t want to I didn’t want to lay a bunch of claims out that I wasn’t a hundred percent certain on. So I’ve kind of made up my mind. Clearly I’ve made up my mind that I moved across the country. but I just wanted to share the thoughts that I had about some of the the things that I’ve seen and s the process that I’ve gone through to get to the to this point right now. so
Yeah, it’s a lot. I don’t even again, I didn’t follow my notes. I hope it was a good episode and and somebody got some value out of it. you know, I guess again, what I said w I truly wasn’t sitting down to do this to be like collegiate athletics sucks and nobody should get into it ’cause that’s not at all the experience I had. and if there are younger strength coaches listening right now, I don’t want this to be something that would discourage them from seeking this out to be a career. I would
if I had to give advice that my advice would be to understand what the environment is now and build your strengths around those things, right? Like part of the process, like the environment is always gonna change. And so did I change with the environment? Not necessarily, right? And so for young strength coaches who are listening to this, like, understand that you’re going into a different environment where you may only have somebody for eight months, but that doesn’t mean you can’t develop a amazing relationship with them.
I think, you know, part of my downfall with that was I got to see what it was like when you got to keep players for two to three, four years. and I really, really enjoyed that process. And then it changed and I don’t think I really changed with it. so my advice would be be adaptable, understand the environment that you can be coaching within, and really dedicate and set aside time to think about what you want out of your career.
And understand the steps that it would take to get there. you know, so like I mean, like like I said, like a lot of this is directly related to collegiate basketball and the NIL, you know, kind of mindset of this, right? Like maybe, maybe you are somebody who wants longer relationships and and so maybe you are somebody who now wants to work with a specific sport because they have a lower transfer rate. I don’t know what it is, but I would say just be intentional and not.
end up in the situation I ended up in where I kind of felt like things were changing around me and I didn’t necessarily change and I wasn’t intentional with addressing that change.
You know, so again, it’s it’s interesting. I and I don’t have an answer for it. and I think there’s a lot smarter people than me who are working towards that answer. and I appreciate them for doing that, right? Like but I I don’t have an answer for how to approach it right now. I’m I’m curious to see how it continues to evolve, right? because one thing I really don’t like is conversations about money all the time. And I really don’t like
sports transforming into something that I feel like takes away from the essence of it, which is being a transformational process. and now it’s about who’s gonna pay me the most money and where can I get the most money. and what’s gonna be the best situation for me to go pro instead of what’s gonna be the best situation for me to grow. and that was not intentionally rhyming, by the way. But sometimes I’m just like that. so yeah, I’m curious to see how it continues to go. And so I that’s why I love hosting this podcast, right? Is I can
continue to talk with straight coaches and we can continue to address these issues that we see and then people who can be adaptive can share their thought processes on it too because it’s something that is affecting a lot of clead’s strength and conditioning. it’s affecting other areas of strength and conditioning as well too. so yeah I I just want to see how it continues to adapt and I want to see how it continues to grow. so again, I hope I didn’t ramble. I hope you got something valuable out of this podcast. if you didn’t text me. Like I said everybody’s
Everybody who listens typically has my number, so shoot me a text and tell me no more solo episodes, whatever it may be. but I appreciate you for listening as always. I greatly, greatly, greatly appreciate Samson for the opportunity to be able to speak. and and speak with a lot of amazing coaches and help develop my career. and I just I have a lot of appreciation right now for where I’m at in life. So
Thank you to everybody. thank you for listening. And we’ll be back at it next week with a non solo sode. Thank you.
