Building Culture & Balance: A Strength Coach’s Perspective with Oliver Houston IV
On this episode of the Samson Strength Coach Collective, we sit down with Oliver Houston IV, Assistant Athletic Director and Director of Performance at Lubbock Christian University. Oliver shares his journey from strength and conditioning to administration, offering insights into leadership, mentorship, and building a strong athletic culture.
With years of experience developing athletes and coaching staff, Oliver discusses the challenges of balancing career growth with personal well-being, the importance of communication in coaching, and how to create an environment where both athletes and coaches can thrive. He also highlights the transition to a leadership role and the lessons learned along the way.
Key Topics Covered:
- The responsibilities of an Assistant Athletic Director and how the role differs from coaching
- Building a culture of success in the weight room and beyond
- The importance of work-life balance in a high-performance environment
- How mentorship and leadership impact athletic development
- Conflict resolution and communication as essential skills for coaches
- Why coaching is more than training—it’s about relationships and long-term development
Quote from Oliver Houston IV:
“You can’t be everything to everyone. Prioritizing relationships, communication, and work-life balance is essential for success—not just for athletes, but for coaches too.”
Join us for this insightful conversation as Oliver shares his experiences, offering valuable lessons for coaches, athletes, and sports professionals looking to grow, lead, and build a winning culture.
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Connor Agnew :
What’s going on, Samson Strength Coach, collective listeners. On today’s episode, we have my friend, you know, we met originally at Texas Tech, but let me introduce you first before I get into that, right? Oliver Houston IV, he is the Assistant Athletic Director and Director of Performance at Lubbock Christian University. When we first met, you were over at Texas Tech and then now just what, a mile down the road, running the whole show. That’s awesome.
Oliver Houston IV :
Third time back in Lubbock. you know, this time on a like you just said down the road, but basically opposite side of town a little bit, you know.
Connor Agnew :
Oh yeah, oh yeah, on the direct opposite. I used to live over by LCU, so I’m familiar. And it’s a beautiful campus. So I’m excited, I’m happy for you, excited to see you in the director role, and I’m excited to kind of dive into everything. So can you just give me a background of your career and then what’s led you to LCU?
Oliver Houston IV :
Okay. Yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yes, sir.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah, so I played football and basketball in college at University of Mary Harden Baylor. Right out of that, I went to work with the Dallas Mavericks. Got an internship in player development right out of college. Did a lot of good stuff on the court with the teams. Did a lot of one-on-ones, a lot of skill work, a lot of draft combine type stuff.
After that season, I was blessed enough to get a second season with them, but this time in athletic performance. So I worked in the weight room, shadowing them. It’s kind of where I got the actual start in strength and conditioning. Then kind of took over a role of catering manager as well with them. So that’s how I kind of started with the food side of it and everything as well. After those two years, went to Texas Tech with men’s basketball.
That was the final four year that they had and served as an intern there for about six months until I went to the star in Frisco, Texas Worked there as a sports performance coach Had all the Frisco ISD I got to learn You know how to do draft combine workouts with NFL players did some MLB stuff did some MLS stuff with some soccer players, but mostly it was all Frisco ISD
basically ranging from middle schoolers all the way to seasoned vets. Very interesting, interesting area and time in that career. After that was blessed enough to make my way back to Lubbock, Texas with Texas Tech University with men’s basketball again. Finished out that COVID season 2020 and the 2021 season. After that went to University of Louisiana.
where I became the director of athletic performance for basketball. had men’s basketball, women’s tennis, and volleyball there for three years. And then got a call and made my way back to Lubbock for a third time this past summer.
Connor Agnew :
Is third time the best time? Is that true?
Oliver Houston IV :
I think so, third time’s a charm, know, third time’s a charm. Something keeps calling me back to Levic, so I just had to answer that call, It makes,
Connor Agnew :
Well, if it makes sense, makes sense. mean, seriously, it’s a great town and I mean, full city actually. It’s not even a town, right? Um, and I almost would call it like the desert Oasis a little bit because it’s right there in the middle of West Texas. But, uh, but I mean, it’s got everything that you need. I remember my time in Lubbock, uh, very highly. Now, one thing I’m curious about is my experience on the women’s side of Texas tech was you could just tell how much the final four.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
Uh huh.
Oliver Houston IV :
Hmm.
Connor Agnew :
appearance meant to Texas Tech as a whole and that just the community, especially with how tight knit the community and the actual university are with their athletic department. How was that experience for you? I mean, especially so young in your career getting to go to such a high level event.
Oliver Houston IV :
I hope that experience can be useful.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah, it was amazing. Unfortunately, I had left early on in the season, probably around November, December. So as soon as the season was starting, I left and went to that sports performance role in Frisco. But I guess I left a good enough impact and did a good enough job and provided enough value that as they started making their run,
Connor Agnew :
Oh.
Oliver Houston IV :
I was still able to see all of the tournament games. I would drive or fly to wherever they were at in the tournament games, kept in touch with my mentor, John Riley. They would give me tickets to the games. So I was still kind of in the locker rooms sometimes and like close behind the bench still kind of involved and not doing my actual roles. But kind of on the outside looking in, seeing that final four run and
seeing that I was kind of a part of that was phenomenal. And then funny thing is when I got back the second time, a couple of years later, they had one of the final four rings for me. And I was like, I was like, man, I was only a, I only interned for six months. Like I didn’t think I was still like a part of this university as much as I was. And I mean, I was blessed enough to have that still, but.
Connor Agnew :
Oh wow.
Oliver Houston IV :
That was awesome experience, awesome experience.
Connor Agnew :
That’s incredible. I mean, you know, it’s so as I reflect upon the end of the season, right, we finish up with our one regular season game left. You know, I think about how important the strength, the conditioning realm can be. I think it’s easy to just kind of neglect it and say, you know what, it doesn’t really matter that much. Like talents obviously can be the biggest thing. But you look at, you know, our season this year, we’ve not had a game where it’s been blown out. Every game has come down to two or three really key possessions, you know. And so.
Oliver Houston IV :
Mm-hmm.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew :
what can you do to make that just small difference? And so I love your outlook on it, right? Cause you were a part of that. You were the one who assisted them, especially in the summer training. especially, mean, trust me as an outside viewer, getting to see John Riley’s workouts and understanding exactly what goes into them. There’s a lot. So I’m glad that you got that experience of the Final Four.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah, no, it was fantastic, fantastic.
Connor Agnew :
Well, let me ask about the Mavericks too, because I didn’t even know this myself that you were originally on the player development side and then went to the actual strength and conditioning side. What kind of spurred that change going versus player development to strength and conditioning?
Oliver Houston IV :
That’s where that changed.
Uh, so we had actually about 12 interns, um, 11 or 12 interns on the player development side starting out and essentially kind of how they were going about it was your, you know, it was a pretty much an interview the entire season. You know, they had a, uh, entry level, um, video coordinated position that they always kind of had open. And so that
essentially the hardest working intern or the best intern that they saw fit would essentially take that entry level position and I just didn’t see myself being an on-court coach, you know an X’s and O’s type of guy and everything. I love that side of the game. I think you have to mesh it really well to be successful, but I didn’t see myself being an X’s own coach. I loved it. My laptop’s still full of you know meeting notes and all types of
video breakdowns and everything like that. But I just went up to the athletic performance coach and was like, hey, I kind of want to do this more. Is there a way that I can shadow you or something like that? And towards the end of season, heading into summer league, I started timing workouts, I started timing sprint times and everything like that, setting up, tearing down. And he was like, hey, do you want to turn this into an internship? And he was like, let me ask some of the higher up individuals if this be cool with them. And
start of summer league I transitioned to the strength and conditioning side and just ran with it.
Connor Agnew :
That’s awesome. Well, I think it’s definitely what you were meant to do. When I see you coach, I know that this is what you’re calling it. So I’m glad that we got you on the strength and conditioning side. Of course, of course. And so looking at all the roles that you’ve had, you’re now stepping into an assistant AD role, which is a big deal, right? Running an entire department and then also operating on the administrative side as well.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
I appreciate it.
Oliver Houston IV :
you
Connor Agnew :
What’s the biggest differences that you’ve seen in your role as an assistant AD versus being an assistant strength coach or your time as the director of basketball performance at Louisiana?
Oliver Houston IV :
I’d probably say off the top of my head conflict resolution in the past, you know, there was always someone maybe a step higher than me or something along those lines where I can take that conflict to somebody else. Here it’s, you know, the individual that’s above me is the athletic director, you know, Andrew Soros. So it’s like.
I got to deal with those problems myself, not taking it to him and figuring out how to communicate with the athletic, with the sport coaches, the teams, lot of other things was scheduling an organization of 16 teams. So, as soon as I got here, was blown wolf, know, 16 different sports, 16 teams, navigating the scheduling, the organization size of it.
I think that was the biggest difference. Of course, I had to do with a couple of sports that I had in the past, but having essentially one main weight room with only six racks at the moment, 16 sports is not really feasible. So the scheduling and organization was a big, big component of it. And really hammering that was…
the first step essentially. And then just making sure I stayed on top of the communication aspect with all of the coaches, the stakeholders, not only in athletics, but at the university as a whole. Another thing that I was thinking about was the amount of meetings that I had with donors, you know, or sitting down with professors or just random staff and faculty around campus. The chef seeing
what meals the athletes eat the most, whether it’s breakfast, lunch, dinner. How can we make that a little bit better? Meeting with athletic training staff and just all those meetings in the budgeting meetings, the size of it just really, really foreign to me and still learning it to this day.
Connor Agnew :
I’m sure I’m sure the donors one is interesting right because I think about the day we open the Womble facility right is that we had everybody come through and everybody’s there for meds basketball where you know I’m not gonna sit here pretend right with somebody came up to me and they’re like oh you’re the women’s basketball coach I was a strike coach I was like yeah you know and she’s in turns out she was a massive donor right to our program but it’s
Oliver Houston IV :
Mm.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah.
You
Connor Agnew :
I don’t have to worry about that stuff. know, like a donor could come up to me and all I gotta do is be nice to them. Like, hey, do you want a snack out of the fuel station? You know, like it’s so easy versus being a director. The Otis is kind of on you to help, you know, fundraise a little bit and, know, understand and be able to express your needs in a way that show how the donor can help you too, I’m sure.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, definitely. And I’ve shaken a lot of hands, met a lot of people. It’s been a phenomenal time so far. But the amount of people that I’ve met, the amount of new phone numbers that I’ve gotten in my phone in the past six, seven months is has been ridiculous. Let me just say that it’s got to be is definitely is but.
Connor Agnew :
It’s got to be insane.
Oliver Houston IV :
You know, I’m enjoying every single moment of it, learning about the entire environment, different side of Lubbock, you know, like we talked about earlier. So it’s been phenomenal. Like I said.
Connor Agnew :
Well, I’m glad to hear it. Now, can you talk to me a little bit more about the conflict resolution piece? Because I think that’s something that a lot of, you know, straight coaches can kind of take for granted in their careers. Like it’s very easy if there’s a conflict with a sport coach, just to kind of like you said, go up to the next level and go straight to your director and be like, Hey, I’m having this problem. Can you help us kind of hash it out? Right? Or even just keeping I have to keep my director aware of our regular conversations that we have, you know, good or bad, just so he’s aware of our relationship. How have you grown in your conflict resolution?
Oliver Houston IV :
Mm-hmm.
Oliver Houston IV :
Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew :
especially the first time really having to execute that role.
Oliver Houston IV :
I think it’s, you know, it’s still a work in progress. Overly communicate, something that I was taught in the past from different areas of where I’ve been, different paths that I’ve taken. Something that I was taught was gaps in communication are often filled with resentment and tension. I’m not saying that that was here or anything like that, but I was often taught that.
the lack of communication in certain areas can be filled with something along those lines. So I’ve been diligently working to overly communicate. It’s, like I said, a work in progress still, figuring out how to communicate with certain coaches and how they like to communicate best, but also just learning them as a whole, learning their organization, learning their culture, learning how they want to run things. Because something that I was always taught again was,
as a strength and conditioning coach, we’re defenders of the culture. You know, we echo what the sport coaches are wanting, the head coaches are wanting, but also we try to, you know, tag team that from our area in the weight room. And I think that conflict resolution side of it is just continuously overly communicating. And I think everyone can improve on that aspect.
Connor Agnew :
No, I love it. I love that understanding what fills the gap if there’s a lack of communication, because that’s usually 100 % what happens, right? If you’re not communicating, it’s almost always going to go kind of in a negative way. You know, and obviously the assumption and just trying to think and fill the gaps of what is happening is usually not going to be very positive. So I love that piece. It’s big on the communication, which I think is ultimately probably the biggest problem solver that you can use ahead of time.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah.
Connor Agnew :
Can you get all right? Can you give me a success like you’ve been there for a short amount of time? But give me something that you’re really proud of that you’ve already done or something that maybe even a small success that you’re just like wow I’m really glad that we were able to get this done
Oliver Houston IV :
Um, I guess we, so what initially brought me here was, you know, my prior relationship with our athletic director, Andrew Soros, but, um, we also broke ground on a new weight room. Um, so that was one of the, yeah, so that was one of the main things that kind of brought me here that enticed me to this role. Um, and we finally got it essentially finalized. Um, you know, we’re still ironing out some of the details and everything like that, but.
Connor Agnew :
Great success!
Oliver Houston IV :
going over the weight room design, was able to see it from my mentor, John Riley at the Womble, like you mentioned earlier. And so having a little bit of background of that was, you know, I think the biggest success so far is getting those details ironed out. And I guess another success was being able to hire an assistant and getting some GAs and interns in here instead of doing it all by myself the first year. you know, this semester now I…
was able to get a really good individual in Noah Frederick. He interned under me at University of Louisiana. And I was able to convince him to come along with me as my assistant here now. And I think that’s one of the biggest successes as well, besides the weight room addition. So, yeah.
Connor Agnew :
That’s awesome. No, and I think, first of all, obviously a brand new weight room is obviously going to be the biggest success in my opinion. Obviously very cool. But then to hire a former intern as well too, I think is always really exciting. I’ve got some former interns who I would love to work with again. And, you know, it’s funny because one always texts me, he’s like, any job I can work with you. And I’m like, Hey man, like I’m at a Sunbelt basketball school. I don’t really have an assistant position open.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
Mm-hmm.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah. Yep. It’s a little, it’s a little struggle, but I was able to kind of convince him in different ways and everything like that and gave him some sports. He’s a baseball guy technically, but he’s really great at his job. And he kind of said the same thing and was like, if we could figure something out, like, yeah, I’d move to Lubbock. And I was like,
give me a little moment and got on the phone. I was like, we’ll figure something out. So he’s definitely making it making it lot easier and helping me develop and build, you know, a fantastic athletic department here.
Connor Agnew :
We figured something out.
Connor Agnew :
That’s awesome. And so I’m a yin and yang kind of guy, right? Like I like talking about the successes, but what are some of the challenges that you face transitioning into this role as well?
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah
Oliver Houston IV :
I guess realizing, you know, what got me here won’t keep me here. You know, that’s a that’s a cliche term, cliche, cliche phrase that people say all the time. It essentially just requires a new level, you know, a new perspective, sometimes a new approach. But something that I always try to say and tell my athletes or tell, you know, GAs or interns keep the message the same, just change the delivery, you know, and that’s something that I’ve had to learn getting here.
But specifically in this role, finding balance, being more intentional with moments and relationships. There’s a little story that I wanted to tell. I spoke at a intro to ESS class when I kind of got here. like maybe back in Octoberish, Novemberish, give or take. And they wanted me to speak on like the successes.
how to succeed in this field, what do you need to do, the routes you need to take and everything like that. And at that moment, you know, that analogy of the duck where they’re calm on the surface, kicking like crazy underneath and everything like that, that’s how I was the whole first semester. You know, starting in July, all the way the whole first semester. So I’m speaking at this class, trying to tell them like, oh, how to succeed at this field, how to get in this field. And I remember going into it.
And I was like, I’m not gonna do a PowerPoint. I’m not gonna do anything like that. And I was like, you know what? I’m gonna be completely transparent with them right now. Took a little notepad, wrote some notes and was just like, all right, here’s what I got. Here’s what I’m gonna say, everything like that. And in all honesty, the whole time I was going, I started tearing up a little bit just because it was like, you know, people see that…
I’m now in a new role. I’m assistant athletic director, director of athletic performance, running a department, building it from the ground up. I was with the M.A.S, with tech, all that stuff. And it’s like, there’s a lot that goes into this behind the scenes. know, that finding the balance, balancing relationships, being more intentional with moments and relationships. Early on, like I was unknowingly, you know,
Oliver Houston IV :
pushing really, really good relationships to the side. And it was not good. was a, you know, me trying to develop a department and wanting it to be done right then and there was a struggle. And I pushed a lot of really, really great people, you know, away.
family and personal and whatnot, unfortunately. But after that class, speaking to that class, a freshman emailed me and came to speak to me. young man, he’s kind of, you know, to himself and everything like that. And he spoke to me and was like, had probably about an hour conversation. And this was like me, like coming down now, like, I can’t believe I was just like that honest with that class.
I hope I didn’t steer him away from the field and everything like that. But like he came and spoke to me and we talked a little bit and he left me with a quote and I wrote it down. But he said nothing has to be perfect. It just has to be the best it can be so it can grow from that. And like I said, the analogy of up, you know, on the surface, calm underneath, kicking like crazy. And he said that quote to me and he’s a freshman been at the school for three months now.
And I was like, that’s exactly where I’m at right now. Like trying to develop this university, trying to build an athletic performance department. And I’m wanting it to be done right now. Becoming overzealous, you know, not always a bad thing, but having this vision of like, ooh, now I get to put everything that I have up here into action. You know, and he told me that and I was like, okay, can’t all be done in one semester. Probably not even two semesters. Be patient, be steady. And that kind of
you know, was the same as the Maya Angelou quote that I love and it’s hanging up in my office back in the weight room. But she says, Maya Angelou says, do the best you can until you know better than when you know better, do better. And so that’s something that I have posted up on my wall and literally just staring up from my laptop is right there in front of my face. And it helps me remember, you know, it doesn’t have to be perfect and it will never be perfect. But as long as you continue to
Oliver Houston IV :
be intentional in those steps, you know, you can take steps in the right direction, I guess I would say. So.
Connor Agnew :
Wow, so you kept it real with them. You let them know what it’s actually like.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah, I had to. Some of them were athletes and everything like that. they’re like, yeah, Coach, we see you up here 12 hours, 13 hours. Like you got here at 5 a.m. Your car’s still here and we went to dinner with our friends and I’m like, you don’t have to do it that way. If I can go back, would change a lot of things with the balance and be intentional with relationships, like I said. But, you know, once you know better, do better.
Connor Agnew :
I love that too. And I think it gives yourself a little bit of grace too, right? Because I think it’s so easy to beat yourself up and just say like, man, I really need to be doing this better. I need to be able to get this done quickly. My own challenge is we’ve got guys right now, we’ve got two of them who are in the top 50 in the country as individual players for minutes played. And I’m like, why are they tired? And I’m like, I should have figured this out, right? And so it’s like, I need to get this done now. I need answers now. And it’s like, whoa.
Oliver Houston IV :
.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
Really? Yeah.
Connor Agnew :
At the same time, this is a lesson learned, this is how you can get better. And so you should give yourself a little grace in that moment. I guess what I’m curious about too is I know with the relationship aspect, it can be tough, especially with individual relationships with family. One of the things I feel like I need to do better is call my parents every day, right? And try to be more involved. But at the same time, we’re traveling every day and I’m trying to figure things out. And so it’s a balance that a lot of strength coaches have to kind of fight for.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
How do you give yourself a little bit of grace?
Connor Agnew :
How do you give yourself a little bit of grace in those situations or relationships where you may have pushed people to the side, but know that you can kind of continue to develop those relationships in the future?
Oliver Houston IV :
Um, I think not withholding anything. I think going back to what we talked about earlier with building the relationships amongst the sport coaches. Um, I think, you know, it’s the same with your family and your personal relationships and everything like that. And just overly communicating, but also being more intentional with those relationships, being more intentional with those moments that you have in those relationships. And, um, something that I’ve been trying to practice myself, you know,
learning more about the work-life balance and everything like that, but you know I had an athlete former athlete the other day he it was his birthday and I was like No, I don’t text him. I was like I got a little bit of time I got probably about an hour in between my next group so I’m like you know what I Can give him a three-minute call five-minute call it doesn’t have to be long I did just was a quick call and so I’m like you know what let me give him a call
called him up and was like, hey, happy birthday. Hope your family’s doing well. Hope everything’s going all right. You know, let me know if you need anything. And it was like three minutes. And I’m like, that wasn’t hard, you know? And that’s the balance. That’s the intention that, you know, I wish I had been aware of in my previous, you know, experiences, previous places that I worked and even last semester. It’s as simple as.
You know, carving out time. Like I said, being more intentional with carving out the time, being more intentional with trying to find that balance of whether it’s five minutes or 20 minutes or an hour or two minutes or just, you know, reaching out. And I think that is how you try to find that balance because everyone’s different. You know, everyone’s situation is different. Some people might be married. Some people might have children. Some people might just be by themselves. They might be in the same town with their family, but
You know, just being more intentional with trying to carve out those moments, I think. You know, again, hindsight’s 20-20. Wish I would done it a little bit differently, but you know, it’s shaping me up to be who I am today and the interns and GAs and assistants that I have and the classes that I speak at. You know, hopefully I can give them some tidbits and a little bit of advice as to how to be successful as best as possible, I guess I would say.
Connor Agnew :
I’ve never reached out and regretted it. I’ve never sent that text and regretted it.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah, exactly. That’s a good way of looking at it. That is definitely a good way looking at it.
Connor Agnew :
Well, I mean, I think it just makes all the difference in the world too, right? And it’s just a quick check in with a friend or somebody you haven’t spoken to in a while. I think to what you said too, it was just even communicating, right? And the relationship balance is tough, but like, if you can just tell somebody, hey man, I’m kind of going through it right now. Like we’re in the middle of season. I don’t really have the time, you know, and it’s not that I don’t appreciate you, but like if I’m not reaching out as much, it’s because I’ve got to focus on my own thing. I feel like that communication goes a long way.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
I don’t appreciate you.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah. Oh yeah, for sure. For sure.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah. It’s funny as a quick side note, I think about like the wedding invites, right? Like I have somebody is a good friend of mine who I know is not going to come to the wedding, but he just will not RSVP know he keeps being like, No, I’m to try I’m going to try I’m like, dude, it’s okay. Just tell me no. Like I’m getting more frustrated that you just not saying no initially, too. So if you could just communicate a little bit better makes all the difference.
Oliver Houston IV :
I’m sorry.
Oliver Houston IV :
Mm. Mm. Mm.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah. Yeah. No, there’s this there’s this moment that I look back on. Like there was there was a email that was sent to me and I was just like hanging on to that email, just like the wedding RSVP. And it’s just like just just type it back, just email back. And I’m like, no, I got to say the right things. I got to know. has to be right. Like I don’t want it to be any miscommunication or like any gray areas. I’m awake.
And then like two, three weeks go by and I’m like, I’m like, why didn’t I just send this email? Like, and now it’s like, I see the person and I’m just like, oh man, I got you. I got your email. I’m sorry. Like, and it’s like, just email them back. Just take the time emailing back. Again, doesn’t have to be perfect. It did not have to be perfect. So I’m steadily learning that.
Connor Agnew :
That’s the worst, the worst.
Connor Agnew :
It’s funny kind of the mental gymnastics you can put yourself through and then convincing yourself that like everything does need to be perfect. it’s like, no, I’d rather it’s just sometimes better just to send off a quick one right back. So, well, I know your work ethic, right? And I mean, for our listeners, you have one of the strongest work ethics I’ve ever seen out of coaches. And you alluded to it previously, you know, with having to be there a long time, especially in a director role where you don’t have seven assistants, like in SEC school, right?
Oliver Houston IV :
Oh man.
Yeah
Oliver Houston IV :
Exactly, exactly.
Oliver Houston IV :
Thank you.
Connor Agnew :
How are you able to balance your work and life and how are you able to make sure that that work ethic doesn’t burn you out and it’s something that can help fuel you and improve your career, but it’s not something that becomes overwhelming for you.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah, I’d say, know, as cliche as that other phrase is, when people say, you know, if you love what you do, you never truly, well, they say if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life and everything like that. think, you know, if you have a lot of passion for what you’re doing, you still can get burned out. Like as much as you want to try to balance out the timing, the, you know.
how much you’re giving to the job, how much you’re giving to the athletes or wherever you’re at. Like you still have those moments of where you’re feeling overwhelmed, you know, and it’s just really how you deal with those moments of being overwhelmed. But as far as work ethic goes, I’ve kind of I’ve come a long way, I guess I would say. So I appreciate the compliment early on, but it wasn’t always like this for me. you know, whether it was college or.
you know, early on in my career, like in college, I was honest with that, with that ESS class. Like I didn’t do the greatest in school. I didn’t do the greatest early on. Like if it weren’t for football, like who knows where I would have gone? Who knows what I would have done throughout that? But, you know, football kept me where I needed to be, I guess I would say. And then my first year with the Mavs, well, you know, those years early on, it was kind of
that work ethic was tested, didn’t really have one. I’d had one, of course, but it wasn’t really one that was like always go, go, go on edge. What can I do to succeed and everything like that? And that was kind of one of the first moments where I learned mentor mind taught me like never let them look at you sideways. And now I got a lot of quotes that I’m going to start saying just because there are things that help me.
you know, stay with this work ethic that I have, guess I would say. But they taught me like never let them look at you sideways. And I looked at that as always being on your P’s and Q’s, you know, paying close attention to detail, trying to avoid mistakes or anything like that. And, you know, not really letting people be like, we knew we knew that was going to get messed up. We were just waiting on it, you know, and that’s something that I still stick with. This still sticks with me. Another thing was that I learned
Oliver Houston IV :
kind in the tech area, there in the SPC area was staying on edge. know, some people could look at that as like, you know, you’re always like frantic and everything like that. But I look at it more as like, how can I improve the situation that I’m in? How can I continuously help the organization that I am around being steady, steady, but constant in your improvement? That helps me a lot looking back at those quotes.
Another quote is, you know, another mental remind taught me I wrote it down right here. If if you have a passion for this field, which is serving, you never truly clock out. And again, that’s similar to the staying on edge, just wanting to constantly improve the organization, the university, the student athletes as a whole. And then one of the final things that I still kind of hang my hat on is the quickest and easiest way to build buy in and trust is to be available.
Now I’m kind of learning, you know, the further I get into my career, technically this being year eight, if I think about it, but the further I get into my career now is I took all those things too literal. And I think, you know, I felt that like, if I wasn’t around wanting to be available as much as I was, if I wasn’t around, you know, or always available, those relationships wouldn’t be as strong or cultivated.
But then I started learning that could cause a lot of issues with your work-life balance. It could get a lot of issues with your mental health. It could cause a lot of issues with your relationships, personal relationships, and just unknowingly pushing people away. People that you care about pushing them away because of the thought process that I had on my hard work and my work ethic, know, those quotes that I said. But like I said, each of those things I kind of took too literal.
I took way out of context a little bit, you know, hindsight’s 20-20 like I said. So you start to learn a little bit more about that. How can I continue to do those things, but change them to how I can be successful while using those still, you know? And I think those are the things that I try to hang my hat on, like I said, about my work ethic, those couple quotes.
Oliver Houston IV :
are always the ones that I look back on, but how can I tweak them a little bit to where I’m still doing those things, but also taking care of myself, but taking care of my family, taking care of the relationships that I have in my life, you know?
Connor Agnew :
It’s a tough balance, man. And I think the tough part is to be successful as an intern or a GA or even a young assistant strength coach is to do all of those things, right? And like you said, take those quotes literally. Like I remember the reason I was able to be successful in those roles is because I was always available. It was because if you needed somebody at 5 a.m., I would be there. Or if there was a recruiting visit at Sunday at 5 p.m.
Oliver Houston IV :
Mm-hmm.
Oliver Houston IV :
Mm-hmm.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah. Yeah.
Connor Agnew :
It’s like, all right, I’m gonna drop everything and I’m gonna be there. And I saw and got rewarded for that constantly. And then as soon as I became a director of basketball performance or whatever, right, as a head strength coach, every other strength coach was like, no, stop doing that. Don’t do that at all. And it’s like, all right, well, what am I supposed to do, man? Yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yep. Which one am I supposed to do? Yeah. It’s not. It’s a struggle because like you you want to be that individual for people. But you got to remember to be that individual for yourself. You got to remember to be that individual for.
your loved ones, you know, for your significant other, for your family, your mother, your sister’s brother, anybody. And I think that’s, you know, I always struggled with the balance side of it and not really believing in work life balance because like you said, if you get a call at 5 p.m. on a Sunday, it’s like, oh, yeah, let me check. Oh, I’m good. I’ll be show up there. You know, 5 a.m. It’s like, yeah, I could be there. It’s like, whoa, like.
It’s gonna bite you in the butt later on maybe but you Just I learned you can’t be everything to everybody, you know, and that’s you know, that’s what I learned early on but also more prominently this past semester, you know with the 16th sports that I have and we can go into that in a little bit but Can’t be everything to everybody is what I’ve learned
Connor Agnew :
Well, I am curious about the 16 sports because it’s a lot and I definitely want to go into it. You you, you mentioned earlier that the strength coach is the defender of culture, right? And I think, especially being a director, it’s almost your job to create the weight room culture as well. It’s not just the team culture. You obviously want to incorporate that with what you’re doing within the weight room, but what is the culture you’re developing within your sports performance department?
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
Mm-hmm.
Oliver Houston IV :
Um, I just, you know, there’s, there’s a couple of questions that I always ask myself at the end of every day. it’s, you know, Learn this early on in my career. I asked myself, did I serve? Did I inspire? Did I work hard and did I compete? Um, and I try to instill that into my athletes as well. Um, as a cultural standpoint, but you know, along with those core values that I hold, I always want my athletes to understand that, you know, there are five words and I’m, I’ve been looking at them as like five pillars essentially. And
trying to get that going here steadily. And the five words, I always try to want them to be consistent, passionate, prepared, relentless, and unselfish. And I think those five words coincide with each other in some way or fashion. Whether it’s on the court, on the field, in the weight room, in your classroom, outside of here, I think that you are
If you can be labeled as one of those five words, I think you hold yourself to a higher standard. You know, I think that gives you an opportunity to be like, like we know that we know what that person is about. We know that they’re a good person. We know that they hold themselves to a high standard. We know that they have high character because they’re consistent in everything they do. We know they hold themselves to a high character because they’re relentless in their pursuit of succeeding or helping serve individuals.
We know that they’re a high caliber, high characteristic individual because they’re unselfish in their pursuit of, you know, helping others. And I don’t think you could be one word without being the other four words. And that’s something that I’ve, you know, been steadily trying to incorporate here. There’s also another quote by the CEO of Zappos. I think his name is Tony Shay.
if I’m pronouncing that right. But he says, when an idea becomes part of a language, it becomes part of the default way of thinking. And that’s a quote that I try to live by when I’m trying to instill culture. If it becomes part of the regular language, if you’re saying it day in and day out, as much as people might be like, man, he’s saying the same thing again. He’s about to say the same thing again. And it might be mocking, but.
Oliver Houston IV :
at the end of the day, it’s like, you don’t remember it. You’ve got to remember it. You know, it becomes a default way of thinking. So if I’m always like, hey, let’s make sure we’re consistent in everything we do, make sure we’re passionate and blah, blah, blah. And then it’s like, he’s talking about consistency. He’s always talking about passion. He’s talking about relent. It’s like you remember the five words though, you know, and that’s kind of how I’m wanting to, you know, focus on developing the culture. But I also learned that, you know, getting here, lot of these teams already had culture set in place.
Connor Agnew :
you
Oliver Houston IV :
You know, they already had what they were doing and I was trying to figure out what can cause the biggest ripple effect. What smallest drop can cause the biggest ripple effect. And that’s something that I’m still searching for, you know, because like I said, a lot of the teams here had solid cultures in place and successful teams. And I’m just trying to figure out how I can help them in any way possible. I guess I would say.
Connor Agnew :
I love the bass. I love the five words. How are you getting the athletes to buy in? Like I know you just mentioned it with a small drop creating a large ripple effect, but I mean, how are you getting these athletes to listen to you besides the language?
Oliver Houston IV :
Um, I, early on it was, uh, it was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, but because of me, you know, not, not because of the athletes, not because of the sport coaches or anything like that here. was, you know, me trying to use names to get my point across or to validate who I was as a strength and conditioning coach coming into it.
Um, you know, trying to use an example from the Dallas Mavericks or something like that, being like, Oh, I worked with pros and blah, blah, blah. Like just this mobility exercise works. You just got to trust it. it’s like, Whoa, this, they, you name dropping is not going to do anything. Like you name dropping is probably making them look at you worse, you know, or something along those lines, which leads me back to what I said earlier was keep the message the same changes delivery.
You know, lot of these athletes here, like I said, the sport coaches have great cultures already in place, respectful students, respectful athletes, respectful individuals as a whole. And I think it was just one of those, you know, toeing the line of being available, being overly available, trying to build that buy in and trust, but also like, oh, hey, I have this background. You should already trust it. It’s like, whoa, that.
You got to find that balance. You got to find how to tippy toe that line because always being available, trying to force that or forcing it using what I know in the past. It’s like those two things aren’t working right now. How can you be a little bit more genuine? How can you be a little bit more, you know, trusting on both ends? And I think it’s still a work in progress. I think it’s just one of those. Hey, this is where you were. This is where you’re getting to.
But at the end of day, it’s you. I look at the strength and conditioning aspect, my role as providing a roadmap. I told my volleyball team this morning, was like, me as a strength and conditioning coach, my role is to provide a roadmap to help you tap into your God-given abilities. And at the end of the day, I can give you sets and reps, Xs and Os, things of that nature. And it’s like, hey, this is gonna help you, but I can’t force you to do all these things.
Oliver Houston IV :
to the level that I want you to do them at, but understand that this is essentially a roadmap to help you tap into your God-given abilities. you can find it as you need, or I can help you in any way possible. But then there’s another little thing that I always say, it’s like, we’re building our foundation on concrete and not sand. And that’s a Bible verse that I’ve seen around here a lot of times. It escapes me off the top of my head right now, but building our foundation on concrete.
and not sand and I always tell the athletes like, hey, I gave you the blueprint. Here’s the roadmap. You can either use styrofoam and plywood and glue or you can go down the street, work a little bit more, chop that wood, set that concrete, get that stone and might take you a little bit longer but that foundation is a lot more solid now. So that’s how I least try to. Hopefully.
Connor Agnew :
No, no, no, I think it’s successful. Well, I just one thing I truly appreciate about you is learning from experiences, right? And then constantly improving and understanding that it’s a process, right? And it’s not, I love what you said earlier too. It’s, know, what got me here isn’t going to keep me here. I have to keep growing. have to keep getting better. And I just love that mindset because to me, that’s where great coaches are truly coming from is that mindset all the time. Now I have one final question for you this comes with the story. Okay.
Oliver Houston IV :
Hopefully your grass.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah. Okay.
Connor Agnew :
So for our listeners, everybody knows I was a Texas Tech previously. And then this is where we first met. And I remember, Halloween’s my favorite holiday. And so for me, this was like one of the toughest times because the previous coach got fired for women’s basketball. We hired a brand new coach coming in, trying to set up a brand new culture, like the problems that we just talked about, right? And then also being in the middle of October, women’s basketball, three hour practices, you know, just to…
Oliver Houston IV :
Uh-huh.
Connor Agnew :
a tough time, we haven’t played anybody yet, we haven’t scrimmaged anybody and it’s like, we have got to get something done, right? And just like stop playing against each other, everybody’s in a bad mood. And I remember I asked coach, was like, can we do a Halloween lift? And she’s like, I just don’t think right now is the time. And I was like, okay. And then I walk into the weight room at USA, it’s this dark weight room and I can like see you and John Riley dressed up as wrestlers going through a full wrestling.
Oliver Houston IV :
Uh huh.
Oliver Houston IV :
Mm.
Connor Agnew :
you know, script essentially, and it was fantastic. And I remember being on the outside like touching the glass like, oh, if only this could be me. So my question for you is, who is your favorite wrestler and why?
Oliver Houston IV :
I’d probably say who I dressed up as. was a Booker T. He was probably my favorite wrestler. In all honesty, that was all John Riley’s idea. he, we did this whole Halloween, you know, spectacular just day and everyone’s looking forward to it and everything like that every year. try to do that at all my other places as well, but he always did a partner, you know.
Connor Agnew :
I’m sure, I’m sure.
Oliver Houston IV :
partner costume. So he was like, we’re wrestling this year. And I’m like, like, what? He’s like, yeah, I’m already going to be this person. I need you to pick somebody and I’m like, am I right? Booker T. So we he goes to Party City. He was either Party City or Halloween, the spirit Halloween store. And I remember he’s Face Timing me and he’s like, he’s like, which wig do you want? Which one do you want? And like, he’s like this one or this one?
Connor Agnew :
Yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
I’m like, I don’t even know who I’m gonna pick yet. And so I get the wig and everything like that. And I’m like, all right, I’m gonna be Booker T. And literally I know we had this whole ring set up and everything like that. was like, I thought we were just gonna like, know, lift, take pictures, have fun. And we had a whole like five minute actual wrestling match. that was something.
Connor Agnew :
Yep.
Connor Agnew :
unique, unique experience.
Oliver Houston IV :
That was something unique, like that’s something that athletes are always gonna remember. I try to do that at every place that I’ve been. It doesn’t really fall in the right weeks because that’s always the beginning of the basketball season. Like you said, you’re either having a scrimmage or you’re about to go into the first week of games and it’s like, we wanna make sure we’re serious, but it’s also like, okay, let’s have a little bit of fun.
So I try to do that with all my teams here. I always dress up, I do two or three days, because that’s what Riley always did. So that final day is always the biggest day.
Connor Agnew :
I love it, I love it. I remember Scott came up to me, Scott my assistant at the time came up and he was just like, you wish that was you, huh? was like, damn man, come on. It’s about having fun.
Oliver Houston IV :
Uh-huh.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah, we had some, yeah, it’s about having fun. It’s about making memories. Like it can get monotonous being in that weight room, you know, doing the same exercises, doing the same, you’re in, you’re out, you’re in there for an hour. And it’s like, I want to keep this still joyful. want to have fun. That also gives me an opportunity to kind of be like, okay, let me express my creativity, you know? And it’s like, let me see what some people are going to.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
kind of dress up as, you know, and I’ve, I’ve seen a lot of crazy things in the past from different athletes, different sports, but it’s been, it’s always been a hit. It’s always been a hit. So something memorable for sure.
Connor Agnew :
Eh.
Connor Agnew :
It’s awesome. It’s not taking yourself seriously. It’s just having fun and I love it. Well, oh, thank you for coming on, man. I really appreciate you. It was good to catch up with you selfishly, right? But then for our listeners to learn something today too is always great. If somebody wants to follow you on social media, what would be the best way we do that?
Oliver Houston IV :
Exactly.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yeah. Cheers, sir. Yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
Hmm.
It’ll be my full name. So Oliver Houston the fourth so Ivy I Do have some dashes and maybe some underscores in there. I don’t I’ll just tell my head I don’t know but if you google or if you look up Oliver Houston the fourth, you’ll find me My picture might be me yelling or might be me with a towel something like that. All right, you know, you’ll you’ll find me Hopefully, hopefully hopefully I was able to give y’all something to you know
Connor Agnew :
No fudges.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah.
Oliver Houston IV :
that’ll help you whether you’re in this field or looking to get into this field or even outside of this field. Hopefully I gave y’all something that you can take with you that can help you in the future.
Connor Agnew :
You’ve got to send this to the ESS class or I’ll find a way to send it.
Oliver Houston IV :
Yes, I gotcha. I don’t know if I’ll be speaking at another one. Hopefully I will be, but you know, the great, great, kids, you know, but hopefully I’m able to leave them with something better than, you know, to begin with. Yeah, good. Yeah, of course, Connor. I appreciate you as well. All right.
Connor Agnew :
I’m sure you did. I promise you did. Well, thank you, man. I appreciate you.
