Tactical Coaching and Cultural Development with Sam Daoust | Samson Strength Coach Collective
On the latest episode of the Samson Strength Coach Collective, Connor Agnew sits down with Tactical Strength and Conditioning Coach Sam Daoust for an in-depth conversation about coaching across different cultures and environments. Sam walks us through his journey, from his early days as a strength coach in Canada to his transition into the U.S. collegiate system, and now his current role working with the Canadian Special Forces.
Throughout the discussion, Sam shares valuable insights on cultural development in strength and conditioning, problem-solving with limited resources, and the importance of building trust and engagement with athletes. He emphasizes that simple, consistent programming—executed with intent—can lead to powerful results.
The conversation also covers the balance coaches must find between professional development and personal fulfillment. Sam speaks candidly about career transitions, the role of mentorship, and the adaptability required to thrive in both tactical and athletic coaching settings.
Key Takeaways:
• Cultural differences between Canadian and American strength and conditioning
• Mentorship and its role in career development
• Building trust and fostering athlete engagement
• Tactical strength and conditioning techniques
• Problem-solving in resource-limited environments
• Balancing professional responsibilities with personal fulfillment
• Strategies for client engagement and maintaining training consistency
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Connor Agnew :
What’s going on Samson strength coach collective listeners on today’s episode we have Sam Dow. He’s coming to us as a Canadian strength coach and you’ll see he’s got a long back and forth relationship between the United States and Canada. Are we are we even allowed to have this podcast right now? Are we okay with doing this?
Sam Daoust :
That’s a good question. That’s a great, we’re just, going to join the sides is what we’re going to do in this podcast.
Connor Agnew :
Hahaha
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, this is actually not, this is going to be a purely political podcast. We’re not going to break anything down about straightening conditioning whatsoever. It’s all going to be about tariffs and energy surcharges. So, well, thank you for coming on, man. I really appreciate it. As I already alluded to, you’ve got experience in both the Canadian and United States straightening conditioning sectors. Can you kind of just give us a breakdown of your career so far as a whole? And then what’s brought you back to Canada?
Sam Daoust :
Hahaha!
Sam Daoust :
Yeah, man. So I was originally born in the US and then grew up in Canada and my start in straining conditioning is really different than most alma mater university I went to called the Renche University didn’t actually have there any straining additionings on staff. So basically it was like a free for all teams would use someone from the private sector or they just wouldn’t have it. In our case, I was a varsity soccer player and our team literally would just use like student trainers sometimes if the head coach had a good relationship with them and was like, oh, it’s guys.
this guy’s fit. Yeah, man, you could do it. So I kind of ended up developing that relationship and I wasn’t always seen as the most skillful player, but I was kind of seen as the kind of like rough and tough, like make tackles type player that was like fit whatever. didn’t think I was that fit anyways, but that’s how it was seen. So he was like, Hey, like, do you want to run it? And I was like, yeah, I guess, I guess man. that winter, which was a fourth year of undergrad,
that basically from like January until, cause they wouldn’t do any like training in season or none of that. He would not even go near that obviously classic. But that off season, a whole winter, I just ran it. And it was only like twice a week, but it’s still hilarious to look back. Like no CSCS, no real education, unlike my kin degree. And I’ll look back at some of those workouts and they’re hilarious. Like not that they were that bad. Like, I mean, it’s still, like it was still better than those guys doing absolutely nothing. But so that was my start. And then from that, we ended up working for a private sector company.
In at the university and that was also like extremely unique. So they were the company was embedded in the university So basically my boss back then shout out Calvin McGibbon like gave me my first job and some teams at the university that had enough money the soccer team was obviously not one of these but they would actually use him for strength conditioning services and he would have like a plethora of private clients ranging from like so basically I was training and this went on through my masters
Laurentian I was training anybody from like I had I had a seven year old client who actually ended up getting diagnosed while I was training him with like early onset Parkinson’s to like young Ontario we had some like OHL young Ontario Hockey League players so like minor professional hockey guys that were trying to get into the NHL and some teams as well so it was it was was just like you name it um from there uh did a internship
Sam Daoust :
with Boston College for the summer. And then that’s kind of was like my entry into the US. Like it was hilarious. Like I knew nothing. And I’m like, big shot me like CSCS masters. Oh, I got two years experience like applying everywhere. And like nobody’s calling me because I didn’t know any better. Right. And it’s just and I’m like, what is going on right now? So, yeah, like I ended up doing like you can imagine how that conversation went with parents that don’t understand like, hey, hey, mom and dad, like I just got my master’s degree. I’m going to go work for free for a summer. They’re looking they’re looking at you like.
Connor Agnew :
Yep.
Sam Daoust :
Are you nuts? anyways, that led into my first, it was great. Like internship was awesome. It was great to see. It was football only, which was really good to see sport that I sport that at that point I had not worked with before. Then went to basically Newberry college, which was a D two in South Carolina. Then ended up at Northwestern state, a lower level division one in Louisiana. And then Stephen F. Austin.
Um, in Texas, which kind of, as I was coming to Stephen F. Austin, I would work in with a bunch of different sports, uh, during my time in Louisiana, I started to kind of focus in a little bit in the basketball world. And then by the time I got to Stephen F. Austin, like that was my main, my main gig was men’s basketball. Um, after doing that for a while, completely, uh, flip-flopped and, now took a, uh, I now work in the tactical sector, um, with the Canadian.
Special Forces actually up in Canada. So yeah back in back in Canada now, which has been pretty recent for me So I only moved back this past November
Connor Agnew :
What an awesome background. mean, seriously. And then to experience it in such different ways. And, know, so funny to me when you bring up like writing your own workouts for your team, right? Like it makes me think of, had a buddy who was on my team in high school for track and field. He was an 800 meter runner and I was writing programs for him. And it was like, you know, I grew up on bodybuilding stuff. So it would be like, you know, four by.
eight deadlifts at like 85%, right? I remember he said one day, yeah, my strength coach said, can you stop doing those workouts? Like they’re not helping you. And I was like, yeah, man, he doesn’t know better. And it’s just so funny, like you said, to look back and see the workouts. But obviously there was a passion there. How was it running the workouts, especially as being a teammate with these guys? I’m sure you couldn’t be the typical American authoritative strength coach that you sometimes picture.
Sam Daoust :
You
Sam Daoust :
It was, yeah, it was, was interesting because literally, yeah, like literally the year before I was these guys team. A lot, a lot of these guys had come in, like we were like part of the same rookie class and like had gone through stuff like rookie stuff together, which if you’ve been part of like varsity sports, like, know what that’s like. Um, it was, they actually, to, their credit, they didn’t kind of try to take advantage. They actually were just kind of excited to.
I felt like because it was only twice a week to them, it was kind of like, this isn’t that much. And they were almost like excited to do it because they felt like they were getting taken care of a little bit. There was still a little bit of that aspect where, I couldn’t walk in there and berate a guy because he’s going to look at me like, dude, I used to start over you last year. Like, what are you talking about? But because I, again, like because of my what I was known for on the team and respected for that side of it, that did kind of help me.
Connor Agnew :
Mm-hmm.
Sam Daoust :
in that environment. Now that being said, it was still hilarious because for example, we used to work out Tuesdays and Thursdays and like Thursday night in college, like at least in Canada, like that’s pub night. So we’d have like a pub on campus. So I’m not lying. Like our workouts were like, I don’t remember. There’s probably seven to eight PM. And then it was like, all right, boy, see you at the pub in two hours. Like how’s that for post workout recover? So just, no, it’s like, I look back on it and it’s hilarious, but it was…
Connor Agnew :
it.
Sam Daoust :
even though it was extremely unique and don’t get me wrong, like what it have, could it have been better if I had been, you know, taught more formally at first? Sure. But I’ll say the one thing that I learned doing that right away and even in my next job where it was already like day one, it was literally, Hey, here, here’s some clients program for them was I had to learn to problem solve like very quickly early on in my career that mixed in with the aspect of again, like talking about facilities, like we had nothing for facilities. So talk about being able to think on your feet.
There are days I’d have a client and we wanted to use, you know, like whatever, like take whatever machine. Like I didn’t know, I could walk up to it that day and somebody else is using it. And then it’s like, all right, like you got 10 seconds there to think of something else. Cause that person’s paying you. So there was, again, there was a lot of it that could I have learned more starting out a hundred percent, but those problem solving skills are something that, you know, when I got to somewhere like Boston college, which was amazing, like I got to see the other side of it, which was like, Hey,
let me see an extremely well run oiled machine at the highest level. Like Coach Phil Matus, who’s now with the Pittsburgh Steelers. I mean, that place was, it was insane walking into that. But at the same time, I still saw that if I had started there, yeah, it would have been amazing. I would have learned all this amazing stuff about how to manage a room, which I needed. But that problem solving aspect, when we literally had all the equipment you could ever want there, I wouldn’t have got those skills. So that’s why I’m grateful for how I got my start because even though was different,
it did come with its advantages.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, I know. Absolutely. I feel like it just teaches you so much more and the pressure aspect of it too, right? You know, like it’s so interesting because I’ll try to teach our interns now like, OK, here’s this program athlete comes in, he’s spraying his ankle, you know, and you’ve got to, you know, come up with what you want to do instead of back squat today or whatever. Right.
You know, it’s funny because those examples have actually happened to me, but it’s been in that instance, I immediately have to come up with something, you know, versus like me kind of holding their hand and talking through them, you know, and saying, well, you know, maybe you should do this, right? In your case, you just had to come up with it immediately.
Sam Daoust :
Yeah, man. No, like that was it. And again, my boss was there. He was there to help me. But he also took a very hands off approach. Like to get that job, you had to demonstrate a level of actual like programming knowledge. Like my interview for that job was actually having to show him what I had done in that. Like I would have never got that job if I didn’t work with the soccer team and was able to at least show, even though he knew it wasn’t perfect. Like I was able to show, hey, look, these are the programs I wrote.
Like one of the cool things I remember when I interviewed there is, I still haven’t really been asked this since, is he asked me to give him my workout program. And like, I was just like, I was like, wait, hold on a second. But then like, it made sense. And then like, yeah, like I had to actually like give what I was doing and then have the reasons behind it. So it just, yeah, it got me thinking about what I was doing and why I was doing it super, super early in my career versus kind of, kind of like you’re talking about like, Hey, here’s this program.
Connor Agnew :
Heh heh.
Sam Daoust :
run it and then sometimes you just don’t know exactly why you’re doing the things that you’re doing.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, I remember the best example I was ever given of it was by Dan Murth at Tennessee where he just told me, know, imagine every time you’re writing a program, you’re giving a talk to a hundred people and you’re going to get asked one question by every single one of those people. And you better be able to justify exactly why you have those things in there. You know, and it’s funny because now if I, if I handed over my workout program, you know, it’d be like, well, I’m doing this. Cause I felt a little bit tired that day. If I’m being honest. Yeah, I just hit buys and tries today. there’s no scientific reason. I was just feeling a little sleepy.
Sam Daoust :
hahahaha
Connor Agnew :
Uh.
Sam Daoust :
yeah, yeah, no, a hundred percent. No, like I definitely, like at that point too, I was still like kind of working out for fun. Like I didn’t have an actual training program written for myself. So I totally like wrote it. And like, mean, like, like, like, you know how it is, like you’re going for interview, like you’re going to embellish some stuff and be like, oh yeah, man, like I’m doing this for power development. Like, all right, like, like you said, I probably just hit some buys and tries that day, but Hey, I know what this means. You know I mean? Like, so yeah.
Connor Agnew :
Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew :
Yep, that’s awesome. And so how did you get kind of exposed to, like you said, you went to Boston College to be an intern there. How did that idea kind of come to you and how did you understand and first start learning about the American side of strength and conditioning?
Sam Daoust :
Yeah, so from lot of podcasts, honestly, like that was a big thing. And I really didn’t, it was a mixture of podcasts and actually I have to give credit to like, not that this is an endorsement or anything, it’s just the truth of like Strength Coach Network. I got a membership in the second year of my master’s degree and there were a lot of resources there that talked about just career progressions and things like that. And I even had conversations with people on there where I was kind of telling them like, hey,
this is what I’m looking to do. And I explained to them what I had done. They were like, yeah, man, like you need to start making some connections. So that’s really what made me realize, cause you know, being in Canada, I just kind of thought, like I knew what strain conditioning was in general. I knew that it was big at the college level in the United States. I knew that it was, you know, it was a thing at the college level in Canada too. Um, but yeah, those were the main, those were the main two and the way the, the whole deal with Boston college. I actually,
I actually had gotten the job in South Carolina first, even though I started that later. The thing with the job in South Carolina was it was one of those like part-time, they only paid you during the year, during the academic year, cause it’s D2, nobody’s there in the summer. So it didn’t start until like August 1st or something like that. So basically during that time, once I had landed that job, as I started talking to more people, I realized just having
what having the truth of the matter is high level, especially like P5, even if it’s just internship experience looks like on your resume. The reason Boston College worked out is because my dad lives in Rhode Island. So like I didn’t have the money to go and do, I mean, I might’ve been able to get myself supported, but I didn’t want to do that. So the reason when they basically were advertising, I had a place to live in Northern Rhode Island. So.
I just applied, managed to get the internship, which was cool. Like I went through an interview process as well, which was really like, I wasn’t even expecting that, but it was great. And yeah, like I was driving, it would take me like 45 minutes in the morning when there was like no traffic. So we were getting there at like 4.45 AM. And then like the, the after was the worst man. Like we’re talking leaving at like, and like if you, Evan knows Boston traffic, like it’s not, it’s not a good time at all. So it just was one of those situations where
Sam Daoust :
you make do what you can and I took an opportunity that again, I was lucky that I had the resources to support that and ran with
Connor Agnew :
What was the biggest shock to you when you first got to Boston College? Like maybe comparisons to straight the kid is same programs or just kind of the weight room size as a whole.
Sam Daoust :
It was the culture piece. hadn’t been exposed to that before. So everything, like again, and people know this, like I’m sure it’s no different in the United States, right? Like you’re coming through academia, like everything’s about science, science, science, right? Even, then obviously when I’m the one running the weight room, like I don’t know what that’s supposed to look like, right? I’m just writing workouts based on scientific reasonings that I’ve learned. And then even during those two years in the private sector, like again, nobody really exposed me. There was a little bit of exposure to culture, but again, the whole point of private sector is like,
My job is to keep these clients coming back, right? So yes, you’re looking at like, you’re kind of looking at culture, but in a completely different way. So that was the biggest thing was when I got there, I’m expecting it to be like, here are these super fancy methods that we use. And then I’m watching them and I’m like, I don’t know. This is like basic stuff overall. Like don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying nothing was advanced. Like it’s good, but like it’s the stuff that I mostly already knew with some, with some things added in.
And that was the X factor. thought the X factor was going to be programming. And I’m like, no, the X factor is just the culture and just these, and just how these guys attack the workout day in day out, like all the intricacies of how our staff was set up to coach every day, right? The way the workout was laid out, what music was played during the day, right? Like the location of doing different things. Cause the way it was set up, we had like an indoor field house, the weight room, and then like an outdoor area, right? And I was never exposed.
to that much availability and being able to use that and just where they would set different things up to have the workout flow. Yeah, that was the biggest thing that I learned there. And that they preach, like to their credit, the whole staff, their internship coordinators, that’s all they talked about, right? And at first when I got there, the truth is I was kinda like, I don’t really know what this is. And the more I saw it day in, day out, the more I realized like, hey, I’m actually gaining some extremely valuable information here that I’ve just never been exposed to.
Connor Agnew :
It’s funny because, you know, we’ve all, I mean, just in private conversations with other coaches heard, you know, well, that guy doesn’t even program well. He doesn’t do stuff good. You know, like he just, he’s buddies with the head coach. He knows how to do the culture development piece. And it’s like, that’s a severely underrated piece of actually being a strength coach. Cause one of the things I say all the time, and you know, I think I hope we would agree with it is that sometimes the programming really doesn’t matter as much as if you can get the guys to buy into actually doing the programming.
And so it could be a very simple program, very easy, but at the same time, if the guys don’t want to be there or girls and they don’t care, then it doesn’t really matter. And so I guess I’m not too surprised to hear that it’s a little bit less on the science focus, more on the culture development, because we have a German GA here who’s had the exact same experience, right? He came in, saw my program for the first time, and I think he like, know, gasped. was like, I can’t believe you’re doing like this simple amount of stuff and everything.
Sam Daoust :
Ha
Connor Agnew :
And it’s like, yeah, I understand. you know, at the same time, like what I try to do is just get these guys excited about the weight room. So it’s just, I’m sure, a very different experience.
Sam Daoust :
Yeah, no, hundred percent. And again, like the, the programming was, was, was unbelievable, but that, that was the magic. was doing extremely what, you know, and I don’t even like that term simple programming, right? Cause like I just, that doesn’t really make a lot of sense, right? It was extremely simple programming done the right way with the proper intent week after week. And like, when I was there, there’s like that summer, we literally had two first rounders in that weight room. So you can’t like, w w what are you going to say to that? Right.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah.
Sam Daoust :
Like you can’t say anything to that, right? Like it’s Boston College. they’re not, they’re not exactly no fence to Boston College. Amazing school. Love it there. They’re not known as a Titan in the P5 world. You know what I mean? So just to see what those guys were able to do day in day out to get all those guys to just buy in again, not just like, we’re not talking different groups, right? But the entire, like just one of the things that was most interesting to me as well was just like they had this whole ranking system of the team where like they had basically like three different categories. And it was like, it was
completely earn your stripes, right? was, hey, if you wanted to get in our vet category, you got to earn your way up there. And yeah, when you earn your way up there, there’s perks involved to be there, but you got to earn it. And it was not always the best players that were up there, right? It was very much based on that culture piece. And they made sure that those guys, especially in the weight room, were the leaders and you could just see how it propagated through the team.
Connor Agnew :
And so what was the biggest thing that you learned about culture development there?
Sam Daoust :
I think I learned that number one, it takes time and you gotta plant the right seeds to let it develop. You can’t just demand it day one. It can’t be, hey, I’m the strength coach, you’re gonna do exactly as I tell you, exactly in this way. That doesn’t work. Now, especially for a guy like me, when I was going into South Carolina, nobody knew anything about me, nobody cared what I had done in Canada. I’m a nobody, right? Like was 24, I was 24 years old. Like had athletes older than me.
in the D like in the D2 world, not always age gaps. Like there was a few wrestlers that I was coaching that were literally like two, three years old than me. Right. So that’s the biggest thing. It’s showing those guys the first thing that I always that I always do when I’m working with the new with anybody like new, new individual client team, like you name it is show them that my number one goal is to get them better. Right. I’m in it completely for them, not for myself. All I’m trying to do is guide them to get them to achieve.
their goals and then as you slowly build that trust and show them that your focus is 100 % on them, then you start to slowly add in more of those culture pieces that you want to see to start to continuously change behaviors. And you don’t always want to change behaviors, right? Like that’s the other thing, like actually analyze what’s in front of you. I’ve worked with people and I’m like, from day one, it’s like, no, you’re good. Like I don’t need to, but if you’re in a team setting and you have those people that are good,
you better put them to the top and you better make sure that you give them the opportunity to lead so that everyone else has to fall. Like one of the things I always hated as far as like, like I hate to me, one of the punishments that I use when I got to South Carolina was when kids, when kids were late and said, and don’t get me wrong, like I’m not saying making everyone do a team punishment is wrong. I’ve also used that. But one of the things I started to do is when you were late a certain amount of time, you just had to sit in the corner.
and not work out and watch everyone work out because my thought process around it was, man, if you can’t show up on time, like you don’t deserve, this is a privilege. Like you, want you to sit there and I want you to see how much fun you’re missing out on in the weight room right now. I don’t want you to just come in and know, all right, coach, let me do my 50 burpees. Get this, like, let’s get this over with. Like that just doesn’t always work.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, you know, one of the things that I’ve used before is the timeout chair, you know, so if somebody, you know, just repeatedly, we have the same issue. I’ll literally put them in timeout right in the middle of the weight room. And that problem usually corrects itself almost immediately too, right? Cause one, they don’t get to be a part of the workout, but then two, everybody else is, I mean, blasting them while they’re in timeout as well too. And it’s usually only a freshman kind of deal, right? You know, I’m not putting the fifth year senior transfer in the timeout chair cause he might just straight up quit.
Sam Daoust :
Yeah, man.
Connor Agnew :
But you know, it’s interesting what you can pick up on from a cultural development standpoint and then highlighting, you know, the good that people do and making sure like you said that that’s elevated and that’s at the forefront so they can be leaders by example.
Sam Daoust :
Like just to go back to that piece where culture takes time to develop, I’ll never forget this like coach Matuse told me, we used to do one-on-one meetings, which is really cool. I asked him, like, hey, how do you implement a culture? And then he said that. And then he said, like, man, he’s like, day one when we got here, first workout, we just did a dynamic warmup. Like that was it. But their dynamic warmup was so different, with so much more intent and purpose.
than those guys were used to, that’s literally all they could do day one. Like that’s it. Again, he didn’t go in there and rush everything, right? He planted that seed and set the tone day one where those guys left day one going, holy shit, like we literally just did a dynamic warmup today. Like what are we in for? And that, again, you’re planting that seed, but you’re not throwing too much. Like in strength and condition, we always talk about like stress inoculation, right? It’s the same thing. You can’t throw too much at them, right? You slowly inoculate them and you change the behaviors that you want to change.
to get them to where you want to be.
Connor Agnew :
No, I love it. And again, it just, it helps reinforce those things while allowing people still to buy in, right? They’re not, know, on the first day thinking, all right, this guy’s a total jerk. I don’t really care what he’s trying to do, right? Because you’re giving them the appropriate dose, right? We’re not giving them the culture rap dough that you can sometimes see with other programs.
Sam Daoust :
Yeah, a hundred percent, man.
Connor Agnew :
And so, you know, what have you, what did you take from that experience and then translated across to your time in South Carolina and then Louisiana and obviously in Texas, and then have you translated and brought it back to your experience in Canada now?
Sam Daoust :
Yeah, good question. Definitely, you know, when I got to South Carolina, that one of the biggest things that had the most immediate transfer, I would say, because obviously culture, we talk about that, but it depends on so many things. Like it literally depends on the head coach and what they are also willing to do. But just like weight room management and literally how to set up a weight room properly to have.
a training day flow is the number one thing that I was immediately when I got to South Carolina able to do that I was able to continue because again, I didn’t really work like I wasn’t working at a place that I would consider high resource until I got into Texas, right? So those skills of again, like I didn’t always like being there in the morning having to set up that weight room or staying late, but just seeing the thought process going into it every single day.
allowed me when I was working in South Carolina and Louisiana with like limited access to equipment to utilize the equipment that I had in what I felt was the most effective and efficient way possible. As far as now, again, completely different. Now, I don’t want to say that I, it’s not that I don’t utilize anything that I learned, but it’s more so I’m really back to almost being
in more of a private sector or maybe some people would, even though I’ve never worked in any type of professional sport, they would kind of liken it more to that just because in my current setting, training is not mandatory, right? And that obviously throws a wrench in a lot of the stuff that you’re trying to do. So again, now it’s interesting because I’m almost reaching back to a lot of the skills I learned when I was in the private sector of, hey,
Connor Agnew :
Mmm.
Sam Daoust :
how do I get these people coming back to just continue? And like the number one goal I’m chasing is just training consistency currently. Cause that’s what it is. It’s big boy rules, which I don’t mind. Like it does create an atmosphere of we’re all adults here. all, and the onus really is on, like it’s super different than in college. Sometimes the onus, you know, they put the onus on you as a strength coach, which I’m not saying that’s wrong, but it’s just really different because now the onus is actually on,
the client or the member of like, hey, you need to be training because clearly you need to do this for your job. Nobody is arguing that. And a lot of them are actually getting PT time carved out in their day to do that, right? But then the aspect comes, are they actually going to train and listen to what we’re saying? And that’s a whole different ball game right there.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, you know, again, I just find the comparison so interesting because even within different programs I’ve worked with before, right? Like we have a big focus on body weight here in this program. And I remember, you know, the first time I had to tell our head coach here that a player wasn’t at his body weight goal and was really not trying that hard. I was terrified. I was like, he’s going to rip me a new one. Like he’s going to be so pissed, you know, and I went in and he was like, well, why isn’t he doing that? You know, and I was like, well, here’s what he’s told me. Here’s kind of the justifications he’s given me.
Sam Daoust :
Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew :
He’s like, that’s BS. You know, like I’ll talk to the player and make sure get on him. And it’s like, it was very refreshing for me because I was like, all right, like I really am trying. I promise you, I wouldn’t come to you unless this was kind of a dire situation from that standpoint. But again, like you said, the onus sometimes can be on you. Sometimes it’s like, I don’t care if this guy, you know, has zero motivation, doesn’t want to do what we’re asking him to do at all. You’re the one who has to figure it out versus kind of being a little bit more of a collaborative effort. But then again, as adults, it’s almost a completely different ballgame. Right. And I feel like it’s
Not even like you can have a head coach or position coach come in and help back you up on that one. It’s really like, hey man, this is your career. This is your life. It’s up to you. Now, when they come train, do they have to do your workouts or can they also do something completely separate as well?
Sam Daoust :
Yeah, no, that’s like that’s thing. There’s no they can do they can do whatever they want. There’s no yeah, there’s no mandatory, which to my understanding, and I still have a little bit of so I apologize to people working in the United States in the poet of world. If I if I get this wrong, please let me know. But my understanding, at least in some of those, maybe not all installations, they also follow similar guidelines, which again, I get that because we are like we are all adults and we should know.
Connor Agnew :
Wow.
Sam Daoust :
that, well not me specifically, I’m not the one in the military, but like they should know and they do know, right? Like don’t get me wrong, like they do know like, hey, I do need to train. And at least when there’s that understanding, you’re given the opportunity to come in and guide that in the right direction. But again, if you’re gonna work in my sector really, and have this type of environment, you really have to be comfortable with being.
just more of a resource, right? You have to be comfortable with that. If you, and I’m not saying one’s good or bad, but if what you love, if any strength condition goes, like what you love about it is that like day in, day out, I got my group set, you know, whatever, in this time, and I know we’re gonna get after it I’m gonna coach up. If that’s what you love most about it and you need that, then it’s just not going to be the setting for you. You’re going to lose interest. And that’s okay, right? For me,
Connor Agnew :
Yeah.
Sam Daoust :
I’m a little bit different as much as I love that. I was okay. And I knew, and this is credit to our like our manager and just through the interview process, extremely transparent with everything. Like no, no surprises whatsoever. Uh, when I got here, which is amazing, I was comfortable with letting go of that piece because of the other things that came, uh, with this job and with, me, the one thing that the reason I fell in love with strength, conditioning was just helping people. Like that’s literally all I cared about.
And for me, I just along the journey just happen to find out that for whatever reason, because of a mixture of like my interests, my past and my personality, I do have some skills where I can help people utilizing my knowledge with this. That’s all I cared about. And now it’s kind of humbling for me that, and I have to sit back a lot and really realize who I’m working with that I’m now getting to, like I get to help those that are.
that are signing up to literally protect the country that I grew up in. The reason that I’ve had this, or I feel like I had this amazing childhood is partly because of their sacrifice. And that’s a big, was a big piece of me joining and wanting to do this job.
Connor Agnew :
And so when they, one, don’t have to train in general, right? But then two, don’t also have to do your specific program. You know, how do you get them kind of bought in? I’m sure there’s some people who immediately come in and say, whatever you got for me, Sam, I’m going to knock it out. Right. And then I know you, you’re a successful person. Right. Like, I’m sure there’s a attitude of also trying to get people to buy it and do what’s most efficient, you know, for them as well, too. How are you kind of inspiring that buy it?
Sam Daoust :
Yeah, so there’s as far as the service delivery and this is a lot of credit goes out to our strength additioning staff. We have two other strength additioning specialists that work on our team that have helped me like a ton throughout my transition here. And the biggest thing that I’ve learned is when people, first of all, getting just the value of touch points with people, like you take that for granted in the college work.
world, right? Like I literally came from a place where most of the year I would see my guys minimum six days and a lot of them would see each other literally every day taking that for granted, right? So don’t take for granted your touch points. It could be any type of touch point, whether it’s for different types of yearly tests that have to be performed, right? Or just running into somebody that you know, in the wait room or even outside of the wait room, right? Don’t
take those touch points for granted and when you get the opportunity to have discussions about the services you provide, be what I try to do and again, I’m copying a lot here from what’s already been done is show them that there’s really three levels of services that we can provide, right? And the most comprehensive is, hey, I’m gonna write a program for you and you’re going to follow it 100%. And that does happen sometimes, right? For different reasons, right? It doesn’t even necessarily happen all the time.
Sometimes somebody might have their own program and they come in, they’re like, hey, I’m bored. Can you just give me something for the next two months? Hell yeah, let’s do it, right? That would be the most comprehensive level of service. Then there’s kind of like that mid tier point, which is, hey, you might be running a program that you love, but you have a specific goal that you need it to be tailored towards. That’s when we have that sit down.
We see what you already have written and we’re just making modifications that we’re both comfortable with to point it more towards your goal. And then the last level of service, the most superficial, right? It’s just simply, Hey, I’m here as a resource for any questions that you have. have something like you want me to audit, just simply audit this program and just make sure there’s nothing stupid where you’re going to get hurt. And then you can come and ask me information about it. No problem at all. Right. And when you
Sam Daoust :
One of the things I’ve realized in the short amount of time is when you present those options, it’s amazing how somehow, sometimes they just didn’t realize that those options were available. That they’re almost, perception of you is, oh, if I just wanted a program, I go get one. And they don’t understand these other levels that we could actually be working at.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, it makes sense to especially why you say it has to fit your specific coaching style because my coaching style is built 100 % around I’m guaranteed to have you in the weight room four days per week. And when we’re in the weight room, it’s my weight room, we’re gonna run it exactly how I want to run it. There’s no ifs, ands buts, right? And I could never imagine an athlete coming in and me just saying, yeah, man, you want to go ahead, just buys and tries like I did this morning, that’s fine with me, right? And so that makes complete sense that it has to fit.
Sam Daoust :
Yeah.
Connor Agnew :
you know, to your specific coaching style. What do you prefer? mean, you’ve had experience in both. What’s your preference? it the actual, like you said, providing these kind of three levels of service?
Sam Daoust :
Oh, like you’re saying comparing like the college sector to this. That’s a good question, man. I mean, I think in a perfect in a
Connor Agnew :
Yeah.
Sam Daoust :
think they both work in different ways. I don’t know if I have a preference. Like the reality is I love a lot of my college players and if any of them are watching this, I got, I had some dudes that like I would, I had that level with where I knew like, look man, like you gotta come in at this time, I’m busy, the workout’s on the board, get it done. And they get it done. Like some of my guys, if I’m not there, they’re not doing it, right? So this level of approach in the college world where most of the time a lot of your guys are, you know,
Yes, they trust you and yes, they know that the weight room is what’s best for them, but that’s not their number one focus, right? Which this isn’t their number one focus too, but it does take a much higher priority on their list, I find, when they are serious about being really, really good at their job, right? So this kind of, it just, wouldn’t work in the college world. It works here. And then I mean, really, I’m dodging your question, because question is which is I prefer. I don’t know.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah.
Sam Daoust :
I’ll be honest, I don’t know if I’ve been in it long enough to actually give you good answer to that. I think right now I might say that I prefer what I’m currently doing, but that being said, I also have the understanding that I just went from working 60 plus hours a week to a normal, I don’t know if you guys know what a weekend is, I did it. It’s kinda cool.
Connor Agnew :
Fair enough.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah.
Sam Daoust :
So like there’s a lot of external factors, me being super close, like I’m spending this entire week with my family. I’ve seen my family more in the last five months. So there’s so many like external factors that have gone into this where I just don’t know if I can actually give a good answer. Cause I’m sitting here thinking like, yes, this is amazing. Okay. But is it really amazing because of the type of coaching I’m doing or is it amazing because of all the other factors that have come with it? You know what I mean? I think I need a year or two to actually give a good answer with that.
Connor Agnew :
Well, we’re going to have to have you back on the podcast in a year or two then. You know, but again, it’s just so interesting to me and you know, I’ll be open, you know, as well with you and the listeners. Like there’s always, I think every strength coach would be lying to you if they didn’t say like, you know, I’ve thought about different areas of strength and conditioning. I’ve thought about going into medical sales, you know, like just doing something completely different because of some of the reasons you just listed. And I had a conversation with my fiance, you know, about a month before the season and I was like,
Sam Daoust :
Okay.
Connor Agnew :
Hey, look, I know we’ve talked about me doing other stuff in the future at some point, but like I’m kind of sick in the head. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Like, are we good with this? You know, like we kind of had to have a talk. Like, can we make it through and everything? And I thought it was very productive and it was a very good talk, you know. But for me, it’s just, again, there’s so many different factors and so many things that go into it. So I can only imagine, you know, how exciting it is to be able to spend time with your family like that. And, you know, actually having the downtime. Like we finished our season.
And I literally am like, I don’t know what to do. Like I don’t like, know, and it’s like your season is just done one day. And then it’s like, okay, now I have time to go home at four o’clock. You know, I can spend an hour at home at lunch. It’s just like, I’m a little bit lost now in those conversations too. Like one of the main things that I love the most is game day. Like I can’t, I can’t get it out of my head of like not being able to go into a game and being happy or sad, you know, obviously you want to be happy at the end of the day, but
Sam Daoust :
Thank
Connor Agnew :
It’s just fun to me for it to mean something. Do you miss the game days?
Sam Daoust :
Yeah, no, 100 % and that is a huge piece, right? Like there isn’t, there really isn’t, there isn’t a game day, right? And I do miss it. Now, for again, all the other reasons I listed, like being closer to family, having the ability to spend time doing other things, I was able to balance that. But that’s the big, that’s like, you make a great point. I think the way like you went about it is perfectly right. Like every sector,
Connor Agnew :
Yeah.
Sam Daoust :
or I mean every job forget just straining conditioning has pros and cons, right? The best thing that you can do for yourself as a strength coach is be honest with yourself about what you love about the job. Be honest with yourself about why you want to do this. Look at every job for what it is and all the pros and cons and talk to the people that are important to you that you want a part of that decision and then make the best decision for you, right? And that decision is gonna be different for everybody. But yeah, but like do like.
do your research and everything, right? You know what I mean? And that’s the best thing that I was given that advice, you know, I had some mentors early on that gave me that advice of like, even when I was really, really young and it was just like, oh man, I need a job. They’re like, hold on, like pump the brakes, like do your research, man. Like look into really ask, like just knowing what questions to ask for you to ask, like on an interview, right? Like I went into like my first interview is always just like, oh, you have any questions? I’d sit there and I was like, ah, like no.
Connor Agnew :
Yep.
Sam Daoust :
And that’s terrible. Yeah, like what can I, no, but seriously, and I understand sometimes you have to do that. I’m not saying that I didn’t take jobs that I like not because I had to like everyone goes through that, right? But learning those skills of how to actually analyze jobs for what they are are really important.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, when can I start?
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, no, absolutely. It’s funny because we have a couple of interns right now applying for GA opportunities or GA’s, you know, within the other sports here applying for full time jobs. And they were like, what questions do you ask in interviews? And I was like, we’re going to ask completely different questions just so you’re aware. Like, I’ll tell you what I ask, but you should absolutely not be going in there and talking about is there room for salary increase, right? And what does work life balance look like? You should not be asking those questions. Well,
Sam Daoust :
Hahaha!
Yup.
Connor Agnew :
You know, obviously you lived in a bunch of different states and you got to experience a lot of the different sides of the United States, growing up in it for a little bit and then moving around. What was your favorite state that you lived in?
Sam Daoust :
Good, good question. have a soft spot for Rhode Island. People that have talked to me before, they’ve heard me, because you were not the first person asking that question. I have a soft spot. Now look, is that because my dad’s lived there since I was, well, since I was four years old and I’ve always gone there, partially, but big fan of beaches, it’s more quiet. The beaches are a little bit quieter.
Connor Agnew :
I had a feeling you were going to say Rhode Island.
Sam Daoust :
And then it’s just, still get the seasons like Texas. couldn’t do Texas. I’m a little, I’m, I’m Canadian, so I’m a little crazy. I need snow. I couldn’t do the whole summer year round thing. Um, so you get a mix of that, but yeah, I’d have to go with the Rhode Island.
Connor Agnew :
I had a feeling you were going to say Rhode Island. I’ve never met somebody who spent significant time Rhode Island and not said it was their favorite state. So it makes complete sense. Well, Sam, I appreciate you so much for coming on, man. Thank you. again, these doing the podcast is always energizing for me, but I needed a little pick me up after the season ended early. So you made me feel better about my day and my job. So I appreciate you.
Sam Daoust :
There you go.
Sam Daoust :
Yeah man, no thanks for having me on, it was great.
Connor Agnew :
If somebody wants to follow you or kind of keep up with your work, what would be the best way to do that? Whether social media, Instagram, whatever you may have.
Sam Daoust :
Yeah, good question. not really like I have I have Instagram it’s at Sam underscore Dow D A O U S T six on Instagram. I’m on LinkedIn as well. That’s really it. Like I don’t I don’t post much. That’s yeah, if you if you follow me, you’re gonna see a lot of of dog posts, which again, like it’s like, what do I spend my time doing now? Like you can find me an hour to two hours a day.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, you got a beautiful dog though. I’ve seen your dog.
Sam Daoust :
Like outside but no like if anybody ever wants to reach out talk shop I need to do a that’s one of my biggest weaknesses actually as a strength edition and coach Because of where I started I needed to be a lot I’ve always been done things by myself, which is great, but I need to be better at reaching out to others So yeah, any any time I love love talking shop with anybody like any sport doesn’t act like tactical whatever I’ve worked with in many many areas so it’s always great just to hear also about different areas and kind of the
not just pros and cons, but just the strategies that we’ve talked about that you need to utilize to get results.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, that’s where the coaching group that we’re both in is beneficial as well too, right? Because you get to hear from a ton of different perspectives. Yeah.
Sam Daoust :
Yes, Yes, no, 100%. I hope John pays you for these advertisements, man. Oh, come on. Yeah.
Connor Agnew :
He doesn’t. at this point it’s getting ridiculous because he’s the number one mentioned on the podcast. I’m going to call him right after this actually and say, every time I say the words, John Bloom together, you’re going to owe me 50 bucks, just so you’re aware. Yeah, 100%. Well, thank you, Sam. I really appreciate you, man.
Sam Daoust :
think that’s only fair, man. I mean, come on now.
Sam Daoust :
Yeah, man. Take care.
