Building Stronger Athletes: Mentorship, Relationships, and Coaching Confidence with Christian Hosley
At Samson Strength Coach Collective, we’re all about sharing real stories and strategies from the best strength coaches in the game. In our latest episode, Connor Agnew talks with Christian Hosley, the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for New Mexico State University Basketball, about his journey through the world of strength coaching, the importance of mentorship, and building strong athlete relationships that drive performance.
Whether you’re a seasoned coach or just starting your career in strength and conditioning, this conversation delivers practical insights on coaching strategies, team dynamics, and personal growth in the weight room.
From Football to Basketball: A Strength Coach’s Journey
Christian Hosley’s path to coaching basketball athletes wasn’t a straight line. Starting his career in football, he transitioned into basketball strength coaching, bringing unique perspectives on training and performance. Hosley discusses how adapting to a new sport sharpened his coaching approach and deepened his understanding of athlete development.
The Power of Mentorship in Strength Coaching
One of the key themes in this episode is mentorship. Hosley highlights how seeking out mentors has shaped his career and provided valuable lessons that continue to influence his coaching today. He stresses the importance of staying connected to mentors and building a network of support that encourages career development and professional growth.
Building Relationships That Boost Performance
For Hosley, building relationships with athletes isn’t just a side note—it’s the foundation of a successful program. He explains how trust, communication, and genuine connection can elevate an athlete’s performance, both physically and mentally. Hosley also shares strategies for managing athlete stress, developing effective training routines, and maintaining consistent energy in the weight room.
Coaching Confidence and Team Dynamics
Confidence as a coach doesn’t happen overnight. Hosley talks about how reflection, experience, and being adaptable contribute to coaching confidence. He emphasizes the importance of a service mindset—focusing on the team and its collective goals rather than just individual players. His advice? “Give yourself grace. Not every athlete will respond the same way every time.”
Creating Energy in the Weight Room
What’s one secret weapon for bringing energy to a workout? Music. Hosley dives into how the right playlist can set the tone in the weight room, boost motivation, and create an environment where athletes want to perform at their best.
Key Takeaways for Strength Coaches
• Mentorship fuels both personal and professional growth.
• Relationships with athletes are the backbone of a successful program.
• Team dynamics and a service mindset are key to building winning cultures.
• Managing stress and routines impacts athlete performance.
• Confidence as a coach grows through experience, reflection, and flexibility.
• Music can be a powerful tool for creating energy and engagement in training.
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Connor Agnew :
Yeah
What’s going on Samson strength coach collective listeners on today’s episode? We have head strength and conditioning coach for New Mexico State basketball Christian Hoseley. Thank you so much for coming all man
Christian Hosley :
Man, thanks for having me, man.
Connor Agnew :
Dude, absolutely. I’m very excited for this. I said this pre-show, but for our listeners to get cued in on this too, like our director of marketing at Sampson has over and over again, talked about how much he loves you. And I’m like, I got a little bit jealous sometimes. I’m like, all right, man, like, you know, am I, chopped liver at this point? Yeah. So Andy loves you. And then obviously the rest of Sampson has gotten familiar with you as well too, just being in the same kind of hometown. So we’re very excited to have you on.
Christian Hosley :
you
Christian Hosley :
My guy Andy,
Christian Hosley :
Man, thanks for having me.
Connor Agnew :
Absolutely. Well, let’s just get right into it. Can you just give me a background on your career and then what’s brought you to New Mexico State?
Christian Hosley :
Absolutely. So basically started with playing football at the University of North Texas. After that, I actually stayed and played. I’m sorry, I stayed and did an internship with University of North Texas. And then eventually, you know, COVID happened, had to find a job and everything. I worked for a gym downtown Dallas, and then COVID happened and I got furloughed. So I actually moved back home and then I actually became a
strength coach for my old high school. So I got to do middle school and high school. I was doing their summer strength and conditioning camp for about three years. And then after they actually hired me as their full-time strength coach, after a year, Andrew Wright was who was one of my strength coaches at North Texas, called me up to Texas Tech and got me back into the college setting and everything. And so after being at Texas Tech as the assistant strength coach, you know, I got my opportunity to be here at New Mexico State as the head strength and conditioning coach. So for men’s basketball.
Connor Agnew :
That’s awesome, man. That’s such a cool path. And it’s always so interesting to me, especially as a basketball strength coach myself, hearing how other people get into basketball, right? I mean, obviously you can just tell by looking at me, I did not play basketball. I’m a disgrace to the game, right? And so you have to think about things a little, oh no, I promise you, that’s not even trying to be funny. I’m terrible. But I’m a hustle guy. I’ll get rebounds and I’ll pass. That’s I’ll do. But you have to think about the game a little bit differently, right? Like how has your experience been?
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
I’ll stop it.
Christian Hosley :
That, 100%.
Connor Agnew :
as a former football player now working exclusively with Askenberg.
Christian Hosley :
Man, it’s been really cool. It’s been obviously like a learning curve. Just taking myself from, you know, being out of the football atmosphere to being into basketball. I’ve actually really enjoyed it because it’s been something where it’s like the new new, right? It’s like something that you have to start with a blank canvas and really seek out your mentors and seek out other people who have actually had the wisdom and have done this before.
But it’s been really cool to just kind of bring kind of like that football atmosphere to basketball because you know, there’s always that notion of Basketball players do not like to lift But you know once you build that relationship and once they see who you are and the energy that you bring it’s it energy is very contagious So naturally they bring up to your energy as well. So that’s been a really cool aspect about being in the basketball setting
Connor Agnew :
That’s awesome. again, it’s typically not the traditional approach, right, with basketball. Like you said, on the energy standpoint, what are some things that you do that bring the energy for the team that you’ve seen them respond well to?
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
Man, I just really try to be on 10 every single day. A lot of times, everybody’s gonna have their bad days. Everybody’s going to be going through a lot of different things. I try to remain consistent with who I am, the energy, or just really just seeking out what’s going on with them. like…
always to help them to understand like, hey, we have a job to do, you we got to do our job, but outside of here, like, let’s, let’s sit down, let’s see like what’s going on and different things like that. And that’s kind of helped to like eliminate the distractions that could take away from what we’re doing in the weight room or what we’re doing in practice and what we’re doing in the season. So that’s been kind of the good aspect of it.
Connor Agnew :
So relationship building is a big piece for you.
Christian Hosley :
Man, it is the piece for sure. It is the piece for sure. mean, relationship building is literally the foundation of the program. It’s like, at the end of the day, know we’re gonna get strong. I know we’re gonna do this and I know we’re gonna do that. But as long as I make sure that I can impact these guys outside of the weight room, outside when they’re done playing, that is literally the reason why I do this job.
Connor Agnew :
So walk me through it then, I’d love to hear it. you take me through initially meeting a guy, how you develop relationships with them, and then how that process goes.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely. Absolutely. So I’ll start off with basically my approach, like coming here as the, you know, my first head strength coach job in the college setting is like when I first got to New Mexico, my biggest thing was just trying to build the rapport with the guys. You know, you know, I would say I had probably the most basic programming because I wanted
majority of my energy to go towards like seeing who these guys are, coaching effort, coaching like the little things, but also just like building a rapport. like actually sitting down and talking with guys, trying to get them outside of the weight room, you know, talk to them after practice when some people are just doing free throws and seeing like, okay, where are from? Like, you know, what type of music do you listen to? think the
The biggest piece is learning how to put yourselves in their shoes. A lot of times with even something as simple as music, some of the music that some of these kids listen to today is just like, what are you listening to? But it’s another thing when I have the aux and I put the song on and they’re like, oh, you know that song? I was like, yeah. So it’s just kind of like seeing where can we make those connections? When I’m doing rapport and figuring out where are they from? Some of my guys who are from Florida.
letting them know that, like I was actually born in Panama City, Florida. But like, you know, they start asking like little questions like, well, have you ever been here? Have you ever been there? And I think that just kind of builds a genuine trust within your athletes to see like, okay, it’s not, he’s not a guy that’s just, hey, come in here and lift these weights. He’s a guy that’s actually cares about like my family, my life, you know, what I’m doing outside of here, you know, my girlfriend, my, you know, all my other endeavors that I have going on as well. So.
Connor Agnew :
And so then how do you take it to that next level? How do you take it from, let’s talk about Youngboy and how much we like his new album or hate Lil Baby’s new album or whatever it might be to then go to that next level where you can really make an impact on their lives outside of basketball.
Christian Hosley :
Yeah. Mm hmm.
Christian Hosley :
Yeah, I think it’s really learning how to follow up with the guys. know, like if I asked them a question about, you know, X, Y, and Z, or it’s like, let’s say I asked them a question about their endeavors outside of basketball. Like I’m a person that will actually follow up or, you know, give them a resource to help them with that. So like, you know, let’s say for instance, one of my, one of my guys said he wanted to get into like real estate in.
business, like wanted to be a businessman, well letting him know that like I’ve had, you know, experience with business. I’ve owned, you know, Airbnbs before. I’ve also, you know, had my own training business. So like trying to have those conversations to like, Hey, these are some of the things that I’ve done in allowing them to take something from the wisdom that I have to give, but like also following up and making sure like, okay, so what are you going to do with that? Like, how can we kind of like map out some type of plan for like, you know,
Maybe just start that action. You know what I mean? So the follow up is key.
Connor Agnew :
Can you give us a, yes, absolutely. Can you give us a, like a success story? Obviously you don’t have to name names or anything, but like a relationship that you built that you felt really good about and you know that it helped that person outside of basketball.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
Man, for sure. would say, obviously not naming names, but we had a guy on our team who was basically a guy from last year’s team. And obviously I wasn’t here and last year’s team was very, from what I’ve heard, it was very dysfunctional. And so, but he was a guy who they felt they wanted to keep. And so there were a lot of habits that he used to continue to do from, you know,
past years that were kind of taken away from like his performance, but he was also a person that just didn’t, you can never really get a whole lot out of him, right? And so I think I actually had to sit down with him and like have him in my office and just like have like a real man to man conversation. like, look, like what are your goals? What are your ambitions? Like, what are you actually trying to do? What can I do to help you? Because the route that I see you going down is like not.
the route that’s gonna help you get to where you wanna get to. And it was one of those things where it was just like, I’m chipping away at him every single day, seeing what his habits are, seeing, you know, how can we do this a little bit differently, seeing like, hey, your energy is a little down today, like is everything going on? And just like continuing to follow up with him to where understanding where he was when I first got there to understanding where he is now and like actually like seeking me out.
to get extra work seeking me out, start asking more questions on how can I do this? How can I do that? It’s just like, I look at him, I’m who are you right now? You know what I mean? So that for me is the success of the job is to understand that it’s that saying of people, the insanity, doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. Well, it’s actually like understanding that you have something that you want to do.
We change the action so that you can get the result that you actually want to get.
Connor Agnew :
But that’s most gratifying part of the job. That’s the fun, right?
Christian Hosley :
Man, it is awesome, man. I love it.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, you just get to see people grow and you get to see them become different people. you know, we were talking about just transfer portal stuff right before the show, right? And like one of the things that I brought up last year, we had so many people leave and like, well, I’m scared for this year, right? It’s cause like you also just miss out on relationships with these guys. Like it’s fun. Like it’s, it’s something where you get to know and get to see these guys grow and guys who.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
Yep.
Connor Agnew :
Might’ve had to spend a lot of extra time with me as a freshman because they were doing dumb stuff versus this year, you know, didn’t spend any time with me. So like now I like to mess with them and say, you know, you can’t mess up one time so we can spend a little extra time together or something like that, right? Like it’s, it’s great to see them grow like that.
Christian Hosley :
Absolutely.
Christian Hosley :
Come on, man.
For sure, for sure. And like that really is it. It’s just like understanding like with Transfer Portal, you might have to like build a relationship with the guy for one year.
The thing that I found out is that like even in one year you can make such an impact. You know what I mean? Like it still is so pleasing to be in connection with the coaches at Tech and even the players at Tech. Like some of those guys are like still texting me to this day. Like, you know, hey, checking in on me, you know, I wish it was the other way around. I probably should have been checking on them, but this is like some of those guys even at Texas Tech are still checking in on me. So that makes me know like our relationship was very genuine as far as like
everything that we went through in the span of a year, right? So it’s just, even in a year, we can impact these athletes to a great extent.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, you know that makes me think of Darby, Rich and Bryson Williams like watching that relationship. It was just crazy because just seeing somebody who worked together for three, four months, right? And I remember like he came up and I can’t remember. I think he was at UTEP beforehand and Darby came up to me and he was like, man, I really hope we get this guy like he’s like he’s somebody I really want right? And then you know, week later he commits and ends up coming in and like if the women’s basketball side, if I had seen them and I had not known the.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm, Bryson. Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
For sure.
Connor Agnew :
background of that relationship, I would have thought they had worked together for three, four years at that point. Like just seeing two dudes just gel with each other and work so hard with each other was awesome. And again, it’s just, it’s interesting how much of an impact you can make within two, three months, let alone a full year. Sometimes you feel like you don’t have that much time with these athletes, but it’s like you have all the time in the world really, cause you’re going to spend a lot of time around.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
Absolutely.
Christian Hosley :
Absolutely. I would just honestly even just commend people like Darby, man. Like Darby is probably one of the most genuine people that I’ve ever met as well, And especially even just like the whole process of me getting this job, you know, actually reached out to Darby about another job and me and Darby.
Connor Agnew :
dip.
Christian Hosley :
Originally, we didn’t have a whole lot of contact or communication. I’ve seen him around, but I’ve never worked for him and never been in the same setting, but we know of each other. But even when I reached out to him and just checking up with him and everything, was just like, he was so adamant about doing the research with people at Tech. How is this guy? Who is he? Obviously, a lot of people had a lot of great things to say about me, but…
just from there, he almost became like an instant mentor to me as well too. know, even being grateful to play Texas this past year and be able to talk with him, you know, he gives me a tour of the weight room and everything like that down there. It’s just like, one thing I love about the basketball strength and conditioning community is specifically is that like everybody wants to see you win. And it’s very genuine on how much wisdom they’re willing to give as well too.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, I remember struggling with it when I first started out because obviously I started out in football. I mean, I was going to be the head football strength coach at Tennessee at 35. You know, like I was going to have it all figured out and, know, be the man. Right. And then obviously my career took a different path. And, know, it’s funny because I get asked all the time, would I do anything other than basketball? It’s like, hell no. Like I couldn’t imagine doing another sport like this. It’s just so much fun to me. But.
Christian Hosley :
Nice. There you go. There you go.
Christian Hosley :
No, 100%.
Connor Agnew :
I struggle with it because I felt like I didn’t really have a mentor. Like, you you’ve got your Preston Green guys, right? You know, and who all have fallen that same kind of path. And then you’ve got the Allen Bishop guys. And then you’ve got, you know, like the Darby Rich tree and all these things. And I was like, I remember being so nervous about finding a mentor. And then like you said, just being able to meet Darby and work with him. I mean, I’d work side by side with him. I didn’t do anything with him. You know, like we just happened to share a weight room together, right? And I felt like he was an instant mentor. So I think those people are really
Christian Hosley :
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm. For sure.
Connor Agnew :
key in your career and in your life. They make a huge difference.
Christian Hosley :
For sure, for sure. And obviously just being on here, I got to shout out Andrew Wright, who basically taught me everything that I know from the basketball spectrum. So shout out to Andrew Wright too, man. He’s, that’s my guy.
Connor Agnew :
Absolutely.
Connor Agnew :
I’ve heard nothing but great things about him as well from the other guys at Texas Tech. And it’s just, it’s exciting. Like you said, I think the basketball community is really fun to be a part of too. I’ve never reached out to somebody and had a negative experience. I’ve had one strength coach actually I’ve had a negative experience with, but I would never probably talk to him again in my entire career. So it’s fine, but yeah.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
Yeah, there will be no occurrence there ever.
Connor Agnew :
So with the relationship building, like obviously it’s very fun when it’s successful, but what do you do when you kind of hit an impasse with an athlete? How do you approach it when you feel like you’re not really getting through to the level that you should?
Christian Hosley :
Um, I really think it just comes down to, um, the communication between it. It’s like really understanding, like try to dissect what the problem is. Um, obviously we can’t, we’re not going to be able to honestly impact everybody. And I think part of that is understanding, like you have to give yourself grace that like, everybody can’t necessarily be saved or everybody maybe doesn’t even really need saving or.
Like maybe you are not the person to impact that person. Like I’m sure as a coach, you’ve probably seen it as well. Like you’ve probably told an athlete multiple times, something before, but as soon as like that, the one right person says that one thing, then it like starts to click. And so it’s just understanding that like, okay, I have a role on this team and I know I’m supposed to impact guys, but if I don’t impact everybody.
who can impact everybody, who can impact at least that one person that I didn’t impact. And just honestly, I’m a very faithful person. It’s just understanding that God has a plan for every single thing that he does, you know, so.
Connor Agnew :
How did you come to terms with it? That it may not be you, it may not be the athlete that you are meant to help and help mentor in this career? Because I think that’s something tough to, I agree 100%. It’s not gonna fit for everybody. But I think it’s tough because it almost feels like a failure on your part. How did you come to terms with that and kind of accept it and understand it?
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
for sure.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
You know, I think it was just from experiences, just seeing and trying so hard to.
get a athlete to go in the right direction. But one thing I had to also learn is like, you can’t spend so much time trying to get that one athlete to go and run one direction with neglecting the other athletes that you have as well too. And so if it’s something where what you are trying to do for this one athlete is gonna take away from everybody else, then that’s where I think it can be very detrimental to a team because of the lack of attention that you’re just giving to like this one problem.
necessarily say you’re going to neglect that one athlete, but it’s like, okay, I have these other guys that I need to focus on as well too. I’m going to make sure that I maximize my time with them and then also continue to add with trying to help this guy out as well too. And at the end of the day, it also comes down to the kid, you know, like, are you wanting the help? You know, how can we get you to help and just trying to get him the resources that he needs? You know what I mean?
Connor Agnew :
So it’s about maximizing your relationship with everybody as well.
Christian Hosley :
maximizing, maximizing relationships and honestly just maximizing the time because, you know, we only get so much time, you know, like we stopped about, you know, a transfer portal, you know, we might have a guy for a year, you know, you’re lucky if you get a guy for two years. And so, you know, how can you maximize the impact within the athletes that you have at the end of the day? Like the, the goal is to
Think about the team and accomplish the team’s mission, not necessarily the player’s mission. It’s about the team, not the player. You know what I mean?
Connor Agnew :
How do you emphasize that to the athletes as well too, that it’s about the team, not the player? Because I feel like, again, I hate to keep bringing up the transfer portal and all this kind of thing. Things that to me, I call it like muddling. They muddy the waters when it comes to basketball. And you get bad advice. Everybody’s family thinks that this one player is special and not just a role player, right? And thinks that they can all, if you had an opportunity somewhere else, you could be the next LeBron James or whatever.
Christian Hosley :
Yeah
Christian Hosley :
and
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew :
How do you emphasize that to the team members that it is about the team, not just the athletes?
Christian Hosley :
I think the biggest thing is just living it by example. I think as a strength coach, we like to overextend ourselves to push the guys to get the extra work, to push the guys like, hey, what are your habits at home and different things like that. And so naturally as a strength coach, just as a coach in general, I think I love all the basketball coaches that I’ve seen as well.
It’s very service minded. so understanding like as, as part of this team, I am here to serve the team. And so like trying to teach them to have that same mindset of like being a server and not necessarily like, I’m a get mines. You know what I mean? Cause like everybody, like there there’s a lot of, I feel like there’s a lot of athletes who tend to have like their own agendas when, when, when coming up with certain things. And so it’s just like,
How can we create the team agenda? Like re-emphasizing that every single day. So it might be something where like we’re in the weight room, right? And, you know, he’s done with his set, but he just kind of goes over there and chills by himself when he should be like spotting his player or he should be, you know, helping re-rack the weights or helping this guy, you know, put the weights on or something like that. And so I feel like there’s a little occurrences that we can kind of teach like teamwork. can teach like, need to be helping, you need to be a server instead of like,
I’m coming in here to get minds. You know what mean? And I think what also helps is just having a great staff who’s also service minded as far as, know, like the director of basketball operations who always makes himself available for if anybody wants to get shots up, you know, for, you know, those coaches who like whenever something’s going on or like if a car breaks down, like always letting the guys know like, hey, you can call me. Like that is also part of being a team. Like if.
If there was a kid whose car was breaking down and he couldn’t make it to practice, like, obviously I’ll go pick him up right now. Like, what do need me to do? So understanding that like, Hey, I’m here. I’m a part of this team and we all need to kind of have those, character of being a teammate, not a single person player. So.
Connor Agnew :
I think that stuff, like you said, it trickles down from the coaches a lot more than people realize as well too, right? And it’s tough. I I think everybody would be unrealistic if they didn’t have, you know, my survival type mindset sometimes as a coach too, right? And, you know, especially within training conditioning versus sport coaching, right? Like in, it’s something where, okay, let’s say this staff gets fired. There’s a chance I might still get retained, right? It doesn’t mean that I’m gone with everybody else as well too. And it’s hard like sometimes to kind of push away that.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm, for sure.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Connor Agnew :
individual mindset as a coach as well too. And so that’s where I agree with you. I think it’s very important to find a good staff that is about the team mindset as well because I’ll call it a strength coaches. Sometimes I just hear what’s the dynamic with their staff and I just get, I’m almost appalled sometimes because it’s like, how are you guys supposed to operate? And like the athletes see you as the example.
Christian Hosley :
Absolutely.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And that, it just makes the job so much harder if, you know, everybody’s not really on the same page. And so if, like, if you have a certain standard, but, you know, let’s say the head, like, the head coach’s standard is,
not your standard, then there can also be a lot of conflict that goes on with that. Like you want to hold this guy up to this high standard, but maybe a coach wants to hold him to this low standard, then, you know, that’s not necessarily operating on the same page. So I think that’s where it’s also very crucial to have that communication with the athletes. And I think that’s where I’m super grateful for Coach Hooten here, as far as like, you know, he asked me to be in certain meetings that are not necessarily just about
like basketball, but like, hey, like what’s going on with our guys? You know what I mean? So like understanding how to manage emotions because like life is stressful, man. Like, especially like being an athlete and still having, you know, life.
Happen school all of these other things and you know even in school, know You have like a target on your back whether if it’s grades whether it fits You know the wrong like the wrong person is trying to get you in trouble or something because they see how successful you are so it’s just like as Coaches we have to help these athletes manage those emotions and make the right decisions so that we can Make sure that we are thinking about the team with our goal
Connor Agnew :
How do you help the athletes manage that stress? Because I think it’s something that’s so interesting, right? And it’s something that we don’t really talk about a lot, you know, or I guess it does get talked about a lot, but I think everybody has kind of different methods to it, right? And we talk about the stress of final exams, right? And the research shows that, you know, injury rates go through the roof during finals week because it’s either lack of sleep or stress on the outside. Like, how do you help your athletes with that?
Christian Hosley :
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
Absolutely.
Christian Hosley :
Yeah, I think the biggest thing for us is like, I had to kind of get them in more of a routine building, right? So like, when I first got here to New Mexico, what I noticed is like, guys weren’t…
ever in like a specific routine with how they did things. Like, obviously, like you got class, you got practice, like those things are all routine, but you know, when it came to like eating, when it came to like doing the work, when it came to, you know, other things that you needed to handle outside of here, it was just kind of like a, a very like passive way of doing certain things. And so the biggest thing for me, it was like communicating that like they need to be aware of like how their days go with like,
making sure that you’re hitting all of these areas. So like I would actually sit down with guys and like plan out weeks, like, you know, hey, we need to eat at this time. We need to, you know, make sure we’re allocating this time. also even with doing that, understanding that like.
even in their moments, they’re gonna have to give theirself grace, right? Like you can have like a, you know, the whole Mike Tyson quote, like you can have a plan until you get punched in your face, right? So it’s like, we could have a, you know, three hour practice or something. And then, you know, that plan that we had made when we thought, you know, practice might’ve was gonna be an hour and a half. Now that plan has to change and we have to also maximize rest. And so, you know, as a strength coach, have to…
Connor Agnew :
them.
Christian Hosley :
we have to harp on the importance of recovery. And so that’s mental recovery, that’s physical recovery, that’s just learning how to get yourself prepared for that next day. It really is like taking everything day by day for sure.
Connor Agnew :
I love that process of actually sitting down with the athlete and coming up with a routine because I feel like we asked so much, like you said, you know, it’s very stressful being an athlete. And then you’ve got a strength coach on top of that who’s also saying, well, you’ve got to act like you’re 45 and have the maturity of a 45 year old who’s going to take care of all these things and do all these things. Right. Like I’ll tell you, I never miss my multivitamins. I’ll always make sure I get my recovery and whatever I want to do. But I’ve hit a point where I start to realize that I’m, you know, nearly 30 and that stuff matters to me. Right.
Christian Hosley :
Yeah.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm. Yep. There we go.
Christian Hosley :
Yes.
Connor Agnew :
When I was 21, when I was 18, I wasn’t even coming close to thinking about these things. And so actually sitting down and coming up with the routine with them, I think is very beneficial to the guys because it just shows them exactly what they need to do and exactly how to do it. And I don’t, it’s not hand holding to me because it allows them to actually see how to get it done. And I think it keeps in perspective too, that, you know, as coaches, you get older and you start to realize the importance of things more and you kind of forget what it’s like to be 18, 19, when, you know, the only thing you really cared about was.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
you
Christian Hosley :
Absolutely.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm
Yep.
Connor Agnew :
playing well and how’s my girlfriend doing? Do the guys on the team like me versus taking my omegas and curcumin and all this type of stuff?
Christian Hosley :
Absolutely.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I think it’s too, even with like the routine, we have to like, obviously continue to show them the progress too, right? Because like routines can get, you know.
boring and get monotonous or, know, it’s just like, so in the same every single day, like waking up, going to school, going to practice, doing this, doing that, like it can, it can, it can weigh on you very much. but like we have to sometimes like take a day where we either just jump out of the routine and like show them like what they’re doing or just switch it up a little bit. I mean, like for us, you know, as strength coaches, sometimes we can be on like a four week block, a six week block, but you know, I’m, I’m not,
really scared to just say, hey, we’re just going to completely scrap this today because this is what we need to do. You know, I always go into the day open-minded with like, okay, what is going to get the best impact out of
what is going to get the best impact for these guys. And it might not be doing like the same thing that we’ve been doing all over. You know, it might be, you know, switching this exercise up for this. might be, Hey, getting out of the weight room for a day. Let’s go outside. Let’s do some stuff outside. It might be, you know, talking with coach like, Hey coach, I think we may need to switch up practice a little bit. I think we may need to, you know, focus on this a little bit more. Not, there would never be anything like basketball related, but like,
Christian Hosley :
just understanding that like it is okay to also switch up the routine every once in a while as well too.
Connor Agnew :
How did you grow in your confidence then? Because to me being willing to switch up for routines is confidence, right? It’s knowing and being confident in your decisions. And I think when I was younger, I never changed or I never deviated from the plan, right? Because I wasn’t very confident and it was like, okay, this is what I spent all my time thinking about and organized into doing. And I don’t wanna change from this versus now, like you said, I’m much more comfortable with changing or deviating from the plan, whether it’s for a day or maybe for a week as well based off of what we need.
Christian Hosley :
and
Christian Hosley :
Absolutely.
Christian Hosley :
For sure.
Connor Agnew :
How did that confidence grow for you?
Christian Hosley :
Man, honestly, I would say it’s just like learning every single day and understanding that every single day you can get better at something. It was even like one of the things where one of my goals for…
the this year was to get 60 coaching journal entries. And that’s where I literally like would after the whole day, I would just write down something that I saw that either either worked good or didn’t work good. And just seeing like, OK, how can I do this better tomorrow? How can I do this better tomorrow? And then understanding and seeing the progress of the athletes, I think that’s one of the things that really helped me within my confidence as far as like, OK, I see this work, but I also see this didn’t work.
And because this didn’t work, I’m going to switch this up and see if this works better. know, whether if it’s program programming, whether if it’s the way that I talked with athletes, whether if it’s, you know, how how much I warmed the guys up that day, whatever it is in that moment, I’m always going to write it down so that next time I can do it better.
Connor Agnew :
When did you start that process of writing things down and kind of reflecting at the end of the day?
Christian Hosley :
Oh man, was first day I got to New Mexico State. First day, you know, obviously my goal was 60, but I did keep it going. I’ve gotten away from it a little bit, but I definitely want to spend some time now that the season’s over. It’s just like, okay.
Connor Agnew :
Hehehehe
Christian Hosley :
I want to do like some journaling of seeing like a bird’s eye view of like how everything went, you know, and being able to still talk with Coach Hootin and see like, okay, what did you see from this year where, you know, I could have got better, where we could have got better as a staff. And, you know, what can I do to help us to do better next year as well too?
Connor Agnew :
Well, let me ask you this too. How did you gain the confidence to able to ask those questions too? Because I think that’s confidence as well. Being able to come in and say, how can I get better? Right? Because I mean, like I’ll say here, I have no problem asking that question. Sometimes I’ll hate the answer though. How did you grow in your confidence with that?
Christian Hosley :
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. For sure.
You know, honestly, I think Coach Hootin makes that extremely easy. And I think I’ve been very fortunate to work for the coaches that I’ve worked for. you know, Coach Hootin and Grant McCaslin, like, you know, even even being at Texas Tech, was Grant McCaslin is a coach that wants everybody to know that they have a role. So, you know, as as an assistant strength coach at Texas Tech, you know, Grant McCaslin was asking me like, hey, hey, Coach Hosley, I would really love it if you could, you know, make some
some type of presentation for the guys and just like get like have some type of motivation for them to keep going. like he, like Grant McCaston actually made me like stand up in front of the whole team coaches and everything and like just talk, you know, and like that was probably one of the most nerve wrecking things for me is like, oh gosh, like everybody’s looking at me and this and that. And like, I’ve never, there was a point in my life where like,
Connor Agnew :
It’s awesome.
Christian Hosley :
any type of public speaking, even if it was just in front of like 16 guys and a division one coaching staff. I’m just like, that sounds crazy to me. But.
that helped push me to understand that I have a voice, I have a role. And then like coming here to New Mexico State, mean, Coach Hootin said from day one, like, look, man, I’ve talked to a lot of people about you, so I don’t need to micromanage you. don’t need to know you’re not going to do a great job. already know you’re going to do a great job. you know, he makes it very clear that I can come to talk to him about anything and that, you know, we are in this together and we can figure out a way. Like, if I need something, let’s
let’s figure out a way to get it happening. Or if I see something, let’s figure out a way to fix it. Coach, I mean, Coach Hooten makes it very easy for me to come to him and talk to him about anything and everything.
Connor Agnew :
It’s always the best when you have head coaches like that. It makes a world of difference. Yeah. You know, one other thing that you said early on, which I thought was pretty profound and I think is a common experience for a lot of coaches is having to seek out mentors and having to find the people who are willing to help you. How did you go about that process, especially as a young strength coach, especially like when you were trying to get back in the collegiate sector, right? You were private and then now trying to go back to collegiate. How did you find the coaches and how did you
Christian Hosley :
Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.
Connor Agnew :
develop that mentor mentee relationship.
Christian Hosley :
for sure. I would say definitely it was all mainly from the University of North Texas. So like my football strength coach, Zach Wulmak, he’s probably my first ever strength mentor and then obviously Coach Wright. But the biggest thing was learning from Coach Wright as far as how to stay connected with other coaches. And you know, he, I mean, he is just phenomenal. Like,
It’s crazy because like one of the biggest flex that I can ever say is like, Hey, yeah, like I, one of my, like my mentor is Andrew Wright at Texas Tech. was like, everybody loves Andrew. Like I, every single coach that I like in basketball that I’ve met knows Andrew and has nothing but great things to say about him. So like, that’s a big flex for me, but it was also just a great experience last year when I was at Texas Tech to like be
able to connect with all those coaches when we were in the game. So even while we’re warming up and we get to have a little time to chop it up, there were so many coaches who were willing to just give wisdom. Allen Bishop, Coach Melton at Baylor, just so many coaches that were always just wanting to feed into people that it made it easy to want to be able to approach coaches.
And then, know, obviously other coaches that I’ve worked with when I was at UNT that are at places, Lucas Lopez, who’s at Howard, like I can always call those guys whenever I just need to talk or, you know, if I have a question about this, know, Ethan Gold was one of my strength coaches who’s at…
He’s at the Texans now. So it’s just like, can, I feel free to talk to those guys whenever, whenever I need to. And it’s just been very good for me, especially as a young strength coach to know like by far, I do not have all the answers, not one bit. And so like, I am trying to learn every single day how I can do things better.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, that’s, know, as a younger straight coach myself as well, I think it’s always great to have that kind of Rolodex of coaches who you can reach out to and know who you can reach out to for what as well too. And, you know, I know on some guys, if it’s a relationship issue and I need to speak with them, then I’ll spend my time speaking with that, you know, mentor. If it’s a science, for science thing, I’ll call this other guy, right? And those things make the world a difference. And one thing that,
I used be nervous to say, think when I first started out coaching was like, I don’t, like you said, I don’t have the answers right now, but let me call and let me reach out. Right. Cause like, I wanted to be the guy who was like, well, no, I know the answer to this and I can answer this immediately. Right. And it’s like, well, I certainly don’t. And I probably would be better off getting advice from the guy who’s been doing this for 20 years and has seen way more examples of this, you know, than I certainly have. So again, having those, all those mentors in the bag is, very useful.
Christian Hosley :
Yep, absolutely.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
for sure.
Connor Agnew :
How do you stay in contact with them? Because I think that’s a very tough part of strength and conditioning. I think there’s not a lot of time. Sometimes you can get very easily caught up in your season and get caught up. then I mean, especially for strength coaches, like our off season is our end season, right? Like that’s the time that we are the busiest and try to do the most with our players. How do you kind of carve out time to stick with your mentors and be able to still reach out to them?
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
Yeah, there’s a quote in a book that I read. was, don’t, I think, how do you say it? was like, don’t build your well.
don’t wait to build your will until you’re thirsty. And so it was just like, don’t wait to reach out to those coaches when you need a job or something like that. Like that’s not genuine. So it’s understanding that like you can have a great relationship with those coaches now, continuing to just reach out to them, just see how they’re doing. One big thing that I used to do is just like making sure, you know.
to be in contact even with coaches where I’m going to their school, like if they want to get a lift or something, or just talk by to say hello. Even when we were at Texas Tech last year, I would say maybe six months before I actually got to Texas Tech, I was actually at a high school strength and condition conference and I actually got to meet Zach Zillner, women’s Texas strength coach. And we were actually at…
in UCF at Texas Tech last year, but I saw that Texas was at, Texas women was at UCF as well. So we were there at the same time, same hotel and everything. So I was, you know, I just simply just send a text exactly, like, Hey, you want to get together, like get a coffee or something? And he, you know, like the worst he could say is no, but he said yes. And so it’s just like, even, even to have like those types of occurrences where it doesn’t really take too much to just get together for an hour or it doesn’t take too much to, you know,
Connor Agnew :
Yeah.
Christian Hosley :
get on your phone and let’s just talk for a couple of minutes or something, at least just to see how somebody’s doing. And obviously you have your conferences and there’ll be other times where people get together and everything. just understanding that if you really want to have some type of genuine relationship, you’re going to have some type of consistent action to reach out to that person. So that’s kind of how I look at it.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, I think a good indicator is are you calling somebody only when you need something, right? And like, I think there’s I’m guilty of it, right? I would be lying if I didn’t say that there was a time where I’m like, oh, I should call, you know, Bob. Yeah. Yeah. Because I heard that this job opened up and I’m trying to connect for my former interns for it or something. Right. And then I go to call Bob and I look at the call log and I call them in six months. Right. And the last time I talked to him about something else I needed to like, it’s a bad feeling. And I think
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm.
Christian Hosley :
As I am too.
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm, absolutely.
Yep.
Connor Agnew :
It doesn’t mean you don’t care about that person, but at the same time, like you have to understand and recognize that. Are you just reaching out because you need something or are you reaching out because you want to maintain those relationships?
Christian Hosley :
Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think that is just key to understanding if something is genuine. And I’m not saying all relationships wouldn’t be genuine if you haven’t reached out to that person in a while, but just understanding that it doesn’t really take too much. know what I mean? It doesn’t take too much to make that phone call. It doesn’t take too much to just… If y’all see y’all are in the same town, just hit them up. That’s all it really takes.
Connor Agnew :
And I’ve never regretted sending that text for that phone call. Yeah.
Christian Hosley :
Yeah, me either, me either. And it’s just so much wisdom comes from it too, you know, where one thing you weren’t necessarily thinking about that it was actually a problem that like, you know, maybe that coach brings up or something that it helps you to, that you can take to handle a situation the next time. I mean, it is awesome to be able to like talk with these coaches.
Connor Agnew :
Absolutely. Okay, so you brought up music earlier on in the relationship development stage. Who’s your favorite to listen to in the lawyer?
Christian Hosley :
Oh yeah, oh yeah. Favorite to listen to in the weight room? Ooh, that’s tough. Man, I’m… Yeah, yeah, for sure. And that’s why I think you’re spot on. you know, like I honestly love listening to like some DMX in the weight room where it’s just, it’s loud, you know, he’s barking and trying to get the energy going. You know, I love listening to Kendrick.
Connor Agnew :
Cause it’s different from weight room outside of the weight room. Yeah.
Connor Agnew :
Alright, alright.
Christian Hosley :
Man, there’s a few. I like a lot more, when we’re in the weight room, I like a lot more old school rather than the new school for sure.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, I agree. agree. Now, the one thing I’ve really gotten into Gunna and Boss Mandilo, like those are the two like I don’t know what it is, but they’ve got me.
Christian Hosley :
Oh, Gunna has probably played in our weight room 70 % of the time. 70 % of time. It would go like, Gunna 70 % of the time. No, let’s do this. Let’s go, Gunna 50 % of the time. Youngboy 40 % of the time. And then like Bossman D-Lo like the 10%, for sure.
Connor Agnew :
Yes, yes, absolutely, absolutely.
Connor Agnew :
Yup.
Connor Agnew :
Yeah, we are at I think we’re 70 % gonna there’s no doubt. I mean I can name every song I can name every album at this point He runs it and then I would say probably 20 % boss Mandy Lowe and then 10 % sexy red That’s also big big in our weight room. Yeah, I can’t believe it right? He’s everybody surprised when I say that but they get excited
Christian Hosley :
For
Christian Hosley :
Gun is awesome. Gun is awesome.
Christian Hosley :
Okay. Oh, okay. Sexy red. know, Glowrilla is also creeping up in the percentages as well too. So I can’t completely throw Glowrilla out.
Connor Agnew :
haha
Every once in while I’ll put my classic rock on playlist for them too and they hear like Leonard Skinner and like, I mean immediately like skip, skip, yeah, coach turn it off. So.
Christian Hosley :
There you go. There you go. Coach, what are we doing, coach? What are we doing? It’s like expand your mind, man. Dang.
Connor Agnew :
Come on man, check out something new, I promise you. Like Freebird is a great song. In my opinion, it’s best song of all time. You should absolutely check it out. Well, Christian, I appreciate you coming on, man. Seriously, it’s been a lot of fun for me to learn from you and I appreciate you greatly. If somebody wants to follow you on social media or keep up with your career, we’ll be the best way to do that.
Christian Hosley :
Come on, there you go.
Christian Hosley :
Absolutely, probably the best way is on Instagram, Hosely Strong, H-O-S-L-E-Y, Strong, and that’s probably the best way to reach me.
Connor Agnew :
Awesome, man. I love the Instagram. I followed you on Instagram for a little bit now, so I love seeing your posts. Yeah, I’ve been posting, I’ve been bad about it, so I apologize, but I’ll be back on my grind. Well, I appreciate you, Christian. Thanks so much for coming on, Absolutely, brother.
Christian Hosley :
Oh yeah, oh yeah, I followed you too,
Christian Hosley :
Oh yeah, oh yeah. Man, I appreciate you having me.
