Anthony Kincy had some big news he needed to share with his family.
After a quick group chat with his brother, two sisters and parents, he gathered everyone on FaceTime and told them he was returning home to Florida.
In a few weeks, he would be the director of football strength and conditioning at UCF.
“They were excited,” Kincy recently told the Orlando Sentinel. “Coming back home is special.”
After living in Arkansas, Alabama, and Tennessee, Kincy is back in the Sunshine State and is reunited with his former coach, Gus Malzahn.
The move for his parents, Alex and Alfredia, who live in St. Petersburg, means being closer to their son and grandson. Kincy’s twin brother lives in Portland, Oregon, while his two sisters live in Dallas.
“I think they were more excited that their first grandson is coming closer to home,” Kincy joked.
Sports have always played a significant role in the Kincy family.
Anthony and his brother, Aaron, played multiple sports, including football, while his sisters participated in track and soccer. His parents were also athletes, and his father, Alex, played football at a small college in Iowa.
But Anthony’s path in football wasn’t straightforward.
He broke his hand during his senior year at high school and wound up at Butte College, a junior college in California. With the Roadrunners, the 6-foot, 232-pound tight end earned all-conference honors before transferring to Arkansas State.
Kincy was first introduced to Malzahn when he was hired at Arkansas State in 2012.
The senior-to-be spent the previous season as a halfback/tight end role for the Red Wolves under coach Hugh Freeze, who left to take the head coaching job at Ole Miss. That opened the door for new athletic director Terry Mohajir to hire Malzahn, who had spent the previous two seasons as offensive coordinator at Auburn.
“We were fortunate to have coach Malzahn come in,” said Kincy. “He just brought that SEC-like mentality. He changed the trajectory of Arkansas State.”
Kincy finished with 11 catches for 98 yards and a touchdown in his final season.
Malzahn would lead Arkansas State to a 9-3 record before leaving to return to Auburn to become the Tigers’ new head coach.
For Kincy, the future was uncertain.
However, a talk with his strength and conditioning coach, Ryan Russell, would put him on his current career path.
“He said, ‘Kincy, what do you plan on doing when you graduate?’” Kincy recalled. “I want to train for Pro Day and go to the NFL. He said, ‘If the NFL doesn’t fall onto your plate, what do you want to do?’”
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Kincy said he would probably return home, follow in his father’s footsteps, and become a fireman. Alex Kincy has spent more than three decades as a firefighter for St. Petersburg.
Russell, who was joining Malzahn’s new coaching staff at Auburn, had other plans.
“What do you think about joining me as a GA [graduate assistant]? Coach Malzahn just offered me the head strength coach job at Auburn and I would love for you to be a part of that program,” Kincy said.
Kincy had not considered a career as a strength coach, but Russell’s impact on his life and the lives of others made the decision easy.
“I would love it if I could impact 18- to 22-year-olds like he did,” he said.
Kincy spent the next eight years at Auburn, working his way into becoming an assistant strength coach. Following Malzahn’s departure at the end of the 2020 season, he was hired at the University of Tennessee.
“The first day I was hired, they let go of Coach [Jeremy] Pruitt,” said Kincy. “And I was thinking, what am I going to do now? But it worked out because [new coach] Josh Heupel met with me and said I would love for you to be a part of our strength staff.”
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But Kincy always stayed in contact with Malzahn, mainly through text messages.
Eventually, the two would reconnect in person when Kincy was in town as Tennessee prepared to take on Iowa in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day. The Volunteers happened to be using UCF’s Nicholson Fieldhouse as a practice site.
“He called me while I was on the bus [heading to practice], and he was like, ‘I see all your other strength coaches here. Where are you?’” Kincy said. “I told him I was on the way, and as soon as I got there, he asked me how I was doing. He just wanted to check up on me. I hadn’t seen him since our time at Auburn.”
The pair would trade phone conversations after the bowl season before Malzahn eventually made an offer.
“There’s no doubt he’s a rising star,” said Malzahn. “He played for me, and you could see he differed from many of the guys. He understands what I expect; he understands our philosophy. We’re all on the same page.”
It’s been almost 10 weeks since Kincy arrived in Orlando and while it was a bit overwhelming initially, he’s settled relatively quickly. After establishing a staff, Kincy worked to introduce himself and his philosophy to the players.
“When they first come in, we show them the techniques and walk them through our steps to see what we want and expect from an urgency standpoint to a technique standpoint,” said Kincy. “This year is unique because everybody is new to me. Next year, around this time, I’ll have incoming freshmen, incoming transfers, and the guys who have been here.”
Because of his familiarity with Malzahn and many of the coaches on staff, Kincy would find himself tuning into many of UCF’s games last season, the Knights’ first in the Big 12.
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While watching the games, something stood out to him.
“They [UCF] were up big and then would lose games at the end,” Kincy said.
UCF finished with a 6-7 record, with three losses decided by two or fewer points. The Knights were tied or leading in the second half of five of those seven games before losing in the fourth quarter.
“So, for me, it is teaching these guys just how to finish and how to have some emotional consistency,” said Kincy. “Don’t get too high on the highs, and don’t get too low on the lows. You’ll be able to finish that out.”
“He’s helping us build the mentality, that toughness that we lacked a little bit in the Big 12 last season,” said defensive tackle Ricky Barber. “He’s from the SEC, bringing that mentality here and making us tougher. We’re finding that second gear, and he’s helping us develop that.”
Players have been raving about Kincy’s impact, not just on the field but in their lives.
“Everybody loves him, and they are connecting well with him,” added receiver Xaviers Townsend. “He also connects with the younger players.”
For Kincy, it all comes down to a simple equation: E+R=O.
“Events happen in your life that you can’t control. That’s the E. The R stands for how you respond. How you respond to things you can’t control equals the outcome. That’s the equation for success,” explains Kincy.
Family always plays a big part in Kincy’s life, and this carries over to his work.
His 12-year-old son, Amaud, is in honors classes and has a 4.0 grade-point average. He also plays baseball, basketball and football. He was on the same sixth-grade football team as Heupel’s son, Jace.
Kincy wants his players to feel they can come to him with whatever issues they face.
“My door is always open; they can come in and talk to me,” he said. “I don’t want them to look at me as a drill sergeant. I want these guys calling me three years down the road, 10 years down the road, ‘Coach, I want you to see my son because I remember you brought your son around the complex.
“I want them to be proud husbands, fathers, and productive citizens of this society,” said Kincy.
Matt Murschel can be reached at [email protected]
