Alex Watkins - Football Coach - Texas Tech Red Raiders

Alex Watkins

Title:
Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach

Alex Watkins enters his first season as an assistant strength and conditioning coach on the Texas Tech staff, bringing with him national championship experience as a player as well as high-level coaching opportunities in the SEC.

Prior to joining the Texas Tech staff, Watkins spent the previous six seasons in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) on the strength staffs at both Florida (2022-25) and Mississippi State (2020-21). While with the Gators, Watkins was responsible for overseeing the training of Florida’s mid-skill position athletes as well as its internship program, overseeing recruitment, onboarding and mentorship of student assistants.

Watkins earned his first coaching position as the head strength and conditioning coach at Stillman College from 2014-16 following the conclusion of his own playing career. Watkins oversaw strength programing for 12-plus sports while at Stillman College as well as its budget and equipment inventory.

Watkins moved to the NCAA FCS level from there, serving aas the head football strength and conditioning coach at Texas Southern over the course of the 2016-18 seasons. He later joined the FBS ranks as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at UAB for the 2019 season.

Watkins was part of two national championship teams during his career as a defensive lineman under legendary head coach Nick Saban at Alabama. He later signed as a free agent with the Tennessee Titans in 2012 and then the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 2013.

Watkins, a native of Brownsville, Texas, earned his bachelor’s degree in general health studies with concentrations in nutrition and kinesiology from Alabama in 2010. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS).