After retiring from football, Hoage interned at Merrill Lynch, passed the Series 7 exam, and seemed on his way to a career in finance. However, as he would recall in a 2012 interview, "I absolutely hated it. The coat and tie. Going to the office. It didn't fit my personality at all." He and his wife Jennifer, along with their two children, then moved to Phoenix, where he started a construction company, but were still not satisfied with their family life. They then moved to Templeton, California, a small Central Coast town. He had one further opportunity to become involved in the game, but turned down Jeff Fisher's offer of a coaching position with the Tennessee Titans. Hoage then began farming a small piece of land in the area.