Scott Cochran, as soon as probably the most well-known power and conditioning coach in school soccer as Nick Saban’s right-hand man, is again in school soccer as a head coach.
Cochran, who most lately was on Georgia’s 2023 workers, has been named West Alabama’s new head coach, a Division II faculty about an hour away from the place Cochran helped Saban construct a dynasty in Tuscaloosa. From his time at LSU, Alabama and Georgia, Cochran has been part of eight nationwide championship groups.
Cochran grew to become well-known for a booming voice of his trademark “YEAH, YEAH, YEAH” yell and his “Fourth Quarter Program” that was a part of the key sauce of Alabama’s success. He was the uncommon power and conditioning coach that was featured prominently by this system on its videoboard earlier than and through video games. Cochran appeared in commercials, was featured in nationwide profiles about Saban as one of many few staffers allowed to speak to the media and constructed a big following.
He was the yin to Saban’s yang, the nice cop who might put an arm round a participant’s shoulder and assist him discover a means out of the pinnacle coach’s doghouse. His interpersonal expertise have been his most beneficial trait and the way in which he might maintain gamers purchased into the Sisyphean mission of chasing perfection.Cochran possessed a particular means of figuring out precisely what Saban needed and with the ability to translate the calls for right into a means that made sense for gamers and coaches alike.
Cochran, who was a part of Saban’s preliminary workers in 2007, left Alabama in 2020 to turn out to be an on-field particular groups coordinator for Kirby Sensible’s Georgia program. Cochran desired to turn out to be a head coach at some point and believed he wanted on-field assistant expertise, opting to workforce up with Sensible, who he labored carefully with whereas in Tuscaloosa. Former Alabama gamers who knew first-hand the influence he had on this system’s success have been involved about his departure.
“The extra I used to be in this system and bought to see issues after which being on the opposite facet, I assumed he is a very vital coach for that program and a very integral piece to all of it,” former Alabama offensive lineman David Blalock instructed me on the time. “He was like an older brother — he was your coach, however he was additionally your good friend.”
Cochran helped Sensible win two nationwide championships (2021, 2022) however in the end left this system in Feb. 2024 after scuffling with a decade-long hidden drug habit. He instructed ESPN final yr he grew to become hooked on Vicodin and Oxycontin and at one level was snorting 20 to 25 capsules per day. He co-founded the American Dependancy Restoration Affiliation and started telling his painkillers habit story publicly. During the last yr, he has talked to varsity soccer applications like Georgia Tech and Maryland, met with highschool college students and spoken to companies about his journey.
“My very own private struggles have given me a singular perspective that permits me to expertly develop gamers and put together them to go to the subsequent degree,” Cochran stated in a press release. “I get to know gamers higher than they know themselves, and I really feel that I’ve one thing to offer again by way of head teaching. That is greater than only a job for me; it is a calling to assist younger males develop each on and off the sector.”
Cochran takes over a program that went 9-2 in 2024 and misplaced within the first-round of the Division II playoffs. Numerous extremely profitable gamers have come out of the college together with most notably Miami Dolphins star receiver Tyreek Hill and former New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler.
Cochran has labored carefully with school soccer’s biggest coach ever (Saban) and his closest protege (Sensible) who might be the perfect lively coach within the sport. Now, he’ll get to deploy every little thing he is realized along with his private experiences to guide his personal program for the primary time.
