Georgia Coach Kirby Smart Comments on Scott Cochran's Addiction Issues

One of the more poignant moments of 2022 SEC Media Days occurred Wednesday when Georgia coach Kirby Smart was asked about special teams coordinator Scott Cochran dealing with addiction.

Cochran, the former Alabama strength and conditioning coach (2007-20) who also worked with Smart with the Crimson Tide, recently announced on social media that he's one year sober.

In August 2021, Georgia announced that Cochran was stepping away from the program to deal with some health issues and was going to take some time to "prioritize his mental health and well-being."

Smart was asked what Cochran means to the program, and how he helped support him while getting through his struggles:

"We commit to having conversations. The commitment to Scott was that he's committed to our program and getting better. You look at what he's done with our players. We got a lot of exceptional people in our organization, Jonas Jennings, Bryant Gantt, Scott Sinclair. I could go on forever.

"Scott Cochran spends a tremendous amount of time with our players on a personal level. They value the relationship that he creates with them. He spends time with them, meaningful time with them.

"I think a lot of our players saw the human side with Scott, that we all know addiction is real. It probably affected me as the leader of the organization for the first time, to have someone on your staff be involved with that.

"I got a lot of help from outside sources on how to do it. I'm so proud of what he's done and how he's fought back to bring himself back and be the husband and father that he's always been. He's a tremendous husband and father. That's first. He's a mentor to the players on our team.

"He's got tons of players that played at Alabama that still reach out to him and talk to him. They come and work out at our place and see him because they value that relationship that he had with them.

"He's a special person that's meant a lot to a lot of people. We've stood there by him and supported him, and we'll continue to do that."

Smart had a couple of other Alabama-related questions while at the media days podium, the program the Bulldogs lost to in the SEC Championship Game but beat for the national title.

Q. Lane Kiffin told us how much you enjoy talking about Alabama and Nick Saban when you come here. I want to ask you about object constancy, if you've ever heard that, number one. Number two, I guess it was a few years ago you said, If it ain't broke, find a way to make it better. Are there some things you're looking at at Georgia, coming off a national title season, maybe not broke, that you plan to make better?

Yeah, we do a kind of intrusive look every year at what we can do, how did we do in red area, how did we do in turnovers, what are we doing wrong, how are other people doing it better? I think you know every college coach that's worth a dime, he's going to talk to other coaches and find a better way.

I give a lot of credit to Coach [Todd] Monken and Coach [Glenn] Schumann. Both those two guys, they love getting on Zoom. They love talking to NFL coaches and figuring out a new way to do it. How deep do you play your safety? How do you run your mesh route? What's something new you're doing on the inside zone?

We're constantly looking to get better. Our staff does a lot of projects. We've got a lot of quality analyst guys that bring a lot of information to our staff and have made us a better program.

Yeah, we're constantly looking at getting better. At the end of the day, it's how do you use your players best. Who utilizes James Cook or Brock Bowers, a guy like Channing Tindall as a third linebacker? How are you using the skill set of your players?

That's what players want. At the end of the day, players want to say how are you going to utilize my skill set, what package can you take me as a rusher, me as a run stopper, me as a pass catcher, and utilize that skill set, and that's what we spend our time on.

Q. You alluded to this earlier. You've been a part of national championship programs with Georgia and Alabama. You've also seen the other side of that coin. What's the biggest differences and similarities in the off-season and being able to manage expectations as you prepare for an upcoming season?

KIRBY SMART: I think they're all different. I go back to my first year at LSU. People don't realize they were coming off a national title. I was not part of that. But we had a tremendous team coming back, like uber talented. A lot of draft picks.

That was probably one of the toughest jobs that's ever -- because you had complacency. You had guys that were going to be first round picks, no matter how they played, off of how they played the year they won the national championship. And then you fast-forward through the four that were able to win in Alabama, you have experience.

Right now our staff at Georgia, I have a tremendous staff. Probably the best staff I've ever had since I've been there in terms of continuity. We had four coaches change, but the four new coaches we've gotten have jumped onboard, grabbed things. They know how to manage the situation. We got three or four coaches who have done this before in terms of having won a championship, understanding what it takes to do it again.

It's really every situation is different because I've been on teams that had a lot of talent coming back, and I've had a lot of them that I had to replace talent. We're having to replace a lot of really good football players. Great news is we've recruited well. We've got good football players. We need experience.

Complacency is not the concern. Experience is our concern. Our kids will buy into that, and we'll get them ready in fall camp.

Florida Coach Billy Napier

Q. I noticed in your background you overlapped with Kirby Smart at Alabama. Can you characterize, share an anecdote? Kirby likes to play the no respect card for Stetson Bennett, but this is a guy you recruited.

Nothing but respect for Kirby. I mean, the guy's an unbelievable football coach, leader. He's a fantastic person. Unbelievable competitor.

I'll tell you, first time I saw him was at our first SEC meeting. I told him, I said, Congratulations. I mean, I know what goes into that, right?

I'm proud of the guy, to be quite honest. He's done it, and he's done it the right way. It's going to be great to compete against him.

I think Stetson, it's pretty awesome to turn the TV on and see that guy playing quarterback for the Dawgs. He's committed to University of Louisiana. Got a chance to go back and play. Had the confidence. You think about his character, his confidence and his abilities. Fantastic player and a great leader. Certainly I can see why Georgia took him.

Q. I wonder what you picked up from Nick Saban? Early happy birthday.

Appreciate that.

Coach was great to me. I think, heck, each person that's worked for him will tell you the same thing. He's created opportunities for me because of the things that I learned from him.

Admire Coach's consistency. He was unbelievable in his approach. He set the standard. He set the bar relative to the discipline, the work ethic, the focus, the ability to sustain.

We could sit in here all day and talk about the things you learn along the way. He was good to me in my career. He hired me twice, gave me an opportunity as an analyst, brought me back as a position coach, and really helped me in a difficult time there when my dad got diagnosed with ALS, really helped me in a lot of different ways.

Coach has been great, man. Admire him for what he's accomplished. He's not slowing down anytime soon, I don't think.