Scott Cochran Hired as Special Teams Coordinator at Georgia
Longtime Alabama strength and conditioning coach, Scott Cochran is set to join the University of Georgia Football staff in an on-field role.
Reported first by Cecil Hurt of tidesports.com
Scott Cochran is known for his infectious energy as a strength and conditioning coordinator and is certainly a loss for Nick Saban and the Alabama coaching staff.
Cochran spent twelve years on the University of Alabama staff and was known as one of the best strength and conditioning coaches in the entire country. He not only oversaw the strength and conditioning for the football program at Alabama, but he also has a background in the NBA as well.
Kirby Smart left the vacancy of the special team's coordinator position open after Scott Fountain left for the same position at Arkansas under former UGA offensive line coach, Sam Pittman.
As for why Kirby Smart would seek out the services of a guy like Cochran who only has the background in the strength and conditioning portion of things? Cochran matches the primary criteria for Kirby Smart which is energy. Cochran will boost energy levels around the program the moment he steps foot on campus, which is something that Smart values.
Smart wanted to bring Cochran with him when he took the head coaching job at Georgia back in December of 2015, but Cochran remained on the Alabama staff to the tune of a nice pay raise. Now, Smart brings his old colleague to Athens in as the special-teams coordinator.
One thing we do know is that this isn't going to make Nick Saban very happy at all. The idea of one of his former assistants pulling one of his current assistants off of his staff is something that he thinks is over the line:
"We’ve always had sort of a mutual respect for how we sort of take each other’s people,” Saban said of his relationship with Belichick, under whom he used to coach. “It’s one thing that I always try to emphasize to the guys: what I have a tough time with, aight, is we’ve had however many guys who have worked here who are at Georgia, Tennessee — whoever, wherever — is when they get those jobs, and in most cases you’ve helped them, is they have a hard time understanding why they can’t take your people.
I’m gonna help you get a job, [only] so that you can take what I’ve tried to build here and destroy the continuity of what I have " - Saban on HBO's Belichick & Saban: The Art of Coaching
This only amplifies the anticipation of the September 21st matchup in Tuscaloosa.
The University of Georgia has made it official. Scott Cochran is the new Special Teams Coordinator for the Bulldogs.
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