One long-time Nick Saban lieutenant really wanted to spread his wings and make his mark outside of the Alabama football machine.
Last week, Georgia confirmed that it had poached Alabama football strength & conditioning coach Scott Cochran to take an on-field coaching role. Specifically, Cochran will serve as the Bulldogs’ special teams coordinator.
As the Alabama football strength coach, Cochran was paid $595,000 in 2019. That number was fifth nationally among all FBS strength coaches. Cochran’s 2020 salary at Georgia? $550,000, the school confirmed Tuesday.
While it’s a slight decrease from what he made with the Alabama football program in 2019, it’s significantly more than the man he’s replacing was paid. Last year, Scott Fountain was paid $330,000 as UGA’s special teams coordinator.
Fountain left in January to join Sam Pittman‘s first Arkansas coaching staff.
Cochran was on Saban’s staff for all six of his national titles, as he served as an assistant strength coach at LSU in 2003. Cochran had been in the same position with Alabama football since Saban took over as head coach in 2007.
His position with the Bulldogs will mark Cochran’s first-ever on-field job at any level of the sport.
“We appreciate Scott’s contribution to our organization over the last 13 years,” the Alabama football head coach said in a statement last week. “We can’t thank him enough for his service and dedication to our program, and his commitment to our players. He is taking his career in a new direction, and we wish Scott, Cissy and the kids the best. As we do with every position that opens here, we will go out and hire the best person to lead our strength and conditioning program and help our players maximize the resources available in our new sports science facility.”
Coincidentally, Alabama Tuesday also confirmed Cochran’s replacement will be Indiana’s David Ballou.
