Scott Cochran compares his unique relationships with Nick Saban, Kirby Smart

Scott Cochran has had a hand in two of the most successful college football programs in recent history, serving as head strength and conditioning coach at Alabama for 13 years before becoming the special teams coordinator at Georgia in 2020. Suffice it to say, he’s worked for two of the winningest college football coaches in recent memory, serving under Nick Saban and Kirby Smart.

Cochran recently joined The Paul Finebaum Show and spoke about his experiences working with both coaches, pulling back the curtain on what his relationship was like with both coaches and how he was able to help play a role in them achieving their goals.

With Nick Saban, it was all about elevating his approach to match Saban’s tireless work ethic.

“First off your expectations of yourself have to be higher than your boss’, I think that is the key to success in any organization. So whenever there was a problem, whenever there was an issue, I should have already known about it, right?” Cochran asked. “I should have already gotten in front, and so when he [Saban] would get to the problem or I would have to go tell him the problem, which was never fun, I’d already handled it on the front end.”

It’s hard to argue that there are any coaches who had higher expectations for their program than Saban did during his tenure with the Crimson Tide. But a winning tradition is something that Cochran was familiar with, definitely working as an asset when working with the coach that many regard as the greatest of all time at the college level.

“And that just took time, at first,” Cochran admitted. “Sure I was running around like a chicken with my head chopped off being so young. But I also came from a system before that, my high school time at John Curtis in New Orleans, we won a lot. So I kind of new the formula what what a championship team looked like and so I think I fit right where he needed me to, and if I didn’t, he was gonna help me find that.”

Cochran was a part of five national championship teams in Tuscaloosa and would go on to be a part of two more under Smart at Georgia. But before that, it was his job to hold Smart back on the sidelines when he was the defensive coordinator of the Crimson Tide prior to become the Bulldogs’ head man in 2016.

“I was his get-back coach every game,” Cochran said. “Every game I had to pull him back, as a matter of fact, last year I told him. I said, ‘I’m done, I’m done getting you back. If you don’t have the discipline we’re asking the players to have to stay behind the freaking line. I’m not pulling you back ever again.'”

Finebaum then asked if Smart has become more calm in his role as the Bulldogs’ head coach, which got quite the laugh out of the longtime SEC staffer.

“No, not at all,” Cochran said bursting out in laughter. “If anything the other way around.”