Longtime Alabama football strength coach Scott Cochran spoke of the lessons he learned from Nick Saban, that he'll put to use as head coach at West Alabama.

"Just love, all love," Cochran said. "Come on. I worked for the man 18 years. He is a father figure for me, so I learned everything I have from him." Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Scott Cochran, once the most famous strength and conditioning coach in college football as Nick Saban's right-hand man, is back in college football as a head coach. Cochran, who most recently was on Georgia's 2023 staff,

Scott Cochran had the coaching itch. As the 2024 season came to an end, the longtime Alabama football strength and conditioning coach, Nick Saban’s right-hand man, knew he wanted to get back in the game. The calls began coming in, most of them for strength or special teams jobs, just like he’d held for most of his career in college football.

As he transitions to his first head coaching role at West Alabama, Cochran said the lessons he learned from his transition from Alabama to Georgia still apply.

Former Alabama strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran is now a head coach at a school not far from Tuscaloosa.

West Alabama hired Scott Cochran, a longtime SEC staff member who served as Alabama's strength coach under Nick Saban and later spoke out about his addiction to painkillers, as its new coach.

"I am honored and grateful for the opportunity to lead the University of West Alabama football program as head coach," Cochran said in a statement. "UWA has a rich tradition of at

Former Georgia Bulldogs staff member Scott Cochran has been hired as the head coach of a collegiate football team.