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.

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,

"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 [email protected] or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Yes, Scott Cochran has heard from his old boss. After the longtime Alabama football strength and conditioning coach took the head coach job at West Alabama, he got a call from Nick Saban. “Just congratulations,

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.

As Cochran spoke of the future, of what he plans to do with West Alabama football as its head coach, he was asked about the current state of the Crimson Tide, about Kalen DeBoer and what he's done at Alabama. Cochran said he honestly doesn't know much.