In this powerful and deeply personal conversation, legendary strength coach Scott Cochran opens up about his battle with opioid addiction, the road to recovery, and the crucial role that family, faith, and accountability played in rebuilding his life. Cochran reflects on how hitting rock bottom reshaped not only his priorities, but also his philosophy on coaching and leadership.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Truth with Lisa Booth, where we get
to the heart of the issues that matter to you. Today,
I talked to legendary college football strength coach Scott Cochrane,
known as Coach Yeah, the man behind eight national championships
with Alabama and Georgia. He's also now the head coach
at Western Alabama. He gets brutally honest with us about
(00:21):
his new book, School Session, Mastering the Mental Game and
Sports Work and Life, opening up about his battle with
opioid addiction, his near fatal overdose, and the spiritual reawakening
that led to lasting recovery and helped him rebuild the
foundations of his life. We'll also dive into those school sessions.
(00:42):
What are they, what do you need to know? And
how do they help build champions that he has worked
with as well.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
We'll also talk.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
About behind the scenes stories from his work with legendary
football coaches Nick Saban and Kirby Smart, those dynasties, and
how these principles apply to your life as well and
to anyone that has hit rock bottom and is looking
to recover. Stay tuned for Coach Scott Cochran. Coach Scott
(01:14):
Cochrane appreciate you for making the time to come on
the show. Looking forward to just digging into your life
story and then also you know, talking a little bit
of football since we're heading into playoff season and I
got the Super Bowl in the horizon.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I'm sure, I'm sure you're watching.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
So yes, of course I'm watching, come on now, always watching.
I wish I was still playing, but D two ball
ended about two weeks ago, so yeah, so now I
look forward to the college and the super Bowl. So yeah,
it's a good time. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Really excited to be on.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Well, appreciate you coming on. So your books school session
mastering the mental game in sports, work and life. I
mean you've had a you know, do this on your
own as well with your own battle and your life
life with an opioid addiction and the near fatal overdose
that really changed your life. What made you decide to
(02:08):
lead with such a raw and personal story right from
the start in your book and open up about your
own your own battle.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
You know, I just.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
This country is really having a hard time with addiction.
I think, whether it's alcohol, whether it's gambling, whether it's
you know, drugs like I was, you know, mine. We're opiates,
and you know, I just I think it's really important
that people understand that they're not alone, that the struggle
is real and it can happen to anyone, you know,
(02:42):
because I was at the height of my career, you know,
in some people's eyes.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
You know, obviously I think my height is still coming.
I like that. Yeah, you know, I still think I'm climbing.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
But I was extremely successful, and on the outside, it
looked like I had it all, you know, I was
financially set, had you know, the white picket fence, kids
in private school, all the things, and thriving on the outside,
but no one knew underneath.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I had this crazy, awful addiction.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
And it all came to a head April tenth, twenty twenty,
when I got my hands on some fentanyl thinking it
was something else and had an accidental overdose, and my
wife found me and got me back to got me
back to this side of the planet, this side of
the world.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Why do you think you know sort of what led
to your addiction, Because to your point, I mean, there's
so many people in this country, in this world.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
And we don't know what's happening behind the scenes.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
We don't know the struggles in their lives and what
they're being faced with. What was it for you? You know,
why do you think that, you know, what was sort
of your turn to addiction?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
So, you know, I was a yeller and a screamer
right in the weight room. I was a strength coach
for twenty years. And when I yelling scream for long
periods of time, I would get these just gut wrenching,
painful headaches.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
They were migraines that were just unstoppable.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
It literally felt like a vice between my temples, and
every time I yelled or screamed, it.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Would just get worse. And so I was like, man,
this isn't right.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I got to find out, you know, how to prevent
this or how to fix this problem. And so I
went to a doctor and it was a really really
outstanding doc, and he you know, started me off on
you know, because I was taking advil, you know, and
he started me off with like muscle relaxers or you know,
(04:44):
blood thinners, beta blockers.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
He tried all these different.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Things and nothing worked, absolutely nothing worked, and so finally,
you know, he said hey, and this is about twenty
twenty eleven, he said, hey, why don't you try oxy
or vic it in.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I tried the vike it in.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
It was okay, and then I was like, it's still
not lasting long enough.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
He goes here, tried this.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Oxy code on and I was like, I was in
my early thirties and I was on top of the world,
and you're going to tell me that a pill is
going to rearrange my whole life. Like he said, hey,
you got to be careful with these things because they
can be addictive. You don't even listen to that, right,
(05:32):
I just remember him saying that, Like I didn't hear him.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I did not.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I'm like, get out of here, dude, I'm not going
to get addicted to a pill.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Come on, get out of here.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
But sure enough, within within six months, that doc stops
writing me and said, this is not a route you
want to take. You're taking too many. You have to
shut this down. And so I just, you know, stopped
talking to that doc and went to other docks to
get what I needed.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
So talk about that interim, that period of time, you know,
before the near fatal overdose, you know that time between
that you started taking these up until the point of
the near fatal overdose. What was that period of addiction,
like like walk us through sort of like the challenges
and how that life disruption that it had.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
It was.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
It was really bad because my days started off at
about six am every day, and so every morning I
would get up and I would At first, I was
just taking them orally before that first group, and then
i'd have to take after that group, I'd have to
take a couple more, and then i'd take a couple
more before every group, and then we'd have practice and
(06:41):
i'd take a couple more, and then before I went home,
I would take a couple.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
It just kept turning into more and more and more,
and then twenty sixteen it turned into instead of taking
them orally, I was like, you know what, I could
chop these up and snort them and then it'll get
there faster, so I for sure won't have a headache now.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
And it's looking back at it.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
It's so disgusting and it's so awful just to talk about.
Like I hate even you know, I hate that I
have to bring this up, but it's just very embarrassing
and shameful. But I just feel like, being honest, it's
going to help somebody else, and so my life revolved
(07:24):
around these pills. I had two separate doctors, one in
the state of Alabama one in the state of Mississippi
that wrote me scripts, and that still wasn't enough. And
they were writing, you know, ninety a month, and that
still wasn't enough. I had to go to find dealers
that could get me larger amounts. And it was a
(07:44):
constant cycle, like you couldn't take a day off because you'd.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Go through withdraws. So it was every single.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Day for about eight to ten years, and it was relentless,
you know. So in a twenty nineteen I was disgusted
with myself. I was sick of it, and so I
was like, you know what would fix it is if
I changed jobs. If I moved out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama
(08:13):
and went to a different job, I won't have to
yell as much. Maybe I'll do special teams. So I
decided to become a special teams coordinator. I called up
my good buddy Kirby Smart at Georgia UGA, and he said,
come on, man, for sure, come be my special teams coordinator.
And I get the job there, and in my mind,
(08:36):
I'm like, you know, I'm gonna put these down.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
This is it.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I'm gonna try to wean myself off of it. I'm
only gonna take with me a certain amount and as
soon as I get their COVID starts. So I'm in
the building for a week. I don't even know who
the players are yet. I'm starting to wean off. I
think I have a you know, good plan, and then
COVID hits and send me.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Basically right back in the danger zone.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Because I took the job in March or late February
of twenty twenty, COVID hits, and then April tenth, Good Friday,
I had an overdose.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
And it sounds like your wife really hung in there,
you know, and it really helped wait for you and
your family and and your kids.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
You know.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Oh yeah, you know, I'm sure this. You know, this
had been a really hard period for her and for your.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Kids as well.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
You know, talk about the impact of that and just
the importance of sort of like a wife's love in
this too.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yes, I mean, what an angel she has been through this.
I mean, when you talk about a rock star to
stand in the fire and just say I'm not quitting
on you, is you know, a blessing that I could
never comprehend and I could never be grateful enough, you know,
to show my gratitude to her for that. But she's
(10:04):
stuck in there in the fire and said I'm not quitting.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
And it's really tough on the spouse, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
And that's another reason why I wrote the book, was
because I wanted the people, the family members. This disease
affects the entire family, and it affects friends everyone. You
think that you're hiding your alcoholism or your addiction, you
think you're hiding it from people, but they're getting torn
(10:33):
up from it, and all they want to do is help. Right, Like,
the hardest thing for I feel like, especially a man,
right a male, is to raise his hand and say
I need help. I'm sure it's the same way for females,
but speaking from my experience, that was the hardest thing
is to raise my hand and said, hey, I need
(10:53):
some help. I can no longer live my life like this.
But you know, my kids at the time were I'm
pretty young when it all went down. My son was
probably thirteen, my daughter was eleven, and my other daughter
would have been eight when I finally said, hey, I
need to tell them, because after the overdose. I went
(11:13):
straight to rehab because it was COVID. Right, I'm working
for UGA, I'm the special teams coordinator. Everything's done on Zoom.
And so I went to rehab in Massachusetts and a.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Place called Heron Wellness.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
And I just told my kids at the time, and
you know, it was the right thing to do at
the moment, but I told my kids at the time, Hey,
I'm going away for It's like a camp, you know,
because they understood camps, right, they had gone to a
week camp or something. I'm going to go away for
camp to you know, to.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Make myself better. And that was a really good time
of healing for me.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
But it was just the beginning because that was just
the first time I went to rehab.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I've gone and done three sins in rehab now.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
I've had I've had relapses and setbacks, that's what they're
called now.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Setbacks. Yeah, you can't say relapse because people get mad.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
But I've had multiple setbacks and I've had two years
of sobriety. I've had you know, at one point, it
was really white knuckling it and that was really tough
for my wife and my family. When I was really
struggling to stay sober. I had no peace, no comfort.
It was a battle every single day. But this time
(12:29):
I'm about to hit two years next month, so in
like twenty days, I'll have two years. But this time,
I feel like my recovery has been so much easier,
so much better. I'm happy to be in recovery. I
enjoy the life I live today. I enjoy what I'm doing.
(12:49):
But just going back to the family peace. You know,
this thing's hard sometimes. Sometimes you know, family members need
to make a decision to cut the addict off and
that's okay, and sometimes you know it's good to stay
in the fire, like my wife did, you know, But
it's on the addict to reach out for help. It
(13:13):
is not on the spouse. It's not on the family member.
They have to The best way I can tell family
members is treat this like cancer. If your family member
that's struggling with addiction, if they had cancer, how would
you treat them every time they relapsed, every time they
they fell down, every time, So you know, cancer goes
(13:36):
into remission, right, and then sometimes it comes back right. Well,
this is the same deal. It's a disease. It's proven
scientifically that it's a disease, you know, and there's there's
no magic pill to fix it. That's the coolest part,
which makes me you know, which which makes it really.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Difficult in the beginning.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
But once you find that piece and that freedom and
you start getting honest with yourself.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
It is just a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Got to take a quick commercial break more with Scott
Cochrane on the other side. What role did faith in
your faith play in finding that peace and that freedom?
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Ooh, here we go. It was everything for me, you know.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
The first time that I went into the rehab that
I went to, they didn't believe in giving you any
kind of medication to go through withdrawals. They didn't believe
there's there's a ton of medications now you can take
that are very helpful to get through withdrawals, especially opiod withdrawals,
because they're so they can't they won't. It won't kill
(14:41):
you like alcohol withdrawals can kill. You can get seizures,
but opiate withdrawals you want to die, but you literally
it's hard to actually die from it. So the place
I went to didn't believe in giving any of those meds.
So I had about a twenty day period where I
felt like I had the flu. My stomach was torn up.
(15:03):
I was kind of a dead man walking as how
it felt. And I remember not getting any sleep. I
had a fit bit at the time, and I looked
at my sleep and in like a five day period,
I had like eight hours of total sleep.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
So I was a zombie.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
And you know, I'm Catholic, so I'll throw some hell
Mary's out there, and I'll throw some of our Fathers
and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Well, I was.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
I was in still getting no sleep, no relief, and
then probably about the sixth night, I decided to just
talk to God a little bit, like, Hey, this is.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Where I am.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
I really need you right now. There's no pill that's
going to fix my sleep. There's no medicine I can
take to get me some sleep. If you could just
give me a couple of hours tonight, you know, I'd
be grateful.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And I got like thirty minutes.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I was like, Okay, there's something to it, and I
just I kept doing it, and each night it just
got a little bit better and my body started to recover,
you know, And so that was one of the first
kind of miracles in my mind.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
The second one, I.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Was I went to rehab for the second time, and
there was no getting around it. I had to tell
the head coach, my boss at Georgia, I had to
tell him, Hey, I'm in rehabit I can't come back
to work. We had like a meditation at the recovery
at the wellness center, and I was freaking out. I
was like, man, these people want me to stay here
(16:35):
for six months. I've never missed a day of work.
I was just going to come here on vacation for
a couple of weeks, but they want me here for
a long term.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
There's no way I can do that.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
And in that meditation, this just peace came over me,
and it was like God kind of put his hand
on me, and just basically all I heard was I
got you. Just trust in me. I got you. I've
led you this far. I'm not going to stop now.
(17:07):
And this complete peace came over me, and so I
felt his presence more than ever in that moment, and
I was able to wake up the next morning, call
up coach Smart and tell him, Hey, I'm in recovery.
I need to step away from football until I can
(17:28):
get my hands on this. And I think God jumped
in right then in that conversation, because listen, he's running
an organization, he's trying to win games. You know, at
the time, he had not won a championship, so he
wasn't on the hot seat, so to speak, but he
was still like trying to prove that he's he.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Is as good of a coach as he is.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
And when I called him, like, you know, I said, hey,
I'm about to drop a bomb on you.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
His first response was, would you lose a recruit? Do
you lose a play? And I was like, oh my god,
I wish that was the problem. You know, the problem
is way bigger than that. I'm in rehab right now.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
You hired a drug addict And his first response was,
how can I help you and your family? Like?
Speaker 2 (18:16):
What? Who does that? In this world? No one?
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You know?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Well, do you feel like, you know, obviously he was
there for you and you know, supporting you in recovery
and now as a head coach of West Alabama, how
do you think all of this has helped you as
a coach? And I would imagine that a lot of
these young guys feel comfortable coming to you with sort
(18:45):
of challenges, right because like when you see someone with
a redemption story. It makes you feel okay, it's okay
that I have problems too. You know, it's okay that
I'm working through things. Right. So it's like, how do
you think that's shaped you as a coach and like
being able to mentor some of these young men.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
I think it's it's helped in I mean exponentially. I
mean the amount of guys that I have counseled through
something since this has happened has spen. I mean I
couldn't count it on all my hands and all my
fingers and toes. And you know, a lot of times
it's a family member, like hey, my aunt or my
(19:22):
grandfather or my uncle or my brother or whoever, and
sometimes it's personal to them. But what it's taught me is,
you know, empathy, which in the past, I don't know
if I had much of that because there was no
time for all that.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
In my mind. There wasn't right.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Well, competitive, you know, like it's like you're focused on
the game, you.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Know, so I am, And so when somebody's going through something,
now I can I can literally I'm able to try
to drop all of the things that are going on
and kind of get in the mud with them right,
get in the ditch, get in that hole with him,
and say, hey, this is I do the feel Felt
(20:05):
Found method. You know, I tell them, hey, I feel
where you're coming from. I have felt the same way
when such and such happened to me.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
I found that this works better than that.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
So I've always I learned the feel Felt Found through
coach Saban. Really, he always talked about this method, and
so I really use it now more than ever. When
a player comes to me stressing like, I can easily say, hey,
I feel where you're coming from. I have felt the
same way in a little different situation. I found that
(20:45):
doing this helps. Doing this hurts. But you have to
create your own way. You know, you have to give
you know, these kids don't just like myself, very hardheaded.
You're going to learn the lesson your own way. You know,
it's all in God's time, not ours. But yes, I
feel like because of my recovery, because of the scars
(21:05):
that I have, I'm able to really help guys and
walk them through life.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
You know, the title the book is Skull Sessions.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
It walk us through a school session, So a skull session.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
You know, in football, you have all the workouts, you
have all the off season training. It's it's the conditioning
to you throw up, it's the lifting weights till you
can't walk. A skull session is a classroom setting where
you bring in the players and coaches and you discuss
how to get from where you are now to your
(21:43):
ultimate goal.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
So you know, one of the lessons is how to
write your goals.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
You know, everybody's got their method of writing their goals, right,
but I give two really good examples of how to
write your goals and how to make them actually pop.
Because everybody wants to be great, right, every organization, every
CEO of every organization, they want to take their company
to a new level.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Shoot, New Year's New Year's is coming.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Everybody's going to have these New Year's resolutions, right, and
how many of those actually work?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
I think ninety percent fail? Right. Well, one of the
skull sessions is.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
About how to set those goals, and it's called smart goals, right,
how to set smart goals and how to set long
term visions so that you can accomplish things. You know,
because everybody that plays football the ultimate dream, the ultimate
goal is to get to the NFL. Right, Well, the
NFL stands for not for long. Yeah, you know, and
(22:45):
so and I'm at D two level, so I really
it's about teaching them how to set a goal right,
How do you even do that right? Another different part
of a skull session would be sitting there and learning
how to talk to yourself right, positive self talk. You know,
(23:07):
they're very simple things, but in each lesson right, I
give a little story of how it worked right, and
then I give the exact example of how to use
it with your team, right, whether it's an organization or
a sports team, either one.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
So, so that's really what a skull session is.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
It's taking the brawn out, it's taking the er out,
and it's opening up the mind.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
That's why we call it the skull session.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
How much do you think you know, I never played
football obviously, but I played, you know, feel like in
lacrosse very competitively. How much do you think sort of
having that background in football, that like competitive nature, the
mental fortitude, how much do you think that has helped
you in fighting this addiction?
Speaker 3 (23:55):
And that's really why I wrote the book, because as
I was going through my recovery, I was like, wait,
every single lesson in you know, some of these meeting.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Rooms in recovery.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Every single lesson is basically a skull session that we
do with the players, and so I basically just bridged
the gap, right, the same stuff that I've been teaching
since my days when I coached at LSU, when I
coached at Alabama, when I got to Georgia, those same
exact lessons that we're doing in the classroom. We just
(24:32):
called them skull session or mental development. They were in
line with my recovery. So it was perfect to say, okay,
let's do this a little bit easier. Right, there's an easier,
softer way through recovery.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Right. You know are long, but the years are short.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
So how do we maximize the day right the moment,
Because when you're first getting into recovery, those days are
really really long and they're very difficult. So if you
can find some form of faith or some way of helping,
that's where a skull session can come into play. And
the same exact lesson you learn in recovery, those same
(25:17):
lessons could be used for a team of executives for
another sports team trying to achieve greatness.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Quick break, stay with us.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
If you like what you're hearing, please send it to
your family and friends, or maybe share it on social media.
You've worked with a lot of elite talents and football.
What trait like, What mental trait would you say that
a lot of these champions possess.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Obviously, grit would be the first thing that comes to mind. Grit,
and it's almost a self doubt when you're training.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
It's almost a like, I'm not good enough, so I
have to work harder.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
If you have that mindset of like, there's no way
I will be good enough to do this until you
build the confidence through reps, through repetition, through you know,
going through investing your time into your your craft right.
But grit would be the first thing. And then then
(26:25):
there's also that there's a piece that just I have
to do extra because I'm not as talented as the
next guy.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
You know, you spent a lot of time building some
of these major college dynasties.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
You talked a little about Kirby.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Smart and how he was so helpful to you and
your recovery and really encouraged that. Let's also talk about
Nick Saban, but to.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
The University of Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
But I can recognize, you know, I'll let people I
see one which Nick Saban Alabama or previous at Alabama.
Obviously a massive legend. Now we watch him on you know,
college game day on e UESPN.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I give us a.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Little bit behind the scenes, maybe a little story, or
give us a little bit of color from your time
with him.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Oh for sure, that's that's always my favorite. I want
to tell you this though, before I do as a coach.
I'm twenty two and oh against Tennessee. Just wanted to
let you know, I'm gonna drop that. I'm gonna leave
I'm gonna leave that. I'm gonna leave that. I'm gonna
leave that to the side, and I'm gonna tell you
how it's unnecessary.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I had to put it out there.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
So my favorite story is when I was so I
worked with him at LSU and then we won a
national championship at LSU, and the next year I went
to the NBA. I coached for the New Orleans Hornets
at the time, so I'm there for two and a
(27:53):
half seasons. Coach Saban went to the Dolphins during this time,
so he gets the job at Alabama two thousand and seven.
The next day he calls my phone and says, hey.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
I don't know if you know, but I just took
the Alabama job, and I'm like, yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
In the coach you're all over ESPN, like come on,
no doubt I got it. And he said I need
you to come over here and run my weight room
and do what you do as a coach.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
And I was like, heck, yeah, I'm all.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
You know, I have one problem and he's like, there
is no problem, just get your butt here. And I
was like, okay, you can't cuss me out yet because
I don't work for you yet. And so we were
playing the Hawks that night. We were in Atlanta, and
all I had was a Valure sweatsuit, and so I
told coach. I said, Coach, I don't have like, I
(28:50):
don't have a proper attire. I need to go back
home and then I can come to you. And he's like, look,
just get here as soon as you can. So I
was like, man, this guy's impatient. So he's like, look,
I'm not hying you to be my banker. I'm hiring
you to be my strength coach. I was like, yes, sir,
Yes sir.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
And so after the game we play the Hawks, we
whoop them.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Uh. And then after the game, like I grabbed Chris Paul,
and I'm like, hey, let me try your suit on.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
It didn't fit.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Bobby Jackson was another guy on the team. Hey let
me try your suit. It didn't fit.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
And so.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
I get to the hotel, team leaves. I'm going to
drive over to Tuscaloosa in the morning, and I just
can't sleep. Obviously I'm about to interview with the Goat,
and I'm just restless, you know. So I go to
Walmart at two am and go spend ninety six dollars
on a white shirt, red tie, navy blue sports coat,
(29:51):
khaki's belt.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Shoes, total of ninety six bucks.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
I walk in the door coachabs like, I thought you
were going to be in the valor sweats.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
What what are you? What are you some you going
to some Catholic church. Sorry, but it just gave you
the example of who he is.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Like, of course he said I don't want you to
be my banker, but he also demands excellence, and so
obviously it was a test, and he obviously said this
was part of the reason why you're perfect for the job,
because you understand even though I may have said it
was okay, I needed you in this sports code. And
(30:32):
so I got real lucky that I remembered the lessons
I learned at LSU. But that's just one good story
of his. You know, demand of excellence carries over not
just to the players but to the staff too.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
But it's interesting to watch.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
I love saying his dynamic on college game day with
Pat McAfee because you.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Know, he's shoulder yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
And then like I feel like Nick Saban, like I've
always looked at him as like very serious and you know,
like intens right, and so is it kind of like
fun to sort of see him on college game day
and like, you know, having a little bit more fun
or did you get that behind the scenes? Like I
don't know what do you make of when you get
to watch him on college game day since you actually
(31:15):
know the guy, you.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Know, I think everyone gets to see who he really
is because that's who he is when you see him
up there.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
When he was the head coach, the perception.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Was so important, like our brand, the A was so
important to him and to the organization that he would
let loose with us. But it was very rare, right,
I mean I worked for him for eighteen years, so
I got to see a lot of it. But it
is so good to see him in his element because
(31:49):
when we had talked before about you know, people are
saying you're going to retire, coach. People are saying, you know,
what are you thinking? And he's like, well, I tried radio.
I tried TV because there was a game. I think
it was when Auburn played Oregon for the National championship,
or it was Florida State. I'm not sure which game
it was, but he went and did the college game
(32:10):
day and we all like pumped him up, like, coach,
go do that. That'll help us in recruiting. And he
came back from that and he's like, I hated it.
It's definitely not something I want to do. And so
when he retired and did it, I was like, man,
that surprises me. But I see I get to see
coach Saban at church every every once in a while.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
We are, you know, there's a few times you can
go to in the morning.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
I catch him at Mass and I always catch him
afterwards and I'm like, yeah, coach, you're not good at
picking picking the winner when you're on college game, and
he goes, well, look, there's no accountability, so it really
doesn't matter what I pick. That's funny.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
So it's always good before we.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Go obviously we're heading into playoff season for you know,
college football and for the NFL. What are you watching
any predictions?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Oh? Wow, predictions. I predict that.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
It's really cool because you know, I worked with Kurt Signetti,
I worked with Dan Lanning, I worked with Mario Cristobal.
I work obviously with Kirby Smart, another close friend, you know,
So I have a lot of connections that are in
the championship run. And so Pete Golding, you know, Lane
Kiff and all those guys are close friends, and so
(33:25):
it's really difficult for me to pick who's going to win.
I'm just going to say, I'm going to say this
Ohio State is probably this sarious team to play. And
if Georgia and Ohio State go head to head, whoever
wins that game is taken home to trophy, because that
(33:45):
is going to be a war for the ages if
it all works out right, everybody's got to play somebody.
But I just I've seen Ohio State after they've lost
to Michigan. I've had to face them and they were
at sea. So I'm just I'm thinking that there's there's
the team Ohio State is going to be hard to beat,
(34:08):
and I don't know any of the coaches there, so
it thinks to say that I hope that Alabama and
Georgia are in the finals.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
That would be a dream come true for me.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Or even if Oregon or Miami's in it, or Signetti,
that would be great because they're friends.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
But I know that.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
I see Ohio State and I see Georgia, and I'm like,
they are loaded with players, and if they can get
their heads a little bit with a what we call.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
A mad on, it's like a mean on, they're going
to be really tough to beat.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
So and it's hard for me to go against the
Eagles in the NFL because They've got more players on
that team that I've coached.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
And any other teams.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Between Georgia and Alabama, guys, it's almost like the Eagles.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Are the team.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
I do have a bone to pick with your friend.
Of course you do it over Tennessee. We're not fans
of his, but that's a conversation for another day. Coach
Scott Cochrane, author of School Session Mastering the Mental Game
and Sports Work and Life, appreciate you open up to
us and telling us about your story and the book
(35:20):
and your time coaching.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Yes, I appreciate you. Thank you for having me on.
Y'all have a happy New Year you too.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Sir, Happy New Year, thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
That was coach Scott Cochrane, head coach at West Alabama
and also author of the book the new book School
Session Mastering the Mental Game and Sports, work and Life.
Appreciate him for making the time. Appreciate you guys at
home every Tuesday and Thursday, but you can listen throughout
the week. Also want to thank John, Cassie and my
producer for putting the show together.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Until next time.
Welcome to the Truth with Lisa Booth, where we get
to the heart of the issues that matter to you. Today,
I talked to legendary college football strength coach Scott Cochrane,
known as Coach Yeah, the man behind eight national championships
with Alabama and Georgia. He's also now the head coach
at Western Alabama. He gets brutally honest with us about
(00:21):
his new book, School Session, Mastering the Mental Game and
Sports Work and Life, opening up about his battle with
opioid addiction, his near fatal overdose, and the spiritual reawakening
that led to lasting recovery and helped him rebuild the
foundations of his life. We'll also dive into those school sessions.
(00:42):
What are they, what do you need to know? And
how do they help build champions that he has worked
with as well.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
We'll also talk.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
About behind the scenes stories from his work with legendary
football coaches Nick Saban and Kirby Smart, those dynasties, and
how these principles apply to your life as well and
to anyone that has hit rock bottom and is looking
to recover. Stay tuned for Coach Scott Cochran. Coach Scott
(01:14):
Cochrane appreciate you for making the time to come on
the show. Looking forward to just digging into your life
story and then also you know, talking a little bit
of football since we're heading into playoff season and I
got the Super Bowl in the horizon.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I'm sure, I'm sure you're watching.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
So yes, of course I'm watching, come on now, always watching.
I wish I was still playing, but D two ball
ended about two weeks ago, so yeah, so now I
look forward to the college and the super Bowl. So yeah,
it's a good time. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Really excited to be on.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Well, appreciate you coming on. So your books school session
mastering the mental game in sports, work and life. I
mean you've had a you know, do this on your
own as well with your own battle and your life
life with an opioid addiction and the near fatal overdose
that really changed your life. What made you decide to
(02:08):
lead with such a raw and personal story right from
the start in your book and open up about your
own your own battle.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
You know, I just.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
This country is really having a hard time with addiction.
I think, whether it's alcohol, whether it's gambling, whether it's
you know, drugs like I was, you know, mine. We're opiates,
and you know, I just I think it's really important
that people understand that they're not alone, that the struggle
is real and it can happen to anyone, you know,
(02:42):
because I was at the height of my career, you know,
in some people's eyes.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
You know, obviously I think my height is still coming.
I like that. Yeah, you know, I still think I'm climbing.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
But I was extremely successful, and on the outside, it
looked like I had it all, you know, I was
financially set, had you know, the white picket fence, kids
in private school, all the things, and thriving on the outside,
but no one knew underneath.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I had this crazy, awful addiction.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
And it all came to a head April tenth, twenty twenty,
when I got my hands on some fentanyl thinking it
was something else and had an accidental overdose, and my
wife found me and got me back to got me
back to this side of the planet, this side of
the world.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Why do you think you know sort of what led
to your addiction, Because to your point, I mean, there's
so many people in this country, in this world.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
And we don't know what's happening behind the scenes.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
We don't know the struggles in their lives and what
they're being faced with. What was it for you? You know,
why do you think that, you know, what was sort
of your turn to addiction?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
So, you know, I was a yeller and a screamer
right in the weight room. I was a strength coach
for twenty years. And when I yelling scream for long
periods of time, I would get these just gut wrenching,
painful headaches.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
They were migraines that were just unstoppable.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
It literally felt like a vice between my temples, and
every time I yelled or screamed, it.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Would just get worse. And so I was like, man,
this isn't right.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I got to find out, you know, how to prevent
this or how to fix this problem. And so I
went to a doctor and it was a really really
outstanding doc, and he you know, started me off on
you know, because I was taking advil, you know, and
he started me off with like muscle relaxers or you know,
(04:44):
blood thinners, beta blockers.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
He tried all these different.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Things and nothing worked, absolutely nothing worked, and so finally,
you know, he said hey, and this is about twenty
twenty eleven, he said, hey, why don't you try oxy
or vic it in.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I tried the vike it in.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
It was okay, and then I was like, it's still
not lasting long enough.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
He goes here, tried this.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Oxy code on and I was like, I was in
my early thirties and I was on top of the world,
and you're going to tell me that a pill is
going to rearrange my whole life. Like he said, hey,
you got to be careful with these things because they
can be addictive. You don't even listen to that, right,
(05:32):
I just remember him saying that, Like I didn't hear him.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I did not.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I'm like, get out of here, dude, I'm not going
to get addicted to a pill.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Come on, get out of here.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
But sure enough, within within six months, that doc stops
writing me and said, this is not a route you
want to take. You're taking too many. You have to
shut this down. And so I just, you know, stopped
talking to that doc and went to other docks to
get what I needed.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
So talk about that interim, that period of time, you know,
before the near fatal overdose, you know that time between
that you started taking these up until the point of
the near fatal overdose. What was that period of addiction,
like like walk us through sort of like the challenges
and how that life disruption that it had.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
It was.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
It was really bad because my days started off at
about six am every day, and so every morning I
would get up and I would At first, I was
just taking them orally before that first group, and then
i'd have to take after that group, I'd have to
take a couple more, and then i'd take a couple
more before every group, and then we'd have practice and
(06:41):
i'd take a couple more, and then before I went home,
I would take a couple.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
It just kept turning into more and more and more,
and then twenty sixteen it turned into instead of taking
them orally, I was like, you know what, I could
chop these up and snort them and then it'll get
there faster, so I for sure won't have a headache now.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
And it's looking back at it.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
It's so disgusting and it's so awful just to talk about.
Like I hate even you know, I hate that I
have to bring this up, but it's just very embarrassing
and shameful. But I just feel like, being honest, it's
going to help somebody else, and so my life revolved
(07:24):
around these pills. I had two separate doctors, one in
the state of Alabama one in the state of Mississippi
that wrote me scripts, and that still wasn't enough. And
they were writing, you know, ninety a month, and that
still wasn't enough. I had to go to find dealers
that could get me larger amounts. And it was a
(07:44):
constant cycle, like you couldn't take a day off because you'd.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Go through withdraws. So it was every single.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Day for about eight to ten years, and it was relentless,
you know. So in a twenty nineteen I was disgusted
with myself. I was sick of it, and so I
was like, you know what would fix it is if
I changed jobs. If I moved out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama
(08:13):
and went to a different job, I won't have to
yell as much. Maybe I'll do special teams. So I
decided to become a special teams coordinator. I called up
my good buddy Kirby Smart at Georgia UGA, and he said,
come on, man, for sure, come be my special teams coordinator.
And I get the job there, and in my mind,
(08:36):
I'm like, you know, I'm gonna put these down.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
This is it.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I'm gonna try to wean myself off of it. I'm
only gonna take with me a certain amount and as
soon as I get their COVID starts. So I'm in
the building for a week. I don't even know who
the players are yet. I'm starting to wean off. I
think I have a you know, good plan, and then
COVID hits and send me.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Basically right back in the danger zone.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Because I took the job in March or late February
of twenty twenty, COVID hits, and then April tenth, Good Friday,
I had an overdose.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
And it sounds like your wife really hung in there,
you know, and it really helped wait for you and
your family and and your kids.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
You know.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Oh yeah, you know, I'm sure this. You know, this
had been a really hard period for her and for your.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Kids as well.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
You know, talk about the impact of that and just
the importance of sort of like a wife's love in
this too.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yes, I mean, what an angel she has been through this.
I mean, when you talk about a rock star to
stand in the fire and just say I'm not quitting
on you, is you know, a blessing that I could
never comprehend and I could never be grateful enough, you know,
to show my gratitude to her for that. But she's
(10:04):
stuck in there in the fire and said I'm not quitting.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
And it's really tough on the spouse, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
And that's another reason why I wrote the book, was
because I wanted the people, the family members. This disease
affects the entire family, and it affects friends everyone. You
think that you're hiding your alcoholism or your addiction, you
think you're hiding it from people, but they're getting torn
(10:33):
up from it, and all they want to do is help. Right, Like,
the hardest thing for I feel like, especially a man,
right a male, is to raise his hand and say
I need help. I'm sure it's the same way for females,
but speaking from my experience, that was the hardest thing
is to raise my hand and said, hey, I need
(10:53):
some help. I can no longer live my life like this.
But you know, my kids at the time were I'm
pretty young when it all went down. My son was
probably thirteen, my daughter was eleven, and my other daughter
would have been eight when I finally said, hey, I
need to tell them, because after the overdose. I went
(11:13):
straight to rehab because it was COVID. Right, I'm working
for UGA, I'm the special teams coordinator. Everything's done on Zoom.
And so I went to rehab in Massachusetts and a.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Place called Heron Wellness.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
And I just told my kids at the time, and
you know, it was the right thing to do at
the moment, but I told my kids at the time, Hey,
I'm going away for It's like a camp, you know,
because they understood camps, right, they had gone to a
week camp or something. I'm going to go away for
camp to you know, to.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Make myself better. And that was a really good time
of healing for me.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
But it was just the beginning because that was just
the first time I went to rehab.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I've gone and done three sins in rehab now.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
I've had I've had relapses and setbacks, that's what they're
called now.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Setbacks. Yeah, you can't say relapse because people get mad.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
But I've had multiple setbacks and I've had two years
of sobriety. I've had you know, at one point, it
was really white knuckling it and that was really tough
for my wife and my family. When I was really
struggling to stay sober. I had no peace, no comfort.
It was a battle every single day. But this time
(12:29):
I'm about to hit two years next month, so in
like twenty days, I'll have two years. But this time,
I feel like my recovery has been so much easier,
so much better. I'm happy to be in recovery. I
enjoy the life I live today. I enjoy what I'm doing.
(12:49):
But just going back to the family peace. You know,
this thing's hard sometimes. Sometimes you know, family members need
to make a decision to cut the addict off and
that's okay, and sometimes you know it's good to stay
in the fire, like my wife did, you know, But
it's on the addict to reach out for help. It
(13:13):
is not on the spouse. It's not on the family member.
They have to The best way I can tell family
members is treat this like cancer. If your family member
that's struggling with addiction, if they had cancer, how would
you treat them every time they relapsed, every time they
they fell down, every time, So you know, cancer goes
(13:36):
into remission, right, and then sometimes it comes back right. Well,
this is the same deal. It's a disease. It's proven
scientifically that it's a disease, you know, and there's there's
no magic pill to fix it. That's the coolest part,
which makes me you know, which which makes it really.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Difficult in the beginning.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
But once you find that piece and that freedom and
you start getting honest with yourself.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
It is just a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Got to take a quick commercial break more with Scott
Cochrane on the other side. What role did faith in
your faith play in finding that peace and that freedom?
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Ooh, here we go. It was everything for me, you know.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
The first time that I went into the rehab that
I went to, they didn't believe in giving you any
kind of medication to go through withdrawals. They didn't believe
there's there's a ton of medications now you can take
that are very helpful to get through withdrawals, especially opiod withdrawals,
because they're so they can't they won't. It won't kill
(14:41):
you like alcohol withdrawals can kill. You can get seizures,
but opiate withdrawals you want to die, but you literally
it's hard to actually die from it. So the place
I went to didn't believe in giving any of those meds.
So I had about a twenty day period where I
felt like I had the flu. My stomach was torn up.
(15:03):
I was kind of a dead man walking as how
it felt. And I remember not getting any sleep. I
had a fit bit at the time, and I looked
at my sleep and in like a five day period,
I had like eight hours of total sleep.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
So I was a zombie.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
And you know, I'm Catholic, so I'll throw some hell
Mary's out there, and I'll throw some of our Fathers
and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Well, I was.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
I was in still getting no sleep, no relief, and
then probably about the sixth night, I decided to just
talk to God a little bit, like, Hey, this is.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Where I am.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
I really need you right now. There's no pill that's
going to fix my sleep. There's no medicine I can
take to get me some sleep. If you could just
give me a couple of hours tonight, you know, I'd
be grateful.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And I got like thirty minutes.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I was like, Okay, there's something to it, and I
just I kept doing it, and each night it just
got a little bit better and my body started to recover,
you know, And so that was one of the first
kind of miracles in my mind.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
The second one, I.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Was I went to rehab for the second time, and
there was no getting around it. I had to tell
the head coach, my boss at Georgia, I had to
tell him, Hey, I'm in rehabit I can't come back
to work. We had like a meditation at the recovery
at the wellness center, and I was freaking out. I
was like, man, these people want me to stay here
(16:35):
for six months. I've never missed a day of work.
I was just going to come here on vacation for
a couple of weeks, but they want me here for
a long term.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
There's no way I can do that.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
And in that meditation, this just peace came over me,
and it was like God kind of put his hand
on me, and just basically all I heard was I
got you. Just trust in me. I got you. I've
led you this far. I'm not going to stop now.
(17:07):
And this complete peace came over me, and so I
felt his presence more than ever in that moment, and
I was able to wake up the next morning, call
up coach Smart and tell him, Hey, I'm in recovery.
I need to step away from football until I can
(17:28):
get my hands on this. And I think God jumped
in right then in that conversation, because listen, he's running
an organization, he's trying to win games. You know, at
the time, he had not won a championship, so he
wasn't on the hot seat, so to speak, but he
was still like trying to prove that he's he.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Is as good of a coach as he is.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
And when I called him, like, you know, I said, hey,
I'm about to drop a bomb on you.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
His first response was, would you lose a recruit? Do
you lose a play? And I was like, oh my god,
I wish that was the problem. You know, the problem
is way bigger than that. I'm in rehab right now.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
You hired a drug addict And his first response was,
how can I help you and your family? Like?
Speaker 2 (18:16):
What? Who does that? In this world? No one?
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You know?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Well, do you feel like, you know, obviously he was
there for you and you know, supporting you in recovery
and now as a head coach of West Alabama, how
do you think all of this has helped you as
a coach? And I would imagine that a lot of
these young guys feel comfortable coming to you with sort
(18:45):
of challenges, right because like when you see someone with
a redemption story. It makes you feel okay, it's okay
that I have problems too. You know, it's okay that
I'm working through things. Right. So it's like, how do
you think that's shaped you as a coach and like
being able to mentor some of these young men.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
I think it's it's helped in I mean exponentially. I
mean the amount of guys that I have counseled through
something since this has happened has spen. I mean I
couldn't count it on all my hands and all my
fingers and toes. And you know, a lot of times
it's a family member, like hey, my aunt or my
(19:22):
grandfather or my uncle or my brother or whoever, and
sometimes it's personal to them. But what it's taught me is,
you know, empathy, which in the past, I don't know
if I had much of that because there was no
time for all that.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
In my mind. There wasn't right.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Well, competitive, you know, like it's like you're focused on
the game, you.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Know, so I am, And so when somebody's going through something,
now I can I can literally I'm able to try
to drop all of the things that are going on
and kind of get in the mud with them right,
get in the ditch, get in that hole with him,
and say, hey, this is I do the feel Felt
(20:05):
Found method. You know, I tell them, hey, I feel
where you're coming from. I have felt the same way
when such and such happened to me.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
I found that this works better than that.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
So I've always I learned the feel Felt Found through
coach Saban. Really, he always talked about this method, and
so I really use it now more than ever. When
a player comes to me stressing like, I can easily say, hey,
I feel where you're coming from. I have felt the
same way in a little different situation. I found that
(20:45):
doing this helps. Doing this hurts. But you have to
create your own way. You know, you have to give
you know, these kids don't just like myself, very hardheaded.
You're going to learn the lesson your own way. You know,
it's all in God's time, not ours. But yes, I
feel like because of my recovery, because of the scars
(21:05):
that I have, I'm able to really help guys and
walk them through life.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
You know, the title the book is Skull Sessions.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
It walk us through a school session, So a skull session.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
You know, in football, you have all the workouts, you
have all the off season training. It's it's the conditioning
to you throw up, it's the lifting weights till you
can't walk. A skull session is a classroom setting where
you bring in the players and coaches and you discuss
how to get from where you are now to your
(21:43):
ultimate goal.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
So you know, one of the lessons is how to
write your goals.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
You know, everybody's got their method of writing their goals, right,
but I give two really good examples of how to
write your goals and how to make them actually pop.
Because everybody wants to be great, right, every organization, every
CEO of every organization, they want to take their company
to a new level.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Shoot, New Year's New Year's is coming.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Everybody's going to have these New Year's resolutions, right, and
how many of those actually work?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
I think ninety percent fail? Right. Well, one of the
skull sessions is.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
About how to set those goals, and it's called smart goals, right,
how to set smart goals and how to set long
term visions so that you can accomplish things. You know,
because everybody that plays football the ultimate dream, the ultimate
goal is to get to the NFL. Right, Well, the
NFL stands for not for long. Yeah, you know, and
(22:45):
so and I'm at D two level, so I really
it's about teaching them how to set a goal right,
How do you even do that right? Another different part
of a skull session would be sitting there and learning
how to talk to yourself right, positive self talk. You know,
(23:07):
they're very simple things, but in each lesson right, I
give a little story of how it worked right, and
then I give the exact example of how to use
it with your team, right, whether it's an organization or
a sports team, either one.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
So, so that's really what a skull session is.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
It's taking the brawn out, it's taking the er out,
and it's opening up the mind.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
That's why we call it the skull session.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
How much do you think you know, I never played
football obviously, but I played, you know, feel like in
lacrosse very competitively. How much do you think sort of
having that background in football, that like competitive nature, the
mental fortitude, how much do you think that has helped
you in fighting this addiction?
Speaker 3 (23:55):
And that's really why I wrote the book, because as
I was going through my recovery, I was like, wait,
every single lesson in you know, some of these meeting.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Rooms in recovery.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Every single lesson is basically a skull session that we
do with the players, and so I basically just bridged
the gap, right, the same stuff that I've been teaching
since my days when I coached at LSU, when I
coached at Alabama, when I got to Georgia, those same
exact lessons that we're doing in the classroom. We just
(24:32):
called them skull session or mental development. They were in
line with my recovery. So it was perfect to say, okay,
let's do this a little bit easier. Right, there's an easier,
softer way through recovery.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Right. You know are long, but the years are short.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
So how do we maximize the day right the moment,
Because when you're first getting into recovery, those days are
really really long and they're very difficult. So if you
can find some form of faith or some way of helping,
that's where a skull session can come into play. And
the same exact lesson you learn in recovery, those same
(25:17):
lessons could be used for a team of executives for
another sports team trying to achieve greatness.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Quick break, stay with us.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
If you like what you're hearing, please send it to
your family and friends, or maybe share it on social media.
You've worked with a lot of elite talents and football.
What trait like, What mental trait would you say that
a lot of these champions possess.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Obviously, grit would be the first thing that comes to mind. Grit,
and it's almost a self doubt when you're training.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
It's almost a like, I'm not good enough, so I
have to work harder.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
If you have that mindset of like, there's no way
I will be good enough to do this until you
build the confidence through reps, through repetition, through you know,
going through investing your time into your your craft right.
But grit would be the first thing. And then then
(26:25):
there's also that there's a piece that just I have
to do extra because I'm not as talented as the
next guy.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
You know, you spent a lot of time building some
of these major college dynasties.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
You talked a little about Kirby.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Smart and how he was so helpful to you and
your recovery and really encouraged that. Let's also talk about
Nick Saban, but to.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
The University of Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
But I can recognize, you know, I'll let people I
see one which Nick Saban Alabama or previous at Alabama.
Obviously a massive legend. Now we watch him on you know,
college game day on e UESPN.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I give us a.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Little bit behind the scenes, maybe a little story, or
give us a little bit of color from your time
with him.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Oh for sure, that's that's always my favorite. I want
to tell you this though, before I do as a coach.
I'm twenty two and oh against Tennessee. Just wanted to
let you know, I'm gonna drop that. I'm gonna leave
I'm gonna leave that. I'm gonna leave that. I'm gonna
leave that to the side, and I'm gonna tell you
how it's unnecessary.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I had to put it out there.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
So my favorite story is when I was so I
worked with him at LSU and then we won a
national championship at LSU, and the next year I went
to the NBA. I coached for the New Orleans Hornets
at the time, so I'm there for two and a
(27:53):
half seasons. Coach Saban went to the Dolphins during this time,
so he gets the job at Alabama two thousand and seven.
The next day he calls my phone and says, hey.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
I don't know if you know, but I just took
the Alabama job, and I'm like, yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
In the coach you're all over ESPN, like come on,
no doubt I got it. And he said I need
you to come over here and run my weight room
and do what you do as a coach.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
And I was like, heck, yeah, I'm all.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
You know, I have one problem and he's like, there
is no problem, just get your butt here. And I
was like, okay, you can't cuss me out yet because
I don't work for you yet. And so we were
playing the Hawks that night. We were in Atlanta, and
all I had was a Valure sweatsuit, and so I
told coach. I said, Coach, I don't have like, I
(28:50):
don't have a proper attire. I need to go back
home and then I can come to you. And he's like, look,
just get here as soon as you can. So I
was like, man, this guy's impatient. So he's like, look,
I'm not hying you to be my banker. I'm hiring
you to be my strength coach. I was like, yes, sir,
Yes sir.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
And so after the game we play the Hawks, we
whoop them.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Uh. And then after the game, like I grabbed Chris Paul,
and I'm like, hey, let me try your suit on.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
It didn't fit.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Bobby Jackson was another guy on the team. Hey let
me try your suit. It didn't fit.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
And so.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
I get to the hotel, team leaves. I'm going to
drive over to Tuscaloosa in the morning, and I just
can't sleep. Obviously I'm about to interview with the Goat,
and I'm just restless, you know. So I go to
Walmart at two am and go spend ninety six dollars
on a white shirt, red tie, navy blue sports coat,
(29:51):
khaki's belt.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Shoes, total of ninety six bucks.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
I walk in the door coachabs like, I thought you
were going to be in the valor sweats.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
What what are you? What are you some you going
to some Catholic church. Sorry, but it just gave you
the example of who he is.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Like, of course he said I don't want you to
be my banker, but he also demands excellence, and so
obviously it was a test, and he obviously said this
was part of the reason why you're perfect for the job,
because you understand even though I may have said it
was okay, I needed you in this sports code. And
(30:32):
so I got real lucky that I remembered the lessons
I learned at LSU. But that's just one good story
of his. You know, demand of excellence carries over not
just to the players but to the staff too.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
But it's interesting to watch.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
I love saying his dynamic on college game day with
Pat McAfee because you.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Know, he's shoulder yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
And then like I feel like Nick Saban, like I've
always looked at him as like very serious and you know,
like intens right, and so is it kind of like
fun to sort of see him on college game day
and like, you know, having a little bit more fun
or did you get that behind the scenes? Like I
don't know what do you make of when you get
to watch him on college game day since you actually
(31:15):
know the guy, you.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Know, I think everyone gets to see who he really
is because that's who he is when you see him
up there.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
When he was the head coach, the perception.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Was so important, like our brand, the A was so
important to him and to the organization that he would
let loose with us. But it was very rare, right,
I mean I worked for him for eighteen years, so
I got to see a lot of it. But it
is so good to see him in his element because
(31:49):
when we had talked before about you know, people are
saying you're going to retire, coach. People are saying, you know,
what are you thinking? And he's like, well, I tried radio.
I tried TV because there was a game. I think
it was when Auburn played Oregon for the National championship,
or it was Florida State. I'm not sure which game
it was, but he went and did the college game
(32:10):
day and we all like pumped him up, like, coach,
go do that. That'll help us in recruiting. And he
came back from that and he's like, I hated it.
It's definitely not something I want to do. And so
when he retired and did it, I was like, man,
that surprises me. But I see I get to see
coach Saban at church every every once in a while.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
We are, you know, there's a few times you can
go to in the morning.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
I catch him at Mass and I always catch him
afterwards and I'm like, yeah, coach, you're not good at
picking picking the winner when you're on college game, and
he goes, well, look, there's no accountability, so it really
doesn't matter what I pick. That's funny.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
So it's always good before we.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Go obviously we're heading into playoff season for you know,
college football and for the NFL. What are you watching
any predictions?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Oh? Wow, predictions. I predict that.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
It's really cool because you know, I worked with Kurt Signetti,
I worked with Dan Lanning, I worked with Mario Cristobal.
I work obviously with Kirby Smart, another close friend, you know,
So I have a lot of connections that are in
the championship run. And so Pete Golding, you know, Lane
Kiff and all those guys are close friends, and so
(33:25):
it's really difficult for me to pick who's going to win.
I'm just going to say, I'm going to say this
Ohio State is probably this sarious team to play. And
if Georgia and Ohio State go head to head, whoever
wins that game is taken home to trophy, because that
(33:45):
is going to be a war for the ages if
it all works out right, everybody's got to play somebody.
But I just I've seen Ohio State after they've lost
to Michigan. I've had to face them and they were
at sea. So I'm just I'm thinking that there's there's
the team Ohio State is going to be hard to beat,
(34:08):
and I don't know any of the coaches there, so
it thinks to say that I hope that Alabama and
Georgia are in the finals.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
That would be a dream come true for me.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Or even if Oregon or Miami's in it, or Signetti,
that would be great because they're friends.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
But I know that.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
I see Ohio State and I see Georgia, and I'm like,
they are loaded with players, and if they can get
their heads a little bit with a what we call.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
A mad on, it's like a mean on, they're going
to be really tough to beat.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
So and it's hard for me to go against the
Eagles in the NFL because They've got more players on
that team that I've coached.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
And any other teams.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Between Georgia and Alabama, guys, it's almost like the Eagles.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Are the team.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
I do have a bone to pick with your friend.
Of course you do it over Tennessee. We're not fans
of his, but that's a conversation for another day. Coach
Scott Cochrane, author of School Session Mastering the Mental Game
and Sports Work and Life, appreciate you open up to
us and telling us about your story and the book
(35:20):
and your time coaching.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Yes, I appreciate you. Thank you for having me on.
Y'all have a happy New Year you too.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Sir, Happy New Year, thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
That was coach Scott Cochrane, head coach at West Alabama
and also author of the book the new book School
Session Mastering the Mental Game and Sports, work and Life.
Appreciate him for making the time. Appreciate you guys at
home every Tuesday and Thursday, but you can listen throughout
the week. Also want to thank John, Cassie and my
producer for putting the show together.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Until next time.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show News
Hosts And Creators
Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
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