Monday ‘Dawg Bites Is Wishing Coach Cochran The Best

It’s Monday, Bulldog fans. Normally that means it’s time to dig into the latest and greatest Red and Black news.

But this is more of a one item news day. The biggest news from this weekend was obviously the announcement yesterday that Bulldog special teams coach Scott Cochran is currently taking a leave of absence from the team. Coach Smart also issued a statement saying that Cochran is “taking time to prioritize his mental health and well-being.”

Will Muschamp will take over in his stead, yet another reason to be glad the former Bulldog letterman/South Carolina head coach/ragebot 3000 joined the staff.

Anyone who’s ever spent time in a football locker room knows that they are often not the environment most conducive to good mental health. The stress, long hours, and constant up and down of adrenaline rushes is, quite frankly, potentially disastrous. When you’re someone like Coach Cochran working your way up the coaching ladder taking time to address mental health issues is not only inconvenient, it’s potentially career-altering.

Stepping away now, whether encouraged to do so or not, shows a great deal of self-honesty. And all of us at Dawg Sports wish him the best.

Will this affect Georgia’s special teams performance in 2021? I think it’s unlikely, and perhaps beside the point. As fans we’re conditioned to view college football’s players and coaches as one-dimensional, or at most caricatures. Nick Saban is short and angry. Steve Spurrier is sarcastic and a little spiteful, Ed Orgeron talks funny and walks around shirtless.

But this is another good reminder that behind the pageantry and the memes and all the rest of it there are real people under real pressure. Let’s all try to keep that in perspective as we roll into this season. Until later...

Go ‘Dawgs!!!