Scott Cochran is an eight-time national champion, winning rings at LSU, Alabama and Georgia. He’s known around the world as “Coach Yeah,” a nickname given to him by former Alabama football coach Nick Saban for his booming voice. It’s a voice that made him “the most famous strength and conditioning coach in the country,” according to ESPN. 

But Cochran’s loudness was a double-edged sword. He battled chronic migraines for years.

“They tried everything,” Cochran said. Beta Blockers, blood thinners, Vicodin, but nothing stopped the headaches.

“All of a sudden, they give me extended-release oxy, and it was like, I can coach all day,” Cochran said.

He started using OxyContin regularly. Cochran said eventually he’d drive to a doctor in Mississippi to get more pills, on top of the pills his doctor prescribed. 

One day — it was too much. 

When I overdosed in 2020,” Cochran said. “When my wife found me, dead, is when I knew I needed help.”

He resigned from his position as the special teams coordinator for the University of Georgia and went to a drug rehabilitation center. 

“It’s hell,” said Cochran. “in a 10-day period, I had about eight hours total of sleep.”

Cochran said his faith helped him push past the withdrawal.

“Once I started really having a conversation with God, he would give me a little sleep, like, here’s 15 minutes, here’s 30 minutes, here’s two hours,” Cochran said.

Warren Brinson, a senior defensive tackle at UGA, remembers when Cochran left the team. 

“It was a problem, he faced it and addressed it like a man would,” Brinson said. “He went face first into it, he didn’t run away from the storm.” 

Cochran told the team about his situation when he got out of rehab. Brinson said they respected his honesty.

“He wasn’t the B word about it you know?” Brinson said. “He wasn’t using it as a crutch, he used it as something to help elevate him.” 

Since Cochran found recovery he uses his voice to help people in addiction. He told his story at the one-year anniversary of the Athens Recovery Warriors when he met Jeff Breedlove. The two bonded instantly.

Breedlove never won any national championship rings, but he did become a highly respected political advisor in Georgia. He was the chief of staff for DeKalb County Commissioner Nancy Jester when he got arrested.

“I don’t just get arrested,” Breedlove said. “No, no, I get arrested and make the Atlanta news for five days.” 

Breedlove admitted to having a drug addiction when he got arrested. He said he went to an addiction treatment center and found recovery.

“Recovery saved my life when I realized that I could do the things I like to do but do it for a purpose, do it with a mission,” Breedlove said. He’s now the strategic policy advisor for the Georgia Council for Recovery and founder of the American Addiction Recovery Association. He invited Cochran to be president of the AARA shortly after they met.

Cochran accepted.

The AARA is a nonprofit organization aimed at getting rid of the stigma associated with drug addiction. They plan to carry out four different initiatives to fight the disease of addiction. 

• The Purple Project: Thanks to the Susan G. Koman foundation athletes around the country wear pink every October to spread awareness for breast cancer. The AARA wants to do the same thing for addiction by getting athletes and coaches to wear purple next September.
• The Narcan Project: The AARA wants to put Narcan in every government building in America. Georgia recently passed the state legislature on this, requiring Narcan next to an AED in every government building.
• The Business Project: Breedlove said he wants every business to carry Narcan and to treat drug addiction how they would treat another disease. He says people shouldn’t be fired for substance abuse or punished for taking time off to help a loved one who overdosed.
• The Road Trip Project: Cochran and Breedlove plan on going to the capitol of all 50 states to speak to elected officials and others to spread knowledge and awareness of drug addiction.

According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, over 130 Americans die per day from opioid related drug overdoses. Cochran and Breedlove have dedicated their lives to changing that. 

“My brothers and sisters are dying at a historic rate, and that is not acceptable,” Breedlove said. “So I will never quit, and I will not stop until my disease is no longer an epidemic.”

Christian Andrade is a senior majoring in journalism at the University of Georgia.