On Wednesday, two members of Kirby Smart’s coaching staff resigned. According to a report from UGASports.com, Scott Cochran, who had been with the team as a special teams coach since 2020, and Darrell Dickey, an offensive assistant for one season, both left to pursue other opportunities.
Kirby Smart expressed gratitude towards Cochran and Dickey, thanking them for their contributions to Georgia football and wishing them well in their future endeavors.
To fill the void left by Cochran, Smart appointed Kirk Benedict as the new special teams coordinator, promoting him from his previous role as a special teams analyst. Cochran’s tenure in Athens saw him transition from special teams coordinator to an on-field coaching role, though he was replaced in the coordinator position by Will Muschamp in August 2021. Despite this, Cochran remained in an on-field capacity for the past two seasons.
In other sports news, the Georgia softball team, ranked fourth nationally, secured a hard-fought 7-6 victory over unranked Wisconsin in a 10-inning thriller in Clearwater, Florida. Junior Dallis Goodnight sealed the win with a walk-off single that brought in freshman Hannah Davila, maintaining the Bulldogs’ undefeated streak.
Notable performances included fifth-year senior Sydney Kuma’s impressive three-hit game, which featured her third home run of the season. Kuma has been on fire, boasting a .750 batting average, a 2.175 OPS, three homers, and three RBI over the first six games of the season.
Georgia’s next challenges come in the Clearwater Invitational, with games against No. 6 Oklahoma State and No. 19 UCLA scheduled for Friday, followed by matchups against No. 7 Florida State and Minnesota on Saturday.
In additional collegiate sports news, Iowa senior Caitlin Clark made history by breaking Kelsey Plum’s all-time NCAA scoring record of 3,527 points on Thursday night. Clark achieved this feat with a remarkable three-point shot after starting the game with her team’s first eight points.