Following Chennis Berry's departure to lead South Carolina State, Benedict College has hired Ron Dickerson Jr. to lead the football program. Dickerson was announced in a press conference held in the Swinton Campus Center on Thursday morning.

Dickerson joins Benedict after two seasons with the University of West Florida, serving as Offensive Coordinator for the team. In his tenure Argonauts to back-to-back Gulf South Conference championships and made the NCAA Division II national semifinals in 2022.

His offense ranked 17th in passing offense and 20th in the nation in total offense. He served as wide receivers coach in 2022, with the receiving core ranking fifth in the nation fifth in the nation in passing yards per completion.

Dickerson also has HBCU experience. He started his career working for his father Ron Dickerson at Alabama State, where the youngest Dickerson served as Run Game Coordinator. He then had stops at Morgan State and Jackson State in subsequent years.

Dickerson spoke about the position and expressed gratefulness for the opportunity.

“I have an incredible respect for Benedict College and its commitment to excellence. The tradition-rich history of this program is unmatched across the landscape of HBCUs, and I look forward to continuing that moving forward. My family and I feel truly blessed and look forward to becoming a part of the Benedict community. I want to thank Director of Athletics Willie Washington and President Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis for their belief in me to lead this program,” he said in a statement.

In comments to the media, he laid out his vision for the program. He doesn't see Benedict as just a contender in the SIAC, but a national power that could win an NCAA Division II National Title. He spoke about Chennis Berry's tenure with the program but also presented his vision for where he wanted Benedict to go.

“ He [Berry] laid a great foundation. You know, that's our plan to continue the success here to build a great program. The wins will come, the graduations will be there and we're chasing the NCAA National Championship. That's what we're chasing. We're chasing not to be just sitting as the number one seed, but to win as the number one seed. And if we have to be the third seat, it doesn't matter. As long as we're there, we will find a way to win.”

During the press conference, he also spoke about how he has coaches with NFL experience as well as Power 5 players ready to come play for him at Benedict.

“But where we are in the time right now, in two weeks is National Signing Day. I'm not worried about that. We're bringing a great coach. I got kids. I got coaches calling coach. Congratulations, coach. We want to come to Benedict. I got people that were in the NFL that want to come to Benedict. I got players that want to come from Power Fives to Benedict. So again, if they don't want to do right, they don't care about Benedict. They don't care about these young men. They don't. Because I've seen on the video, when it was cold, Coach Smith had them out there running. And he said, guys, it's a process and it's a standard, but we got to keep it going. “