South Carolina State officially announced Chennis Berry as their new head football coach with an introductory press conference. 

“This is an amazing day. It just brings me joy, I'm humbled just to be here today,” he said.

Berry is taking over for legendary former coach Buddy Pough, who retired at the end of the season. Pough headed the Bulldogs for 21 years and is the All-Time Winningest Coach in school history.

Pough and South Carolina State took time in the search for their new head coach. They ultimately landed on Berry, who was the head coach at Benedict College. Since taking over the Tigers in 2020, Berry led the program to a 27-7 record with 2 consecutive SIAC Championships after two back-to-back undefeated seasons. They just finished their 2023 campaign with an 11-1 record.

“To my players, I have to thank them,” Berry said about his former team. “They are the reason why I stand here today. What a great ride we had with two SIAC Championships back to back, Division Two HBCU National Champions. What a great group of guys who really bought into the process on and off the field.”

Berry opened up the conference by thanking everyone who helped him on his journey, including Benedict president Roslyn Clark Artis and South Carolina State president Alexander Conyers. The majority of Berry's gratitude, however, went towards Pough.

“Of course, I have to thank Coach Pough,” he said. “I've been following coach Pough for a long time. This is year 30 coming up for me in this profession and I've been following coach Pough and following his whole entire trajectory as he went through the profession. What a great career. If my career could be anywhere close to what his career was, I think that I'll be headed in the right direction.”

Berry listed his coaching philosophy during the conference, a philosophy that he believes led to Benedict's success in his tenure.

“We want to focus on getting A's, B's, C's, and D's,” he said. “A's and B's in the classroom, and C's and D's are championships and degrees. That's what we're going to go for every day and make sure our young men fall in love with that process.”

Berry will certainly have his work cut out for him at South Carolina State. The Bulldogs finished third in the MEAC with a 5-6 record in Buddy Pough's last season. They sat behind the 9-3 North Carolina Central Eagles and the MEAC Champion Howard Bison.