The dust has settled ad Chennis Berry has officially been named the head coach of the South Carolina State Bulldogs, officially succeeding legendary head coach Buddy Pough.

Berry's name was being circulated heavily as a replacement for Pough as early as August when the tenured 22-year coaching legend announced his retirement prior to the MEAC/SWAC Challenge. Steven J. Gaither of HBCU Gameday reported on Monday that he was offered the position as early as last week and reports came out Thursday that the hire was a done deal.

Berry spoke at the Faculty and Staff Christmas Party at Benedict College and explained to the Tiger community why he decided to take the position at South Carolina State, per a video of the comments posted to Facebook by Assistant Vice President of Communications and Marketing Kymm Hunter.

“I had a conversation with Dr. Artis a couple of nights ago before I made the decision to, go to South Carolina State. And, It's way harder than you may think it may be,” Berry said at the event. “It's not about leaving for different situations. It's more about, you know, opportunity. We always talk about increasing and enlarging our territory…And everybody knows I'm a praying man. And as I prayed through the whole situation, I just felt that it was time for me to Take the next step to the next situation.”

Berry showed gratitude to Benedict for the opportunity, saying, “So I'm grateful for the opportunity, but I'm grateful more so than the people here. Like, for me, it's about the people. And the people here have been amazing to myself, my family, and my program. And it's not ‘goodbye'. It's just ‘see you later'.”

Berry joined Benedict College as the head football coach after seven seasons at Southern University as the Offensive Coordinator, Offensive Line Coach, and Assistant Coach. When Berry took over the program, the team had gone 1-9. His first season, he led the Tigers to a 5-5 in his first season and upset the reigning SIAC Champions Miles Collge. The next two seasons is when he led his Benedict Tigers to history.

Berry led the team to two successive undefeated seasons in conference and two SIAC Championships. Benedict also made the NCAA Division II Playoffs twice as the top-ranked team in NCAA Super Region II, although they loss to Wingate in 2022 and Lenoir-Rhyne in 2023 after receiving an opening-round bye.

An introductory press conference is expected to come soon for Berry at South Carolina State.