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Multiple reports are coming out that Benedict College head coach Chennis Berry will succeed Buddy Pough as head coach of South Carolina State. Steven J. Gaither of HBCU Gameday reported on Monday that South Carolina State offered Berry a contract and zeroed in on him as the sole candidate for the position. Pough in an interview with HBCU Nightly on Wednesday hinted that the next coach would be coming in a matter of days and that it would be a coach that has the possibility to stick around with the program for years.
South Carolina State is set to hire Chennis Berry as its new head coach, a source tells @247sports.
Berry has led Benedict to a 22-2 record the last two years and has been named Region 2 Coach of the Year back-to-back years
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 7, 2023
Exclusive: Chennis Berry and SC State have a deal in principle, according to multiple sources. Deal pending BOT approval.https://t.co/DbZkqLHlCG
— HBCU Gameday (@HBCUGameday) December 7, 2023
“I'm going to pick the guy. I'm picking the guy here. I'm actually the guy who is responsible…So he gonna come in here in another few days here and we're gonna have us a guy and he is going to be somebody that I can tell you that our guys are loved and will do a good job with. The next guy will be a person who will be here for some time I think. Nobody can see into to the future and tell you what exactly is going to transpire through the daily routine of life…but. at the same time, I think we'll be in good hands going forward. I think at that point it won't be long before it'll be another ten years before y'all say, ‘Dang boy. They got another guy for ten years,'” Pough said in the HBCU Nightly interview.
Berry perfectly fit what Pough was discussing. He is a younger coach who has multiple years of assistant coach and coordinator experience in the MEAC, SWAC, and SIAC. He understood the assignment of turning around Benedict College, taking them from 1-9 in 2019 to successive undefeated seasons where the won back-to-back SIAC Championships. They also clinched births in the NCAA Division II Playoffs as the top-ranked team in Super Region II.
Chennis Berry's reported hiring at South Carolina State raises the stakes in HBCU football. He takes over a storied Bulldog program that went 5-6 in Pough's final season with multiple key contributors entering the transfer portal such as star runningback Jarwan Howell. Only time will tell if the imminent hire of coach Chennis Berry will lead players who entered the transfer portal to come back to the Bulldogs.
Benedict, meanwhile, will look to continue the success that they've accumulated these past two seasons. Programs such as Edward Waters and Clark Atlanta under the direction of former Allen University coach Teddy Keaton and perennial conference powers such as Fort Valley State, Tuskegee, Albany State, and Miles College will vie for the top spot in the conference.
