Buddy Pough’s SC State career has been special. Will 2018 season be his last?
The “Will he?” or “Won’t he?” will be decided later. For now, South Carolina State football coach Buddy Pough is preparing his squad for the 2018 season as he normally would.
Pough is entering his 17th season as head coach of the Bulldogs and has been a part of the program as a player, assistant coach or head coach for more than 40 years. Pough, 65, is in the final year of his contract, but there might to be an option to extend it again if Pough and the university can agree.
Is this his last season at the helm in Orangeburg? Probably, he says.
“But I have a chance to continue coaching,” said Pough, who signed a one-year extension in December. “At the end of the year, I’m going to get together with the university and decide exactly how we want to proceed. My contract is going to expire, but we do have the option of adding more time to it. Neither the university or I have decided which one we’re going to do.”
If this is indeed the farewell for Pough, it will end a highly successful career. In 16 seasons at S.C. State, he has a 120-64 record that includes a 94-33 mark in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The Bulldogs have won two MEAC titles outright (2008 and 2009) and shared it four other times (2004, 2010, 2013 and 2014) in his tenure.
Pough is nine wins away from becoming the all-time winningest coach in school history. Former coach Willie Jeffries holds the record with 128 wins.
“It’s been a lot of fun. I have no complaints. However it goes, this state has been so good to me, I could never complain. I just want to do the very best job I can and put South Carolina State in the best position that I can. They deserve that. I want to do whatever I can to set the tone.”
The Bulldogs are coming off their worst season under Pough — 3-7 overall and 2-6 in the MEAC — and were picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll. It’s about what Pough expected, but since practice has started he’s gotten a greater appreciation for what this team might be able to accomplish.
S.C. State redshirted almost the entire freshman class last season and has seen an influx of true freshmen who Pough thinks can help this season.
“People are kind of putting us in that category with Tiger Woods and don’t think we’re coming back,” Pough said. “We’re young. We have a lot of new faces running around in both the coaching ranks and the playing ranks. To be perfectly honest with you, I had us sixth on our ballot. But now that we’ve started practice, and if we can continue to improve a little bit each day, I think we have some real talent. We have a chance to be better than some think.”
Pough won a state championship as head coach at Fairfield Central in 1996. He joined coach Brad Scott’s staff at South Carolina the following year and stayed in Columbia until moving to the Bulldogs before the 2002 season.
S.C. State has added a younger presence on the coaching staff. Bennett Swygert is the new offensive coordinator while Na’Shan Goddard is the new offensive line coach. Jonathan Saxon was on the staff last season and he’s been promoted to defensive coordinator. Corey Jenkins also joined the staff as tight ends and fullback coach.
Swygert and Goddard both came from Newberry College. Both played at South Carolina, with Swygert ending his playing career by transferring to Western Carolina. Jenkins also played with the Gamecocks.
“When you get a chance to move up, you get a more grassroots approach,” Pough said. “These guys appreciate being here. It’s like when I came from high school to college. I was all excited to do whatever we could to be successful. That’s pretty much the same way with these new guys.”
S.C. State 2018 football schedule
Sept. 1: at Georgia Southern, 6 p.m.
Sept. 8: at Central Florida, 6 p.m.
Sept. 15: vs. N.C. Central, 6 p.m.
Sept. 22: vs. Norfolk State, 6 p.m.
Sept. 29: at N.C. A&T State, 7 p.m.
Oct. 6: at Morgan State, 1 p.m.
Oct. 13: vs. Bethune-Cookman, 2 p.m.
Oct. 20: vs. Delaware State, 1:30 p.m.
Oct. 27: at Howard, TBA
Nov. 10: at Florida A&M, 4 p.m.
Nov. 17: vs. Savannah State, 1:30 p.m.
This story was originally published August 24, 2018 at 9:29 AM.