Legendary SC State football coach Buddy Pough announces retirement plans
One of the legendary coaches in South Carolina college football history is retiring after the 2023 season.
Longtime South Carolina State football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough will retire after coaching the Bulldogs for a 23rd and final year in 2023, the school said Thursday.
Pough, 70, is the all-time winningest coach in S.C. State history. Across 22 seasons, he’s elevated the Orangeburg-based HBCU to national prominence by winning eight outright or shared titles in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference; defeating Deion Sanders-led Jackson State in the 2021 Celebration Bowl on national TV; and producing NFL Pro Bowlers Shaquille Darius Leonard and Javon Hargrave.
Pough informed the team of his decision Thursday, the release said.
“I wanted to let you all know before the season got underway,” Pough told his team, per the school. “No one is running me off. It’s my decision. When you have done something for 47 years, it’s a bit tough to give it up but it’s time. I will be all right.”
“I’ve had a great ride here at SC State and I will continue to care about each one of you the rest of my days. Now, let’s go out and have a good season.”
Pough has coached S.C. State since 2002 and gone 146–87 overall, with a 112–42 record in MEAC play and three outright conference titles in 2008, 2009 and 2021 in one of the two major Black college football conferences along with the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).
The Bulldogs compete at the NCAA Division I FCS level, which is a step below the Division I FBS level and limits schools to 63 scholarship players as opposed to the 85 allowed at the FBS level where schools such as South Carolina and Clemson compete.
During Pough’s tenure, S.C. State has also won a share of five other conference titles (2004, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2019) and made four FCS playoff appearances (2008, 2009, 2010, 2013).
Pough’s 2009 team, which went 10-3 overall and 8-0 in the MEAC, was named the national champion of Black college football by a number of media outlets and finished No. 7 in the three major FCS polls.
S.C. State won a more formal Black college football national title in 2021, when the Bulldogs routed Jackson State in the Celebration Bowl, which has pitted the MEAC and SWAC champions against each other (in lieu of the FCS playoffs) since 2015.
Jackson State, then coached by NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, was the heavy favorite, but Pough’s team routed the Tigers 31-10 in front of nearly 50,000 fans in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on national television.
“We all know that tenures have to end at some point, but I’m a bit saddened by Coach Pough’s decision,” S.C. State athletic director Keisha Campbell said in a release. “Coach Pough has brought much success to the Bulldog football program and has played a major role in enhancing the SC State brand. We wish him much success in his final season and know that he will continue to be a loyal son to the university.”
Leaving a legacy
S.C. State president Alexander Conyers said in a release that Pough is “a living example to our students of what it means to be a loyal alumnus.” Pough was an all-conference offensive lineman at S.C. State in the 1970s and earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the school before returning as coach in 2002.
Pough succeeded Willie Jeffries, another HBCU coaching icon who spent 19 seasons at S.C. State across two tenures (1973-78, 1989-2001) and became the first Black man to be hired as a Division I head coach (Wichita State in 1979).
“For more than two decades, Coach Pough has instilled what we like to call ‘Bulldog Tenacity’ into his players and staff members, building their character for success on the field, in the classroom and in life,” Conyers said. “Coach Pough filled monster-size shoes when he took over as head coach, and his successor will have to do the same.”
Before joining S.C. State, Pough spent five years as an assistant coach for the South Carolina football team, including his last three as the running backs coach for Lou Holtz. The Gamecocks won back-to-back Outback Bowls and finished ranked in the final AP Top 25 in Pough’s last two seasons in 2000-01.
Pough has maintained a close relationship with South Carolina since leaving Columbia. The two schools are only 40 miles apart and have played three times since 2007 at Williams-Brice Stadium, most recently last year in a game moved up from Saturday to Thursday due to Hurricane Ian concerns (South Carolina won 50-10).
USC coach Shane Beamer and Clemson coach Dabo Swinney have both spoke glowingly of Pough’s impact on college football in the state, with Beamer calling him a “great man” and Swinney (whose Tigers have played S.C. State four times since 2013) describing him as “just one of the better people you’ll ever meet.”
Pough also coached at W.J. Keenan and Fairfield Central High Schools in South Carolina before entering the college ranks. His 1996 Fairfield Central team went 15-0 and won the 3A title in 1996, with Pough being named SCHSL Coach of the Year.
Seven S.C. State football players have been drafted into the NFL since Pough took over, most recently cornerback Cobie Durant to the Los Angeles Rams in 2022. Leonard, an Indianapolis Colts linebacker, and Hargrave, a San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle, are both prominent NFL starters and among the highest paid players at their position after arriving in Orangeburg as zero-star recruits.
Last year, in what Pough described as a “big-time wake-up call for us,” S.C. State went 3-8 and 1-4 in MEAC play after winning it all in 2021. The Bulldogs — picked to finish third among six teams in the preseason MEAC poll — open the 2023 season against Jackson State this Saturday in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge.
The game will be played at Atlanta’s Center Parc Stadium (home to Georgia State football) and will be nationally televised on ABC at 7:30 p.m. S.C. State will also play two Division I FBS teams, Charlotte and Georgia Tech, on the road.
Pough’s last home game at S.C. State will be played Nov. 11 versus Morgan State at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium. His last regular-season game will be on the road Nov. 18 at Norfolk State.
This story was originally published August 24, 2023 at 1:14 PM.
