Orangeburg, SC (WLTX) – South Carolina State announced Tuesday (Jan 9) that longtime football coach Buddy Pough will remain as head coach.
Athletics Director Stacy Danley said he was impressed with how the Bulldogs finished the season under Pough’s guidance.
“To finish the season the way he finished it, with a very young team, that was impressive to me,” Danley said. “I took very good notes. After we sat down at the end of the year and I heard his plan and his thoughts, I looked at our reality, and I knew at that time this was the man for the job.”
The Bulldogs finished the 2018 season with a 5-6 record, but won four of their last five games.
With the basic decision made, Coach Pough and SC State will enter contract negotiations. So we don’t know how much longer Buddy Ball will be in Orangeburg, but the uncertainty surrounding his status has now been cleared.
“It’s always a relief to know exactly what the next chapter of your life is going to be,” Pough said. “This is a situation here that’s still fluid of sorts. We’ve got some work to do to make sure we get all the pieces in place, but we think we’re close.”
Pough is four wins away from becoming the all-time winningest coach in SC State football history and he’ll have the chance to achieve that later this year. Willie Jeffries currently holds the record.
