Buddy Pough is managing his emotions well as the retiring South Carolina State football coach is receiving honors and tributes befitting of his stature.
He now has another job title to manage, also.
Winding down his last season on the job, Pough added another hat to wear last week as he was named interim athletic director after previous interim Keshia Campbell stepped down. The South Carolina State football team defeated Howard 27-24 in Pough’s last homecoming game.
The head Bulldog in charge stated that his main focus remains his football team, who, at 4-5 and 2-1 in MEAC play, are tied for second place with the Bison and Morgan State, this week’s opponent for his final home game.
“You’ve got to focus in on the task at hand,” Pough explained during Monday’s MEAC coaches’ conference. “Football is the most important thing that I do. I kinda leave the administrative stuff to our administrative staff here. They handle most of that stuff, then come to me from time to time to ask questions. I mostly stay on the football side.”
Pough also stated that he is not the long-term athletic director, hinting that the university could hire a new AD before a football coach.
He also expressed two important points that would guide the process of finding his replacement.
“[Having young talent] helps recruit a guy,” Pough said of a potential successor. “Nobody wants to come to a job where you’re gonna start from scratch. We’ve got the pieces in place that will give a guy the chance to continue a successful program.”
Pough said all of his offensive linemen and his top four running backs – freshmen Jawarn Howell, Josh Shaw and both Tyler Smiths – return in 2024. That leads to the second point of the new hire search – longevity.
“You want to hire a guy that’s not going to be gone in two years,” he said. “We’ve had two coaches in the last 30-plus years here, so we want a guy who’s going to be here a long time.”
