Chennis Berry’s intensity shone through Tuesday afternoon after he became just the fourth man in 50 years to be named South Carolina State head football coach.
“What a great, humbling day,” Berry said to begin his first address as the head Bulldog in Orangeburg. “I’m standing on the shoulders of giants – Willie Jefferies, Bill Davis, Buddy Pough – and the baton has been passed to me. It is time to run my race at South Carolina State.”
Berry spoke of running a program based on faith, discipline, and family as he took over for Buddy Pough, who retired after 22 years in charge.
“Discipline to me is real simple – just do right on the field and off the field. That’s what I’m all about,” he said. “If you want to be great at anything you do, it’s about sacrifice. Man doesn’t decide his future, he decides his habits and his habits decide his future.”
Chennis Berry as expected is winning the press conference. @SCStateAthletic @SCSTATE1896 @SCState_Fb @wis10 pic.twitter.com/kt5dkGBzmR
— Rick Henry (@RickHenry10) December 12, 2023
South Carolina State President Alexander Conyers was pleased with the choice he, Pough, and several others made in bringing in Berry, starting with a meeting with the football team.
“My job is to serve in the best interests of the students, so I had a meeting with 40 players in October,” Conyers said. “They said they wanted a coach to instill discipline in us and hold us accountable. And we’ve got the right guy.
“He continued to rise up the ladder and I can tell you he was the hottest property in this coaching business,” Pough said in opening the press conference. “If you win 22 games in two years, you’ll catch the eye of a lot of different folks. This was not an easy task, getting him here today.”
Berry, who led Benedict to the previous two SIAC championships and compiled a 27-7 record overall, spent more than 20 years as an assistant coach at various HBCUs (Morris Brown, Kentucky State, North Carolina A&T, Howard and Southern) before leading the Tigers to Division II prominence. Now, he is ready for the task of continuing a run of success at SCSU that has spanned generations.
“We want to focus on getting “As,” “Bs,” “Cs, and” and “Ds” – “As” and “Bs” in the classroom and “Cs” and “Ds” are championships and degrees,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to go for every day and make sure our young men fall in love with that process.”
