Imagine the life of South Carolina State head football coach Buddy Pough. Fresh off of a conference championship and a notable appearance in the NCAA Division I-AA football playoffs, his Bulldogs are the talk of black college football. They will play in what should be regarded as the black college football national championship in a few months, and are expected to compete for another MEAC football title.
And he does it all with the toughest gig in black college football today.
Now, there are higher profile jobs in black college football, but they come with their own distinct benefits. You don’t get more high profile than Grambling and Southern, but you know going in that achieving one of two objectives will keep you safe from year to year; competing for a Western division title, and winning the Bayou Classic.
In the MEAC, Florida A&M and Hampton get plenty of attention, but much of that is relative to the growing legend of Joe Taylor and his immediate successes at both institutions; not to mention the ardent way that Rattlers hold fast to the success of the Jake Gaither era and the 79′ NCAA Championship.
North Carolina A&T has a recent history of good times, but when they are bad, they are REALLY bad. It makes them a little more tolerant of when to hold and when to fold on a coach.
So that leaves Buddy in the middle; geographically and poetically. Pough has infused success into the Bulldog football program, never winning fewer than seven games since his arrival in 2002, and consistently hovering near the top for the conference title.
In a state that can soothe its football fix with the SEC and ACC, Pough has always woven top recruiting classes together by MEAC standards, and has captured some national attention along the way. Even as he’s watched some of the Palmetto State’s finest depart in every direction but Orangeburg, he’s never made excuses and continued plugging away.
With all of his successes, Pough has remained on the fringe of anonymity in the black college ranks. His coaching counterparts in the MEAC have made everything from national headlines to fashion statements. Pough makes his teams into perennial winners. Quiet winners.
But just how long can he afford to be quiet? With every win, with every headline, and with every expectation, Pough’s profile gets a big bounce. And the more eyes that are drawn to him, the larger his stock continues to grow, the more he will be expected to dominate his field of competition.
The last thing any coach wants is to fail, but you can argue that a coach doesn’t want to make his job so attractive and so respected, that he can get himself fired from it. Buddy Pough can’t win fewer than seven games without the whispers starting. He can’t afford for a less-than-sterling recruiting class to come in. And pretty soon, he won’t be able to afford finishing second or third best in the MEAC.
And then, he’ll be in no man’s land; a victim of his own genius and ability to execute.
That’s not what anybody wants for Buddy Pough, but it’s very likely that we’ll all begin to expect it. Very soon.
