For the first time in months, it was a quiet Monday around the South Carolina State coaching offices.

Just two days removed from seeing the 2008 season end with a 37-21 playoff loss at defending three-time Football Championship Subdivision champion Appalachian State, some coaches were trying to keep themselves busy with desk work. Others were already formulating gameplans and strategies to implement for next season.

As for Oliver “Buddy” Pough, Monday was a time of reflection in trying to come to terms with the completion of his most successful season as Bulldog head football coach.

“You’re done, but you really don’t want to be done,” he said. “You now get to do things new that you don’t have a chance to do ... your academic stuff, your administrative kind of things that you’ve got to make sure that are in place so that you can get kids straight for next semester. So that’s the kind of stuff we’re dealing with now.”

A top priority for Pough is hitting the recruiting trail as the Bulldogs look to replace 19 seniors who went 33-13 during their four years. Perhaps the biggest vacancy to fill is All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference center Raymond “Duck” Harrison, who started 32 consecutive games and was an on-field coach and leader.

“Raymond is such a big part of what we’ve done offensiviely that it’s important that we hurry up and get somebody in here that can do what he does because of the fact that’s kind of the foundation of our offensive line.”

Pough hinted at possibly delving into the junior college ranks who possesses the similar attributes of Harrison, although backup Casey Fortune is capable of playing the position.

Another area Pough hopes to address in the off-season is shoring up a secondary which gave up 413 passing yards this past Saturday. He cautioned, however, it was not just his team’s inability to slow down quarterback Armanti Edwards that was the problem.

“We had a little bit harder time matching up with them - our defense against their offense,” Pough said. “They did some pretty ‘unusual’ things to make themselves more effective. One thing they did which I thought was a little bit of a rule-buster was we couldn’t figure out their personnel for the whole first half of the game. A big reason for that was because they continuously grouped their guys on the sidelines and substituted at the last minute.

“We fought the fact that it was legal the whole time, but they got away with it for a half. And then at the half, we finally got them convinced that it was illegal and they stopped doing it.”

Nevertheless, Pough said look for defensive coordinator Mike Adams and defensive backs coach Maurice Drayton to stress more aggressive man to man coverage from the defensive backs during spring practice.

Looking ahead to next season, the Bulldogs are scheduled to open on the road Sept. 5 at Benedict College. It’s the first of two trips to the Capitol City for S.C. State, as it’s set to face the University of South Carolina on Oct. 3.

Despite the season-ending loss, Pough still takes comfort in how the Bulldogs performed on the national stage.

“I now know that we belong,” he said. “I think right now we’ve got to have more confidence in the fact that we actually may be a favorable matchup as opposed to being a new guy on the block, not think we can play with the great Appalachian. The great teams of that sort. I know that if we play at our best level, then we’ve got a catch to match up with them.”

T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.

 

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