NEWBERRY, S.C. — Phil Strickland had planned on retiring in 2020 but with COVID-19 being a constant threat for all of sports, Strickland knew that is not how he wanted his coaching career to end.
So, he decided to push the farewell tour back one season. Strickland will step down after the 2021 season and that will close the book on one of the best coaches in the history of Palmetto State football.
Strickland has been a head coach for 34 seasons. He won two state championships at Batesburg-Leesville and three more at Gaffney. In 2010, he took over the program at Newberry where he has led the Bulldogs to three appearances in the state finals.
A former coach at Ridge Spring-Monetta and Brookland-Cayce in addition to his other stops, Strickland won his 300th game in 2016, just the sixth coach in the state to reach that mark and the following year he was inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He has had three other Hall of Fame inductions.