Buddy Pough admits he has had a great run in the coaching profession.
A former high school coach at W.J. Keenan High School, Pough went to Fairfield Central where he won a state championship in 1996.
He was hired by Brad Scott the following season to be the running backs coach at South Carolina and was retained by Lou Holtz.
In 2001, he was named the head coach at S.C State and 19 seasons later, he has become the all-time winningest coach at his alma mater. Pough says he was humbled to reach that milestone because he takes over the top spot from his former coach at S.C. State, the legendary Willie Jeffries.
But Pough's journey to history began in the tiny town of North which is in Orangeburg County. Pough grew up on a farm and the self-described jolly and jovial person was always interested in sports more so than chores.
"I've always had so much fun with life, with the things that go on during the daytime, that I was always excited and looking forward to whatever I got a chance to do during the day," Pough said.
"My dad used to say when I was a little boy 'All you want is a ball, boy'. And we lived on a farm. We had cows and pigs and we fed hogs. We had all kinds of stuff to do. I didn't want to do any of that. I wanted to find a ball. I've had a chance to do that my entire life pretty much. I mean, who could have a better situation than what I've had?"
Pough is in his 19th season as the head coach at S.C. State. With that record attained Pough and his staff will be working just as hard for his 130th career win. The next chance for that is Saturday at Bethune-Cookman.