The sidelines at the HBCU Legacy Bowl will be loaded with championship pedigree — and the coaching matchups are just as compelling as the talent on the field.
This year’s staff setup splits into two squads with real conference flavor: Team Gaither (MEAC & CIAA) and Team Robinson (SWAC & SIAC).
HBCU rivals collide
Team Gaither is led by Chennis Berry (South Carolina State) and Maurice Flowers (Johnson C. Smith). Both coaches who know how to finish seasons with trophies. Berry has built a résumé that screams winner. He has stacked championships across multiple levels and brought South Carolina State back to the top of the MEAC with consecutive titles. He’s also no stranger to the sport’s biggest stages. Berry and Prairie View coach Tremaine Jackson were the headliners at the Celebration Bowl where the MEAC and SWAC champions went four overtimes deep before SC State outlasted PVAMU, 40-38 — an instant classic that still gets brought up any time folks talk about modern HBCU drama.
Flowers arrives with a program-defining year behind him. He led Johnson C. Smith to a 10-2 record and delivered the Golden Bulls’ first CIAA championship since 1969, turning a strong season into a historic one.
On Team Robinson, the momentum is just as real. Tremaine Jackson (Prairie View A&M) engineered an immediate payoff in his first season, guiding PVAMU to a 10-4 campaign and the program’s first SWAC title since 2009. And Quinn Gray Sr. capped his Albany State run by winning the SIAC championship and going 12-2 in 2025, before stepping up to take the head coaching job at Florida A&M.
Four coaches. Four conferences. A whole lot of hardware — and a Legacy Bowl sideline that’s going to feel like an all-star summit for HBCU leadership.