The University of Southern Miss announced that Charles Huff Jr. will be the school’s 23rd football head coach on Sunday afternoon. The announcement comes after a seven-week search for a head coach after the school decided to fire Will Hall after a 44-28 loss to Arkansas State on homecoming.
“As we started this search, we were focused on finding a dynamic leader who could get our program back to competing for championships,” Southern Miss athletic director Jeremy McClain said, “Charles Huff has proven that he is a winner who can build a championship culture within the Sun Belt. We look forward to supporting him in our journey To The Top!
Huff is coming to Southern Miss after being the head coach at Marshall, where he led the Thundering Herd to a 10-3 2024 season with a division title and a statement victory over Louisiana in the Sun Belt Championship Game to deliver the school’s first conference championship since 2015
“My family and I could not be any happier to begin our journey in Hattiesburg as we look to continue the rich and storied history of Southern Miss football,” Huff said.“Our goal will be to build a program that can compete at the highest level and have our fan base enjoy the ability to return to bowl games on a consistent basis. I have to thank Southern Miss President Dr. Joe Paul, along with Athletics Director Jeremy McClain, in showing their faith in me and this staff with this tremendous opportunity and I can’t wait to hit the ground running in making this program something that we can all be proud.”
Word of Huff’s departure came to light last week, becoming so public that Huff had to address the rumors publicly. He didn’t deny anything, but did clarify that he hadn’t taken any jobs and was focused on the SBC championship game.
However, Marshall and Huff had been in a public standoff over the past several weeks. Marshall has not and apparently wasn’t going to extend Huff’s contract which ends in January of 2025. The decision to leave Marshall is perplexing, but perfectly reasonable with the uncertainty in Huff’s job security with the Thundering Herd.
Huff was hired at Marshall in 2021, replacing previous coach Doc Holiday. He has since led the Thundering Herd to a 32-20 record, including bowl appearances in all three seasons.
This is an absolute slam dunk hire for Jeremy McClain and Southern Miss. To bring a conference champion winner in the same conference to a 1-11 team is stunning to say the least.
Southern Miss has followed up the worst season in program history by hiring the current Sun Belt champion after he won 10 games at Marshall.
That’s an absolutely unprecedented move in modern college football.
This is a real sign of an improving financial state that the University is in right now.
Huff’s annual salary at Marshall was $755,500 over four years, accumulating to 3.02 million during his time there.
Huff was born in Denton, Maryland, and played football at Hampton University, joining the football team as a walk-on fullback in 2001-2005.
His coaching career started in 2006 when he accepted a job as the offensive line coach in 2006 at Tennessee State. He worked under Fred Kaiss, who he played for at Hampton. In 2007, Huff was named the tight ends coach and added football duties. In 2009, Huff accepted a job as the assistant offensive line coach at the University of Maryland. In 2010, Huff returned to Hampton as the offensive line coach before accepting a quality and control position at the University of Vanderbilt under first-year head coach James Franklin.
In 2012, Huff was offered and accepted a job with the Buffalo Bills as the assistant running backs coach under coach Chan Gailey before heading to Western Michigan in 2013 to be the running backs coach for first-year head coach P.J. Fleck.
He finally settled for a couple of years at Penn State, where he was hired as the running backs coach under Franklin. During his four years with the Nittany Lions, he played a crucial role in developing and coaching NFL star Saquon Barkley. Barkley was named a consensus All-American, two-time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, and left as one of the program's top running backs of all time. Barkley is now a breakout star in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles.
2018 was Huff’s first experience down South when he followed Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Morehead and accepted a job at Mississippi State as the assistant head coach and running back coach.
Then, in 2019, Huff received a call from Nick Saban, who offered him to be the running back coach at the University of Alabama, where Huff stayed from 2019-20, winning the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship with the Crimson Tide.
Huff then in 2021, accepted the head coaching position at the University of Marshall, where he abides today.
Huff will likely bring a significant amount of players and coaches with him from Marshall’s run. With the roster turnover that’s expected at Southern Miss, this will be a breath of fresh air for the program heading into a pivotal 2025 season.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated with more information
