Charles Huff’s stay in Hattiesburg was fast, furious, full of winning, and short-lived.
Sources told SuperTalk Mississippi News earlier in the week that Huff was a finalist to become the next head coach at Memphis after one season at Southern Miss. On Saturday morning, it was confirmed that a verbal agreement had been reached and that a five-year contract is expected to be finalized by the end of the day.
Huff quickly turned a Southern Miss team that went 1-11 in 2024 into a 7-5 squad that earned its first bowl berth in three seasons. The +6 win improvement was tied with Kennesaw State for the best in the FBS this season.
He succeeds Ryan Silverfield, who went 50-24 across six seasons with the Tigers before being hired by Arkansas last Sunday.
During his lone season as the head coach at Southern Miss, Huff used a revamped roster that included 80 new players to achieve the program’s best regular-season record since it went 7-5 in 2019. The Golden Eagles had a chance in the final week to secure a program-first Sun Belt West title but fell short to Troy, 28-18.
According to ESPN projections, Southern Miss could land in the New Orleans Bowl or Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl when postseason matchups are announced on Sunday. It’s unclear if Huff will coach the team during the bowl game.
Other coaching stops for Huff include being the front man at Marshall (2021-24), where he won a Sun Belt championship in his final season, and an assistant at Alabama (2019-20), Mississippi State (2018), Penn State (2014-17), Western Michigan (2013), and the NFL’s Buffalo Bills (2012), among other places.