Memphis will hire Southern Miss’ coach Charles Huff as its next head football coach, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told The Commercial Appeal on Dec. 6.
The source requested anonymity because no announcement has been made.
The 42-year-old Huff will replace Ryan Silverfield, who left for the same job at Arkansas.
Huff will be coaching his third team in as many years. He was at Marshall from 2021-24, but left there after leading the Thundering Herd to a Sun Belt title in 2024. After his contract expired, he joined Southern Miss ahead of the 2025 season and is 7-5 this year.
He’s a former NFL assistant who has developed a reputation as an elite recruiter. He also had an extensive run as a running backs coach at Alabama, Penn State, Mississippi State and others. Among the running backs he’s coached in college are Saquon Barkley and Najee Harris.
Southern Miss went 1-11 in 2024, but Huff immediately turned things around during his one year in Hattiesburg. The Golden Eagles went 7-5 and were in the mix for the Sun Belt title game until the final week of the regular season.
Huff has ties to Tennessee, too. He started his coaching career as an assistant at Tennessee State and later served as an assistant at Vanderbilt.
Huff’s buyout is interesting given the timing of the decision. His buyout his $1 million if it’s triggered before Dec. 9, but that number drops to $750,000 if it’s triggered after that date, according to the term sheet he signed with Southern Miss. Memphis has money coming in because Arkansas has to pay $1.5 million for Silverfield’s buyout.
His ability to orchestrate quick turnarounds will be a major selling point at Memphis, which is coming off an 8-4 season and a six-year run under Silverfield that included double-digit win seasons in 2023 and 2024 but zero appearances in the American Conference title game.
Tulane, USF and North Texas will also have new coaches in 2026, so the conference title race will be wide open.
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
