Memphis Football to Hire Charles Huff as Head Coach
Memphis is set to hire Southern Miss coach Charles Huff to lead its football program, per On3’s Pete Nakos, Brett McMurphy, and Chris Low.
He replaces Ryan Silverfield, who took the head coaching position at Arkansas. Silverfield was head coach at Memphis from 2020 to 2025.
Huff’s salary at Southern Miss is $950,000 and his buyout is approximately $2.9 million.
Huff was the associate head coach and running backs coach at Alabama under Nick Saban from 2019 to 2020. Najee Harris won the Doak Walker Award in 2020, the award given to the nation’s top running back, with Huff as his position coach.
From 2021 to 2024, Huff was the head coach at Marshall. The Thundering Herd upset No. 8 Notre Dame in South Bend in 2022. In 2024, Huff led Marshall to a 10-3 record and a Sun Belt title. It was the program’s first conference championship in 10 years and its first Sun Belt championship.
Huff was 32-20 in four seasons at Marshall. He went 7-5 in his first season in Hattiesburg after the Golden Eagles went a combined 4-20 the previous two seasons under Will Hall and interim coach Reed Stringer.
Southern Miss increased its win total by five in 2025, going from 1-11 to 7-5 in one season under Huff.
The Golden Eagles have the No. 1 passing offense in the Sun Belt this season (266.8 passing yards per game). Huff’s squad also ranks top five in scoring (fifth, 29.8 points per game) and total offense (403.8 yards per game).
Quarterback Braylon Braxton has played for Huff at Marshall in 2024 and Southern Miss in 2025. Over the past two seasons, Braxton has a 41-9 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
Huff coached NFL running back Rasheen Ali from 2021 to 2023. Ali rushed for 1,401 yards and 23 touchdowns and was selected in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens.
When Ali battled injuries in 2022, Khalan Laborn stepped in and ran for 1,513 yards and 16 touchdowns. Marshall finished second in the Sun Belt in rushing that season (205.9 rushing yards per game).
