First-year head coach Charles Huff is leaving Southern Miss to become the head football coach at Memphis, a source confirmed to the Pine Belt News.
Huff is expected to receive a five-year contract, according to sources.
The move ends a transformational one-year run in Hattiesburg, where Huff engineered one of the most dramatic single-season turnarounds in college football. After inheriting a 1–11 team in 2024, Huff led the Golden Eagles to a 7–5 campaign in 2025, which included the program’s first bowl appearance since 2022.
Southern Miss Director of Athletics Jeremy McClain is expected to release a formal statement at a later date. As of publication time, the university had not publicly acknowledged Huff’s departure.
An incredible rise — and a sudden exit
Huff’s exit comes just one year after Southern Miss stunned the Sun Belt by hiring him on Dec. 8, 2024. Huff previously served as head coach at Marshall, where he guided the Thundering Herd to the 2024 Sun Belt Championship.
Southern Miss signed Huff to a four-year contract worth $950,000 annually, with an automatic one-year rollover that would have extended the deal through 2029. The agreement included one of the most favorable buyout structures in recent program history, requiring Huff to pay $1 million if he left on or before Dec. 8, 2025. Half of that amount was due within 30 days, with the remaining half owed a year later.
If he departed after Dec. 8, 2025, the buyout would have dropped to $750,000. The buyout applies only if Huff accepts another football coaching job, which he will do by moving to Memphis.
Huff also triggered multiple incentives during the 2025 season, including bonuses for seven or more wins and a bowl berth, increasing his total compensation.
Why schools came after Huff
Huff’s value on the coaching market was driven by more than Southern Miss’ win-loss record. His roots on the Nick Saban coaching tree — including time as Alabama’s running backs coach and as one of the program’s top recruiters — made him an immediate national name once the Golden Eagles began winning.
But the turnaround itself was impossible for athletic directors to ignore. Players and staff consistently pointed to the accountability, discipline and structure Huff installed from Day 1 — elements of the Saban blueprint he carried through stops at Alabama, Penn State and Marshall.
What set Huff apart even further was how he rebuilt Southern Miss through the transfer portal. While he brought a small number of players from Marshall, the majority of the Golden Eagles’ key contributors came from portal additions he evaluated and secured. That ability to flip a roster rapidly is the model many athletic directors now prioritize in modern college football.
Paired with his Saban pedigree, it made Huff a highly coveted candidate.
The logic at Memphis is straightforward: If Huff could transform Southern Miss in one season, he could sustain — and possibly elevate — the success Memphis has enjoyed in recent years.
For Southern Miss fans, a familiar story
For many Southern Miss fans, Huff’s departure follows a familiar and frustrating pattern — success arrives, momentum builds, and another program hires away the coach who helped restore it.
It happened when Larry Fedora left after the 2011 season. It happened again when Todd Monken departed following the 2015 campaign. And now, after another dramatic turnaround, it has happened again with Huff.
Next year’s roster also presents more uncertainty than the one Huff inherited. Unlike 2025, Southern Miss enters this offseason not having the benefit of several key Marshall players coming to the University. The 2026 recruiting class had only nine signees. Huff was expected to go heavy in the transfer portal when it opened in January.
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