The college football coaching carousel has officially begun spinning. Memphis head coach Charles Huff has been rumored to be among the first who could jump aboard, and his recent comments with regard to recruiting and job rumors have only added fuel to the speculative fire.
Huff, who has the Tigers at 7-2 in his first season at Memphis, spoke with the media for his weekly press conference on Tuesday and spoke about the recruiting process, but did not stay on topic, to put it mildly.
The 43-year-old not only claimed that having his name in the job rumor mill actually helps him on the recruiting trail, but broke it down with a mention of moving on to “something bigger.”
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“To be completely honest with you, I’m going to give you guys a secret,” Huff began. “Every time a coach says, ‘Coach Huff ain’t going to be there,’ it actually works in my favor. Because if I’m leaving Memphis, I ain’t going to high school, I’m going to something bigger. Would everybody agree? So I tell the kids: You’re going with me. Just like the 31 did at the other place, just like the 17 did.
“So every time a coach says, ‘Well, he ain’t going to be there,’ the kid’s like, ‘Great. I can go with the dude and the people I love and the organization I love, and we still get better than Memphis. This is awesome. Let me commit.’ So it works out in our favor. So you should probably stop using it. You should probably say: He’s going to be there forever.”
Huff’s name has been linked to the Maryland head coaching vacancy after the Terrapins fired Mike Locksley in October.
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You can respect Huff’s candor at a time when there really isn’t any in college football, but to say the words “If I leave Memphis” when your entire fanbase and the administration that signs your paycheck is fully aware that your name is on coaching hot boards around the country is bold, if not diabolical.
Then, on top of that, Huff blatantly said he’ll take the players he wants to take with him to his next program, just like he did when he left Marshall for Southern Miss in 2025 and left Southern Miss for Memphis one year later.
Every coach who takes another job this offseason will do exactly what Huff is describing, but saying it out loud when you’re still the head coach of a Memphis team with three games left on the schedule is a bizarre strategy.
The Tigers hit the road for their next two games with trips to South Florida and Navy before finishing off the regular season at home against Temple on November 27.