Marshall coach Charles Huff will take another job in the Sun Belt.
Sources told Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger that Huff is expected to become Southern Miss’ new coach.
Southern Miss and Marshall coach Charles Huff, barring a last-minute change, is expected to finalize a deal Sunday to make him the new head coach, sources say. @YahooSports.
Marshall, which has not offered Huff an extension, activated its coaching search earlier this week.
—Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) December 8, 2024
Marshall won the Sun Belt championship game on Saturday over Louisiana to move to 10-3 on the season. Huff would be the second coach to leave the position shortly after winning a conference title game. Hours after Ohio won the MAC title game, it was reported that Tim Albin was headed to Charlotte.
The Eagles went 1-11 in 2024 under Will Hall. Southern Miss was unable to beat any FBS teams during the season and lost 37-3 to Marshall on November 9.
Huff’s future at Marshall was in doubt for much of the season. He entered 2024 in the fourth year of a four-year contract he signed at the start of the 2021 season. He had said over the summer that he hoped a new contract would be signed, but as the season progressed and there was no new deal, It became clear that Huff could end up leaving.
That didn’t affect Marshall, especially during the second half of the season. The Thundering Herd lost to Virginia Tech and Ohio State in September and went 3-3 after a 24-23 loss to Georgia Southern. Since that loss to the Eagles, Marshall reeled off six straight wins, including a 35-33 victory over James Madison in the final week of the season to win the Sun Belt East Division before taking the conference title.
Huff was earning $755,500 in 2024 according to USA Today’s salary database, while Hall was earning $824,000. Only 16 public school coaches made less than Huff in 2024 and Louisiana-Monroe’s Bryant Vincent was the only Sun Belt coach with a lower salary.
Before coming to Marshall, Huff was an assistant at Penn State, Mississippi State and Alabama. He was the Crimson Tide’s running backs coach for two seasons in 2019 and 2020 and had coached running backs for both the Nittany Lions and the Bulldogs.
Marshall went 31-20 in Huff’s four seasons with the school. Meanwhile, Southern Miss has been to just one bowl in the last five seasons and was 4-20 the last two seasons.