Maryland football head coaching profile: Charles Huff

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With a vacancy now official and the first hot board officially released, we dive into our first coaching profile on head coach Charles Huff, who guided Memphis to bowl eligibility with an overtime win over East Carolina on Thursday night:

Name: Charles Huff

Age: 43

Record: 44-27, sixth year

Background:

A Denton, Md. native who graduated from North Caroline High School – same school that Zymear Smith starred at – Huff began his coaching career at Hampton in a GA role before moving on to Tennessee State where he served on the offensive staff in addition to special teams coordinator. Huff also spent one season as assistant OL coach under Ralph Friedgen and James Franklin in 2009 before moving on to Hampton in 2010 then Vanderbilt in 2011, part of Franklin’s first staff where he became an offensive quality control coach.

Huff also spent one season as an assistant coach with the Buffalo Bills, though he elevated his profile after four seasons as the running backs and special teams coach at Penn State, again under Franklin. In addition to one season as the RBs coach at Western Michigan in 2013, Huff spent the 2018 season as the associate head coach and run game coordinator at Mississippi State under Joe Moorhead. His final assistant job came in 2019 when he spent two seasons as the associate head coach and RBs coach under Nick Saban at Alabama. It also marked the second elite college running back he worked with after coaching Najee Harris years after Saquon Barkley.

His head coaching career began at Marshall where he went 32-20 over four seasons, including a ten-win season in his final season in 2024. Yet his tenure with the Herd ended after a contract extension failed to materialize, leaving Huff without a contract before moving on to Southern Miss in 2025. His lone season ended with a 7-5 record, but dropped their last four games to end the season.

Huff then moved on to Memphis where the Tigers clinched bowl eligibility with a 41-34 OT win over East Carolina on Thursday night.

Profile

When frustration with the Mike Locksley era boiled over, Charles Huff was a name that fans routinely pointed to as a sensible fit to take over. When news of Maryland parting ways with Locksley surfaced, several local contacts pointed to Huff as a no-brainer next move. Being local isn’t a requirement, but it serves as a bonus. Huff has built a positive reputation through the area with local coaches, while multiple have reiterated him knowing the landscape as an optimistic reason as to why Huff can build on Locksley’s foundation.

But again, being local isn’t a priority. Finding a head coach with a winning background is – and should be – the top focus given the program’s struggles to become more competitive in conference play. The good news is Huff has that. Thursday night’s win now means Huff has reached bowl eligibility in all six seasons as head coach. For reference, the last time Maryland accomplished that feat was between 1973-1978.

At Southern Miss, Huff’s ability to turn a program around from a one-win team in 2024 to producing the program’s best regular season record in six years is testament to that. Huff was also one of 28 head coaches named to the Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant Coach of the Year Award watch list this week, including one of six from the G6 ranks and lone from the American Conference.

Though not at the head coaching level, Huff’s experience at Penn State gives him relevant Big Ten experience, while Huff has been credited for his discipline and organization in his early years as a head coach.

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