Charles Huff flips the "he won't be there" pitch back on coaches recruiting against Memphis

Memphis is 7-2 and headed to Tampa for a Thursday night date with USF, and Charles Huff's name has been floated for Power Four openings for most of the fall.

Opposing recruiters have noticed and have tried to weaponize that to their advantage.

Huff told Jonah Dylan of The Commercial Appeal that rival staffs are telling prospects he won't be around long. 

He doesn't mind one bit.

"Every time a coach says, 'Coach Huff ain't going to be there,' it actually works in my favor," Huff said. "Because if I'm leaving Memphis, I ain't going to high school. I'm going to something bigger."

"So I tell the kids: You're going with me. Just like the 31 did at the other place, just like the 17 did."

He had a suggestion for the coaches using the line, too.

"So you should probably stop using it. You should probably say: He's going to be there forever."

Huff didn't spell out where the 31 and 17 came from, but his history with followers is well documented. When he left Marshall for Southern Miss in December 2024, coming off the program's first Sun Belt title, so many Herd players hit the portal that Marshall pulled out of the Independence Bowl against Army. 

The Sun Belt ended up fining the school for the opt-out.

Quarterback Braylon Braxton and a long list of Marshall receivers and defensive backs landed in Hattiesburg.

The pattern continued this past winter. Wide receiver Tychaun Chapman followed Huff from Marshall to Southern Miss and then again to Memphis, and running back Jaylin Carter made the move from Hattiesburg as well.

Memphis hired Huff on December 8, 2025, after Ryan Silverfield left for Arkansas. Huff went 7-5 in his lone season at Southern Miss and took the Golden Eagles to the New Orleans Bowl. Before that, he went 32-20 in four seasons at Marshall, capped by a 10-3 mark and the 2024 Sun Belt championship.

His assistant résumé runs deep. Huff was assistant head coach and running backs coach at Alabama in 2019 and 2020 under Nick Saban, held the same titles plus run game coordinator at Mississippi State in 2018, and coached running backs and special teams at Penn State from 2014 through 2017. Earlier stops include Western Michigan, the Buffalo Bills, Vanderbilt, Hampton, Maryland and Tennessee State, where he started as an offensive line coach in 2006.

Year one at Memphis has gone about as well as anyone could ask. The Tigers are 4-1 in the American with their only losses coming at Boise State and at Tulane. They beat East Carolina 41-34 in overtime and handled Army 49-22 on Halloween.

Negative recruiting about coaching stability is as old as recruiting itself. What's changed is the response. Before the portal, "he's leaving" meant a kid could get stranded with a staff that didn't recruit him. Now a player can follow, and Huff has a roster full of guys who did exactly that.

For high school coaches and parents sitting in living rooms for recruiting visits this winter, Huffs point is worth helping families reframe the question. 

Will this coach be here four years is harder to answer than it used to be. Would my son follow him if he left is a better question for modern college football.

Memphis visits USF at 8pm EST on Thursday, November 12, and will air on ESPN.

Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.