MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – In the blink of an eye, Memphis Football head coach Charles Huff has already been on the job for nearly six months.
With spring ball in the books, Huff stopped by the Action News 5 studio for a 1-on-1 interview to discuss the groundwork being laid, and what he hopes to accomplish in his first season and beyond with the Tigers.
You can watch the full interview with Huff here.
Huff was officially hired on December 8, taking over for Ryan Silverfield, who left Memphis to take the head coaching job at Arkansas.
Since then, Huff has had to put together an almost entirely new roster, coaching staff, and then guide everyone under his watch through spring ball.
Huff is enjoying the honeymoon period, even if he knows it won’t last forever.
“It’s been great, the city has been great, the energy has been great,” Huff said. “Now I’m fully aware, I’ve been doing this long enough-I haven’t lost a game, or won a game, I haven’t made a bad call. So, some of the energy is a little anticipatory.
“But I think it’s been great. I think it just shows what the fabric of this city, the fabric of this university is really about. There’s so many people on all different sides of the spectrum that are so excited about Tiger Football.”
As Huff alluded to, it’s easy to be excited now. The hard part is maintaining it by actually being successful on the field.
The Tigers have gone 29-10 the last three seasons, but are still seeking their first appearance in a conference championship game since 2019.
There’s a reason Huff’s slogan from the moment he arrived in the 901 has been “Close the gap.”
“Yes, we do need to take the next step,” Huff says bluntly. “But taking the next step comes (with) more than just winning games. The next step is yes, we’ve got to play better, we’ve got to recruit better, we’ve got to coach better, first and foremost.
“We’ve also gotta fill the stadium up, because if we’re taking the next step, the next step is not just winning the American Conference and we made the playoffs, they got us out first round, we’re happy. No, the next step is how do we win the conference? How do we get into the playoffs? How do we transition into a Power 4 conference? Once we get to that conference, how do we become competitive?
“So, there’s a lot of gaps to close, it’s not just ‘Oh we win two more games, we win the championship, and everybody’s happy.’”
Asked what would define success in the first year of his tenure, Huff went beyond a win-loss record.
“Success in year one is that every person involved in our program is more successful in life because they’re involved in our program,” Huff says. “We could win every game, win the national championship-and have guys getting arrested, have guys failing class, have guys shooting people, have guys cheating. So what do you want? Do you want just a renegade champion?
“So, success for me is that everyone in our program is more successful in life because they were part of our program.”
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