After one of the worst seasons in school history, the 1-11 Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles took a heavy dose of painkillers in the form of a pink slip for head coach Will Hall. Hall won just 14 games against 30 losses during his time in Hattiesburg.
In a shocking twist, Southern Miss went out and hired away Marshall Thundering Herd head man Charles Huff to come roam the sidelines at The Rock.
A championship season at Marshall
Huff won 32 games in four seasons with the Thundering Herd. In addition, Huff posted three winning seasons and took the Thundering Herd to three bowl games. On Saturday night, Huff led Marshall to the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Championship, hanging a dominating 31-3 defeat around the neck of Louisiana-Lafayette on the road at Cajun Field.
Marshall finished the season on a 7-game winning streak. In addition, Marshall ranked in the Top 20 nationally in turnover margin (+10), sacks (36) and tackles for loss (88).
Huff takes over a Southern Miss program that is starved for consistency and frankly, winning.
A program mired in mediocrity
The Golden Eagles have been hamstrung by a revolving door in the quarterback room during Hall’s tenure. Former Florida State signal-caller Tate Rodemaker transferred before the start of this season and grossly underachieved for Southern Miss. Rodemaker passed for 985 yards, 7 TDs and 7 INTs in nine games.
QB Ethan Crawford took some reps in 8 games and threw zero touchdown passes, but did throw 7 INTs.
Players can transfer if their head coach leaves for another job or gets fired. You can expect some defections.
Since the transfer portal has sprung into action, maybe Huff’s quarterback at Marshall and some other players will follow him.
Combined, Marshall quarterback Braylon Braxton threw for more TDs and fewer INTs than Rodemaker and Crawford. Braxton threw for 1,624 yards, 19 touchdowns and only 2 INTs. Braxton also rushed for over 600 yards and 4 rushing scores. Marshall spread the ball around in the passing game, with nine different receivers catching touchdown passes.
It will be interesting to see how Huff builds his coaching staff. Of course, he could bring some of his assistants over with him from the newly minted Sun Belt champs. And why not?
Change is good, and needed
Huff has a challenge ahead of him. Southern Miss needs improvement in all areas, but especially in recruiting and player development. Look for Huff to hit the transfer portal hot and heavy to find talent that can help sooner rather than later, ala Curt Cignetti at Indiana.
I am a Southern Miss graduate myself (class of ’95) and the Golden Eagles have a rich football tradition that seems to have faded from memory. You remember, Reggie Collier, Sammy Winder, Brett Favre, Adailus Thomas, Ito Smith and the Nasty Bunch.
If I were Huff, I would reach out to these Golden Eagle legends and get them more involved in the Southern Miss football program going forward. Seeing those guys on the Golden Eagles sideline would fire up their fan base.
Golden Eagle fans should be excited. Huff is a good football coach who comes from arguably the most fertile coaching tree in college football history. Huff worked as an assistant coach for Nick Saban at Alabama, so you can bet that Huff picked up a few pointers on how to run a top-notch football program.
Change was inevitable at Southern Miss and by hiring Huff, the Golden Eagles made a change for the better.