When Charles Huff arrived in Hattiesburg as the new leader of Southern Miss football, his was the first of a herd of new faces that would soon land in south Mississippi.
The former Marshall head coach was hired to replace Will Hall and reconstruct a program that had just suffered through one of the worst four-year stretches in its history.
The Maryland native has not beaten around the bush unfolding his plans to make Southern Miss a winner again. Huff carries a championship pedigree as fresh as it gets, winning the 2024 Sun Belt title as the head coach at Marshall.
But even though Huff, and 25 Marshall transfers now wearing black and gold, are defending Sun Belt champions, the climb back to the proverbial top is a steep one.
The rebuilding process has resembled something akin to Frankenstein’s monster, joining an amalgam of more than 70 new players and just a handful of returners into what Huff and Southern Miss faithful hope will be an immediate competitor.
“This spring was all about the individual. We gave everyone an opportunity to conform to the new Southern Miss football. We taught them what it would look like to be a part of this team,” Huff said in New Orleans on Tuesday.
“As we transitioned into the summer, it’s been all about being a team. To be a championship level team, you’ve got to be connected. We have 70 new players.”
Much of the metamorphosis has been of the culture, beginning with setting a “championship mindset” that the new frontman says is a precursor to high level results on the field.
“Champions do things right every single day. I have to model that from the top down,” Huff said. “There’s no magic formula – a lot of things have to happen to win a championship. But the approach that you take, the mindset you have, champions are champions before they get the ring.”
After romping to a Sun Belt championship in his fourth and final year at Marshall a season ago, Huff believes he has the blueprint in hand.
Dating back to his days under mentors like Nick Saban and James Franklin, the 42-year-old has learned that the foundation of success is not made of awe-inspiring feats or five-star recruits, but rather of the oft unseen details like discipline, preparation, and showing up on time.
That foundation is still under construction in Hattiesburg, according to Huff, with plenty of work to be done. Sun Belt coaches and members of the media tend to agree, picking the Golden Eagles to finish fifth in the West Division in the league’s preseason poll.
But Huff went a step further, adamant that even with star quarterback Braylon Braxton and a basket full of new talent, Southern Miss football hasn’t done anything to garner more than a spot at the bottom of the barrel.
“We went 1-11 [last year]. We should have been picked dead last,” Huff said. “We embrace that. Until we do something about it, that’s who we are. Yes, it should make us upset that we were 1-11. But disrespect or whatever has no bearing, it’s how do you respond.”
Huff’s new look Golden Eagles will aim to start the response strong with a battle against in-state foe Mississippi State on tap to open the 2025 campaign on Aug. 30 at M.M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg.
