Why Memphis' Charles Huff hire matters beyond the field: 'I bear that cross'
There are only three schools in major college sports with a minority head football coach and athletic director: Virginia, Syracuse and now, Memphis.
MEMPHIS, TN – His chair scraping across a concrete floor and piercing the soft murmur of noise inside this Memphis barbecue staple, Charles Huff gathers himself. Scoots back, leans forward. On the job little more than 100 days as Memphis Tigers football coach, Huff measures his message.
He is the only Black head coach from the 2025-26 college football coaching carousel to carry an elevation in role, spending a year at Southern Miss and landing a fringe Power conference-type job at Memphis, an American Conference resident with P-4 ambitions. EXCLUSIVE: Pat Fitzgerald was vilified, then vindicated. His truth comes out at last Huff embraces he is coaching for more than just his Memphis program, players and staff.
“I carry that, I bear that cross,” Huff told USA TODAY Sports. “But I know, for years, when I was a young coach at Tennessee State coming up in the profession, I would go to AFCA conventions, and back then they had a thing called the BCA (Black Coaches Association). And we would meet on Sunday night.
It would be the last meeting of the night. “And there were hundreds of African-American minority coaches in a room, and there were head coaches that sat on the panel. I remember Tyrone Willingham was there one time.
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