The Athletic’s Chris Vanini ranked every 138 FBS coach into eight tiers ahead of the college football season. The tiers are labeled: “Tier 1: The Standard”, “Tier 2: Established winners”, “Tier 3: Consistency with upside”, “Tier 4: Usually solid”, “Tier 5: Up and down”, “Tier 6: Great starts”, “Tier 7: Tough starts and hot seats” and “Tier 8: Little to nothing positive”, and Vanini placed Tigers head coach Charles Huff in Tier 4.
Huff’s tier, titled “usually solid”, includes 24 coaches and features five coaches from the American Conference. Temple’s KC Keeler, Army’s Jeff Monken, Navy’s Brian Newberry and UTSA’s Jeff Traylor were also listed in Tier 4, along with former Memphis head coach Ryan Silverfield.
Huff moved up a tier after last season, when he was placed in the “Up and down” tier.
Huff is preparing for his sixth hear as a head coach, and he has put together successful stints at Marshall and Southern Miss.
At Marshall, the head coach went 32-20 and won the conference championship in 2024 before taking the Southern Miss job. He only had one losing season with the Thundering Herd in 2034 when his team finished 6-7, losing in the Frisco Bowl.
He was hired by Southern Miss following a 1-11 campaign, and he immediately turned things around and went 7-6 in his lone year in Hattiesburg.
He accepted the Memphis job after Ryan Silverfield left for the Arkansas opening, and Huff brought in an entirely new coaching staff and more than 70 new players.
The expectation for the Tigers vary, but there are some who predict the team could be playing in the conference championship game later this season. A lot of that will come down to picking the right quarterback.
Marcus Stokes and Air Noland are in the midst of a quarterback battle, and Huff is close to letting the team know who the starter will be. He told the media that nobody outside of the team would know until the game starts against UNLV.
If the Tigers nail the quarterback decision, it feels like they have enough talent to battle at the top of the conference.
There are only three Group of Six coaches ahead of Tier 4. Boise State’s Spencer Danielson, Utah State’s Bronco Mendenhall and UNLV’s Dan Mullen are all in Tier 3: “Consistency with upside”.
Memphis will play the Rebels and Broncos early in the season, and both games could play a role in deciding who goes to the College Football Playoff.