MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama assistant football coach Chad Huff sat down with USAJaguars.com to answer five questions entering his first season as a member of the Jaguar staff.

After 10 seasons as an assistant on the staff of first-year South head coach Steve Campbell at Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. from 2004-13, Huff took over the reins of the program when Campbell was hired as head coach at Central Arkansas; over the last four years he guided the Bulldogs to a 26-14 record overall and a pair of berths in the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) playoffs.  Following a four-year playing career at Delta State — where he earned a bachelor's degree in math in 1998 and a master's in physical education the next year — Huff was a member of the Statesmen coaching staff for three seasons.  In 2001 he left to take an assistant coaching position at the United States Naval Academy, then served one year as head coach at Indianola (Miss.) Academy and another as an assistant at North Alabama before making the move to MGCCC.

1: What led to your decision to become a football coach?
CH: Finishing up playing at Delta State I was at a crossroads with what direction I was going to go, but I've always wanted to be around the game.  Having so many coaches — both in high school and college — who were instrumental in my life and impacted me tremendously, I wanted to do the same and hopefully have an impact changing people's lives not only on the field but off.  

2: What is your coaching philosophy, and which mentor has played an influential role in your professional development?
CH: My philosophy is to get better every day, Coach Campbell has been instrumental in that; I started coaching with him at Delta State and was there for three years before we worked together at Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. for 10 seasons.  It's the little things like to get better and be unselfish every day, that's the philosophy I've taken from him.

3: What are your goals for the program and how do you go about accomplishing them?
CH: The goal here is to be the best we can possibly be one day at a time.  We're looking forward to winning as many football games as we can at South Alabama, having grown up just a few minutes down the road from Mobile in South Mississippi I know that football has a chance to be really, really special here.  I want to take it one day at time and see that through, if I can look back and see that I've been a part of that would definitely be exciting.

4: If you were not a football coach you would be a ___, and why?
CH: I don't know what else I would do if I wasn't a football coach.  I think I would want to own my own lawn care business, I did a lot of cutting grass and landscaping when I was growing up.  And I'd fish and hunt a lot more.

5: What is the most interesting personal fact about you that can't be found in your bio?
CH: I'm a big family-oriented guy, I've been blessed all my life being raised by my mom and dad and having a wife and two boys who I love; I am very appreciative of that.  When you look at my résumé and see where I've been and where I've traveled, I've been fortunate and blessed to get to where I am at and it obviously hasn't been on my own.  I enjoy time with my family and my kids, and will hopefully be the parent that I was raised by.

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