Now in his third season on the University of South Alabama football staff, Chad Huff will once again focus his efforts on the program’s tight ends.
Working primarily with a group of three individuals that featured a senior and two sophomores with a combined five appearances at the collegiate level, Jaguar tight ends averaged 14 yards per reception while contributing to a running attack that posted 150 or more yards on the ground in five games — including three of the last four contests — Huff’s first season with the program.
Last year, South’s tight ends helped the team rush for more than 200 yards on four occasions highlighted by a school game record 413 yard performance in a September victory over Jackson State as well as gaining 351 yards against eventual Sun Belt Conference West Division winner Louisiana. True freshman Brandon Crum started the last three outings of the year, catching five of his six passes over the final two weeks, while Zac Crosby averaged nearly 15 yards per reception and Khameron Taylor accounted for the unit’s lone touchdown catch in the opener at 24th-ranked Nebraska.
He was the head coach Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. for four years before coming to South, where he led the Bulldogs to a 26-14 overall record which included a 17-7 mark in Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) play. Huff was a member of the school’s coaching staff for a total of 14 years — serving as offensive coordinator from 2004-13 — during which time he helped the program to 113 victories, three state championships, seven MACJC South Division titles and the 2007 National Junior College Athletic Association championship.
Huff’s units broke or equaled school offensive records for four consecutive seasons starting in 2007, pushing the scoring mark from 440 points to 505 in that time. In his second year on the staff MGCCC went 7-3 after advancing to the MACJC championship game and earning a postseason bowl bid, adding seven more wins the following season. His efforts helped the Bulldogs go 12-0 en route to state and national titles in 2007, with the Bulldogs claiming both the MACJC South Division and state championships while going 10-2 the next fall.
MGCCC again won 10 games during the 2010 campaign, ending the year third in the final NJCAA poll after winning the state title and defeating Grand Rapids (Mich.) C.C. in the Mississippi Bowl. That season, Huff’s offense totaled a school-record 505 points — scoring fewer than 30 on only two occasions — to rank second in the country not only in scoring but with 455.9 total yards per game. He helped the Bulldogs win 10 games, the MACJC South Division championship and the Mississippi Bowl the following year, adding another division title in 2012 as well.
In his first year as head coach, Huff guided MGCCC to an 8-2 finish after advancing to the state playoffs, and a year later the Bulldogs finished 8-3 while earning the league’s South Division title and a berth in the state championship contest.
During Huff’s tenure at Gulf Coast, the program had 14 former players advance to compete at the professional level, with a higher total continuing their careers at four-year schools.
Huff entered the coaching profession as an assistant coach at Delta State in 1998, helping the Statesmen win the Gulf South Conference championship before a three-year stretch working under first-year Jaguar head coach Steve Campbell that saw DSU go 27-8 included a 14-1 record in 2000 when the program claimed the NCAA Division II national title.
Huff has also served as an assistant coach at the U.S. Naval Academy (2001) and North Alabama (2003), and in between was the head coach at Indianola (Miss.) Academy for one year.
A four-year letterwinner at Delta State, Huff was selected to play in the 1997 Snow Bowl — Division II’s Senior Bowl — following the conclusion of his collegiate career before going on to earn both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the school in math and physical education, respectively. He and his wife, Renee, have two sons, Gaines and Grayson.
The Huff File
Born: Born: March 16, 1976, in Pascagoula, Miss.
Education:
Delta State ’98, bachelor’s degree in math
Delta State ’99, master’s degree in physical education
Collegiate Playing Experience:
Four years, defensive back, Delta State
Selected to play in Snow Bowl, 1997
Coaching Experience:
Delta (Miss.) State — assistant coach, 1998-00
United States Naval Academy — assistant coach, 2001
Indianola (Miss.) Academy — head coach, 2002
North Alabama — assistant coach, 2003
Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. — assistant coach, 2004-13; head coach, 2014-17
South Alabama — assistant coach, 2018-
Family: Wife, Renee; Two sons, Gaines (13) and Grayson (10)
