As his been the case with all opponents thus far, the Marshall head coach had some high praise for Ohio State. #GoBucks
For the third week in a row, the Ohio State football team took care of business easily against an inferior opponent. To be fair in this case, Marshall did battle hard until it wore down in the second half and eventually got beat going away, 49-14.
Prior to the game, Marshall head coach Charles Huff said OSU was the best team he has seen on film during his coaching career, but what did he think after actually facing off against those players?
Huff met with the media after the game and was asked about that and many other things, and if you didn’t catch what he said, it’s worth taking about 12 minutes or so to watch and listen some of the insight he said.
We were there and uploaded the press conference to our YouTube channel, so have a listen.
Ohio State will now get back to work and prepare to go on the road and play its first Big Ten contest against Michigan State next week.
The Buckeyes might have the deepest and most talented roster in the country. And while that’s statement easy to throw out as a member of the media, you don’t have to take our word for it, but instead, listen to a guy that breaks down film all the time, in this case, Marshall head coach Charles Huff.
He was so impressed with what he saw on film, he tongue and cheek offered a lifetime supply of biscuits for any OSU player that wanted to transfer to the Thundering Herd. But that wasn’t all, Huff went on to heap what might be the most praiseworthy thing any coach can say leading up to a contest. He believes the talent on Ohio State’s roster is unparalleled. Not this year, but more.
During his preview press conference Tuesday, Huff said that Ohio State is “probably the best team I’ve seen on film, ever.” That’s high, high praise, especially considering Huff’s team faced off in 2011 with eventual national champion Alabama.
He went on to state that it’s not just coach’s speak either.
“I’m not just saying that to get everybody excited,” Huff said. “They’re really good … “When you look across the board, I’m not saying every player is the best player in the country, but collectively, they have a really good, fast, explosive, physical football team. You kind of look at what they’ve done to build their team, $20 million in NIL resources invested into this team. They’ve been able to go out and acquire some of the best talent in the country.”
That’s a pretty significant claim and one that most coaches won’t throw out there lightly. It’s possible Huff is trying to get his team focused coming into the ‘Shoe, but it’s more likely that the film simply doesn’t lie.
Now, let’s see if that all comes together on Saturday.
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Marshall head football coach, Charles Huff, knows the task before him and his team is daunting heading into Saturday’s matchup with Ohio State. The Thundering Herd is a 40-point underdog to the Buckeyes, so Huff is trying to keep things light.
At his weekly press conference, Huff had glowing comments for Ryan Day’s squad, which is currently ranked No. 3 in the nation and one of the odds-on favorites to win the national championship. Seeing all that talent, Huff decided to make a pitch to any Buckeyes who might be thinking of transferring or just like to eat.
The Herd coach said they could use some of that Ohio State speed at Marshall, and while they don’t have quite the same NIL power, he had a different offer … biscuits. Huff made a promise that if any Buckeye would like to join him in Huntington, West Virginia, they could have a Tudor’s Biscuits all-you-can-eat NIL. Take a listen for yourself at the lighthearted comments.
What a fun way to talk about the proverbial elephant in the room. Everyone knows that Ohio State should win easily over Marshall, but that doesn’t mean the Thundering Herd won’t give it everything they’ve got. Good for Charles Huff for recognizing the obvious and keeping things fun.
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After another tough seaosn in Bloomington, Indiana has reportedly fired Tom Allen as head coach.
Following a disappointing 2023 season, Indiana has become the third Big Ten school to make a coaching change this year. Indiana has reportedly made the decision to cut ties with head coach Tom Allen.
According to The Indy Star, Allen has a buyout of at least $20 million for the next four years. Despite the heavy price tag, one which is a major cost for the Hoosiers, it was clear the program was in need of a jumpstart and a change in momentum as it relates to the win totals.
Allen will end his run as Indiana head coach with a record of 33-49 and 18-43 in Big Ten play. The high mark for Indiana came in 2019 with an 8-5 record and a 6-2 record in the COVID-adjusted 2020 season with a record of 6-2 and a final ranking of no. 11 in the final College Football Playoff rankings. But things went south quickly for the Hoosiers following the 2020 season with a 2-10 record in 2021, a 4-8 record in 2022, and then a 3-9 record in 2023.
Allen took over as head coach of the Indiana program following the resignation of Kevin Wilson as head coach in 2016 amid allegations of mistreatment of players.
The search for a new head coach at Indiana is now underway, and one of the names thrown out as a potential candidate by The Indy Star is former James Franklin assistant [autotag]Charles Huff[/autotag], now the head coach at Marshall.
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“Huff’s bonafides as both a recruiter and developer of talented players was built across stops with Maryland, Penn State, Mississippi State, Alabama and the Buffalo Bills, among others, and at just 40, he’s got an age profile that might appeal to Indiana,” writes Zach Osterman of The Indy Star.
Northwestern was the first Big Ten team to make a coaching change this year with the preseason firing of Pat Fitzgerald amid allegations of hazing within the football program under his watch. The Wildcats have since removed the interim tag on David Braun after Braun guided the Wildcats to a 7-win season and a bowl berth.
Michigan State was the second Big Ten school to make a coaching change with the firing of Mel Tucker in the first month of the season, also amid allegations of improper conduct with allegations of sexual harassment of a sexual abuse awareness advocate. Michigan State hired Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith a day after the conclusion of the regular season.
With Michigan State in need of a new head coach, this former Penn State assistant could be a name to watch.
The Big Ten has two head coaching vacancies that need to be filled before getting to October, and a former Penn State assistant under James Franklin could be a name worth following as a potential candidate for at least one of the job openings. Michigan State officially parted ways with Mel Tucker following an explosive investigative report into alleged misconduct. Michigan State made the move citing Tucker bringing embarrassment to ths the job search for the next head coach of Michigan State officially gets underway, one of Franklin’s former assistants was ranked as a worthy candidate on the radar.
Marshall head coach [autotag]Charles Huff[/autotag] was among the top 10 coaching candidates highlighted by Spartans Wire. It is easy to see why Huff ranks relatively high on the ranking too.
“A lot of buzz has been centered around Marshall’s [autotag]Charles Huff[/autotag], and admittedly he could be on a rise on this list as the season goes on, but now he checks in at No. 4 after a huge win over Virginia Tech and starting 3-0 this season,” Spartans Wire noted in its power ranking of the top 10 coaching candidates for the program.
Huff spent the 2011 season as an offensive quality control assistant for James Franklin at Vanderbilt. The two previously worked together on the Maryland coaching staff as well in 2009. Huff reunited with Franklin when Franklin took the head coaching job at Penn State in 2014. Huff served as the team’s running backs coach and special teams coach for four seasons before leaving for Mississippi State to be an assistant head coach and running game coordinator for Joe Moorhead, who left his position as Penn State’s offensive coordinator to be the head coach of the SEC program.
Huff spent one season at Mississippi State and moved to Alabama to be an assistant head coach and running backs coach for Nick Saban, who is also a former head coach at Michigan State. Huff took the head coaching job at Marshall in 2021 and immediately took the Thundering Herd to a 7-6 record in his first season and 9-4 in 2022. Huff has Marshall off to a 3-0 start following this past weekend’s victory over Virginia Tech, coached by former Penn State defensive coordinator Brent Pry.
Huff is clearly a coach on the rise and has a well-respected profile as a candidate for the Michigan State job. We’ll see if he gets a chance to interview for the job as the Michigan State job search moves forward.
At no slight to acting head coach Harlon Barnett, it’s only natural that there has been a lot of chatter already amongst the Michigan State fan base and media around who could be the next man up to be the long-term head coach at MSU.
In this series, we will be ranking the potential candidates that could be in the running to take over Michigan State’s job. The list will be capped at ten names (for now) along with a few other honorable mentions, and will fluctuate based on how coaches are performing this season along with any rumored or confirmed interest from the Spartans:
Operating under the assumption that Tucker has coached his last game as the head man of the Michigan State football program, as Lansing State Journal reporter Graham Couch speculated, the Spartans will be in the market for a new leader of their football program.
Check out some of the potential candidates Michigan State could look to bring in:
Georgia Tech coaching search could include these two former Penn State coaches
It is certainly not unprecedented for a head coach to lose his job before October in college football, but it is a rarity to see three head coaching changes be made before the calendar flips from September to October. Yet, on Monday, Georgia Tech became the third FBS program to part ways with its head coach by relieving Geoff Collins of his head coaching responsibilities in Atlanta. Georgia Tech followed Nebraska and Arizona State in making changes at the top of their respective football programs in September, and the Yellow Jackets job, in particular, could have some familiar names to Penn State fans circling around as potential candidates for the job.
And no, we are not talking about [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag].
One name that stands out right away could be [autotag]Charles Huff[/autotag]. The current head coach of Marshall is a former running backs coach under Franklin from 2014 through 2017, and his name has quickly become a name to monitor in the head coaching carousel rumor mill. Huff coached Marshall to an early-season upset of Notre Dame in South Bend, but the Thundering Herd have lost two straight games since then. But he has established himself as a worthy candidate, according to Football Scoop.
From Football Scoop;
Huff has recruited – at an elite level, mind you – at Vanderbilt University and been an integral cog at both Alabama and Penn State.
His own story is incredibly relatable to today’s athletes, and his climb through the coaching ranks is not to be ignored. Simply put, it’s merely a matter of time before Huff is a Power-5 head coach.
Former Penn State head coach [autotag]Bill O’Brien[/autotag] is also constantly a name to keep an eye on as a potential head coaching candidate, and the Georgia Tech job would seemingly be one that could work for O’Brien. O’Brien is currently the offensive coordinator for Alabama, which in itself is a position that has led to multiple head coaching opportunities including Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss and Steve Sarkisian at Texas.
O’Brien has never been shy about his desire to be a successful head coach. Even from his start as head coach at Penn State, O’Brien made it known how he felt the highest rings on the ladder are being a winning head coach in the NFL. While Georgia Tech is not the NFL, a return to being a head coach with an opportunity to truly grow something at a program that could have a quick turnaround under the right leadership could be an intriguing option for a guy like O’Brien.
No outlets have gone so far to tap into the current Penn State coaching staff just yet, although offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich and defensive coordinator Manny Diaz could find their names working into some carousel rumor mills down the line if things go well for Penn State this season. Diaz, of course, has previously head coaching experience in the ACC with Miami, for whatever that is worth.
So, for now, we’ll keep a watchful eye on the news coming out of the Georgia Tech coaching search just in case the ACC program goes with anyone with some sort of connection to Penn State.
Follow Nittany Lions Wire on Twitter and like us on Facebook for continuing Penn State coverage and discussion.Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.
Where is every member of James Franklin’s first Penn State staff today?
[autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] has become known as a pipeline of sorts for sending members of his coaching staff to open jobs all over the country. Whether it be coordinators to head coaching roles or position coaches to coordinators. No matter the role, James Franklin has shown he not only raises his players, but also his staff.
For example, the return of offensive coordinator [autotag]Mike Yurcich[/autotag] this year will be the first time since 2018-2019 that the Nittany Lions have had the same offensive coordinator for two seasons. Again, that isn’t a bad thing. Like players, you want coaches to grow and move on because it creates relationships everywhere.
Looking back to 2014 when James Franklin made the move from Vanderbilt, his first staff has some big names now that have worked on their own to build a legacy. Check out where they are and have gone since that first season nearly eight years ago under James Franklin.
Two former James Franklin assistants have teams bowl eligible in their first years as a head coach, including Ricky Rahne and Old Dominion in an improbable run.
While much of the focus around these parts may have been on Penn State’s regular-season finale loss at Michigan State, it was quite an eventful day around the world of college football. Between intense rivalry games having an impact on division, conference, and playoff scenarios and teams battling for bowl eligibility, there was a lot going on in Week 13 of the college football season. Among the schools fighting to become bowl-eligible was Old Dominion, coached by former Penn State offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne.
And in his first season on the sideline with the Monarchs, Rahne is hoping to take Old dominion to a bowl game. And how Rahne’s program got there is quite a story to tell.
First, Rahne was hired to be the new head coach of the Old Dominion program following the conclusion of the 2019 season. Unfortunately for Rahne, he would have to wait longer than anticipated to coach his first game in Norfolk, Virginia. Old Dominion made the decision to not play a college football schedule in 2020 due to concerns revolving around the COVID-19 pandemic. Old Dominion was one of three FBS programs that chose not to play any college football in 2020, joining UConn and New Mexico State in that decision. That put a pause on the debut of Ricky Rahne as a head coach, although he issued a statement at the time remaining committed to the future of the program.
Old Dominion returned to the field this fall, of course, and for a while, it looked like a team that took a year off from playing football. Old Dominion was blasted by Wake Forest and Liberty in two of their first three games of the season, although few would have guessed at the time Wake Forest would be playing in the ACC Championship Game back in Week 1. Rahne got his first coaching victory in Week 2 with a win against FCS Hampton, but the Monarchs started the year off on a 1-6 start to the season. While the first two losses were in blowouts, Old Dominion kept things close in losses to Buffalo, UTEP, and Marshall before suffering a 23-point loss at home to Western Kentucky.
Playing in a bowl game looked like a near impossibility after the 1-6 start to the season. Had Old Dominion lost just one more game, they would have been ineligible for postseason play per NCAA postseason regulations requiring a minimum of six wins to play in a bowl game.
But that’s the thing. Old Dominion didn’t lose another game.
A 23-20 victory against Louisiana Tech at home was the start of a seemingly unlikely five-game winning streak that culminated with a 56-34 victory over Charlotte in the final game of the regular season to clinch bowl eligibility.
Rahne is likely taking Old Dominion to its second bowl game in program history, and its first since the 2016 season. The school moved up to the FBS level from FCS in 2014, when it made the quick jump into Conference USA during a time of significant conference realignment changes around the country.
Rahne is now in a position to have the second winning season in Old Dominion’s brief time as an FBS program, but the Monarchs will have to win their bowl game to do so. And whether or not they will get that opportunity remains to be seen.
Wins by LSU, Memphis & West Virginia makes it 83 bowl-eligible teams for 82 bowl spots, meaning a 6-win Group of 5 team will not go bowling
There are 82 bowl spots to fill this season, and 83 teams clinched bowl eligibility. That means unless one team pulls out of the bowl season, some program is going to be left at home. And it’s not going to be one of the 13 bowl-eligible teams from the SEC staying home. It’s going to be a Group of 5 program, and Old Dominion could be on the chopping block.
There is still a decent chance Old Dominion will get to play in a bowl game somewhere, and perhaps we will learn more in the coming days. Bowl game matchups will be made official no later than Sunday, December 5.
We’ll be keeping an eye on Rahne’s Old Dominion program.
Charles Huff has Marshall bowling too
Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
Another former James Franklin assistant is also taking his program to a bowl game. Charles Huff, who left Penn State and his role as a running backs coach and special teams coordinator to join former offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead at Mississippi State in 2018, just wrapped up his second season as head coach at Marshall. Huff will also be taking his program to a bowl game following a 7-5 season.
This was Huff’s first season as head coach of the Thundering Herd, who came up short of winning the Conference USA East Division crown this fall. Huff did win the head-to-head matchup with Rahne earlier in the season, as referenced above.
We’ll watch to see where Huff will be coaching in the postseason as well.
