Charles Huff talks transfer portal, OC Kevin Decker and Power Four aspirations at American Media Days:

The American Conference hosted its 2026 American Conference Kickoff on Thursday and Friday, serving as its media days. Huff spoke to the media on Friday and covered several topics, including the new players, his offensive coordinator and Power Four aspirations.

Huff was joined by linebacker Mike Montgomery and offensive lineman Maarten Woudsma at the event in St. Petersburg. The head coach spoke highly about both players and called them leaders on the team.

Here’s a look at what Huff said at the 

Bringing in more than 70 new players:

Huff brought in 71 new players from the transfer portal and recruiting trail over the offseason, and the Tigers will look vastly different from last year’s team. 

Only a handful of players return on both sides of the ball, and most of the key players on this year’s team joined the program from the portal. When talking about how many guys he brought in from the portal, Huff compared himself to Lane Kiffin, who is known as one of the most savvy coaches when using the transfer portal.

“I’ve kind of become the Lane Kiffin of the Group of Five, which is the Portal King, but we got 71 new players,” Huff said. “A lot of work to do. We’ve got a process that works. We’ve been through this before. Our process is application, not theory. So, we’re able to check it as we go.”

Huff went on to talk about how the team must gel together with so many new pieces, and how he’s seen his players putting in extra work to connect and build team chemistry.

“I have the beauty of my office overlooking the indoor [practice facility], and on a Sunday afternoon it looks like a Tuesday afternoon because there’s so many guys in there getting work in. Being around each other, and I think that’s what it takes. You can’t gel if you don’t spend time together.”

New offensive coordinator Kevin Decker:

Huff brought a majority of his staff with him from Southern Miss, but offensive coordinator Kevin Decker joined the program after spending three seasons with Old Dominion. The head coach raved about his coordinator and the relationship he has with the offense.

“He’s got a great relationship with our players,” Huff said. “He’s got an edge about him, meaning he’s comfortable being himself.”

With the Monarchs, Decker’s offense averaged 454.7 yards per game, which ranked No. 15 in the country. He has spent time as the offensive coordinator at Brown and Fordham before taking over at Old Dominion, and he turned all three programs into dynamic offenses.

“He’s really good with the X’s and O’s,” Huff said. “He knows how to get his system and his guys open and attack defenses and protect against deficiencies. So, I think he’s going to do a phenomenal job this year, continuing to build those relationships and leading our offense.”

Power Four aspirations:

Huff was asked about coaching in the American Conference and the opportunity to make the jump from there to a Power Four conference. Huff has been very out front about the goal of getting Memphis into a Power Four conference, and he spoke about it at length when answering the question.

“For me, I’m in the best situation possible,” Huff said. “I’m in a vehicle that has the resources, that has the platform and has the opportunity to continue to grow. So hopefully, I’ll be standing here one more, two more, three more years, and then I’ll be standing in a Power Four conference with the same logo on, with the same people, with the same president, with the same AD, and hopefully some of the same players, because I’m in a vehicle that can do that.”

Huff went on to talk about how Memphis has all the resources, and he compared it to living in a house and renovating it instead of moving over and over again.

“I feel really good about not only tomorrow in fall camp and this season, but for the next 10 years,” Huff said. “When you find a house that you can renovate and you can add to, and you don’t have to move 10 times, I think you stay in it. But, I can’t speak for the other programs because I don’t know if they have that type of support. I don’t know if they have that type of leadership, but for us at Memphis, we have really good people from top to bottom. If we continue to press forward, we’ll all get to where we ultimately want to be together in the same uniform.