The last month hasn’t been great for Southern Miss fans.
The Golden Eagles looked like they were well on their way to reaching the Sun Belt Championship in Charles Huff’s first year as head coach. But they lost three straight games to end the regular season and missed the conference title game after falling to Troy in the regular season finale.
And now Huff is reportedly heading to Memphis to be its next head coach. With him gone, who might USM hire next?
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Kennesaw State Head Coach Jerry Mack
Mack, who already has experience in the state of Mississippi, finally got a head coaching opportunity at the FBS level this season, and he’s guided the Owls through a fantastic 2025 season.
Kennesaw State went 9-3 overall and 7-1 in Conference USA play during the regular season, its second in the FBS. The Owls beat Jacksonville State in the CUSA title game on Friday, and now Mack has been in the mix for other FBS head coaching opportunities.
Previously, Mack was the Jacksonville Jaguars’ running backs coach. Before that, Mack was Tennessee’s running backs coach from 2021-23. In 2023, the Volunteers were 10th in the country with 204.8 rushing yards per game.
Mack has also been an associate head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach at Rice, a head coach at North Carolina Central, a wide receivers coach at South Alabama and Memphis, an OC and quarterbacks coach at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach at Central Arkansas, and a wide receivers/tight ends coach at Jackson State.
Indiana Defensive Coordinator Bryant Haines
Haines followed Curt Cignetti from James Madison to Indiana, and he has been stellar as the Hoosiers’ DC thus far.
At the end of the regular season, Indiana was second in the country in scoring defense with 10.9 points per game allowed and was fifth in total defense with 251.8 yards per game allowed. Last year, the Hoosiers were second with 256.3 YPG allowed and sixth with 15.6 PPG allowed.
Before his current job, he was instrumental in JMU’s transition to the Sun Belt. He was promoted to DC and linebackers coach after three years as a co-defensive coordinator.
In just their first season as an FBS program, the Dukes allowed the eighth-fewest yards per game in the country with 290.2 while allowing just 20.9 points per game. They were also top 10 in rushing defense, tackles for loss per game, first downs allowed, sacks per game, third-down defense, and fumble recoveries.
In 2023, JMU was in the top 20 in the FBS with 19.5 points per game allowed and the top 30 in the country with 333.8 yards per game allowed.
Maybe Haines’ familiarity with the Sun Belt makes him a candidate for this job.
Indiana Offensive Coordinator Mike Shanahan
Here’s another former JMU coordinator from the Cignetti era who has also thrived in the Power Four.
As Indiana’s OC, Shanahan has helped the Hoosiers build one of the best offenses in the country. They were second in the FBS with 44.3 PPG and fifth with 483.8 YPG at the end of the regular season.
Shanahan was JMU’s offensive coordinator from 2021-23, and the team’s offense flourished considering the program was new to the FBS ranks. In 2022 and 2023, the Dukes were top 30 in the country in total offense.
Shanahan was JMU’s wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator from 2019-20. He also coached with Cignetti at Elon (2017-18) and at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (2016) after being a graduate assistant at Pitt.
Missouri State Head Coach Ryan Beard
Beard has been recognized as one of the up-and-coming head coaches in the FBS.
And that’s for good reason. In their first season in the FBS, the Bears are 7-5 at the conclusion of the regular season and will be playing in a bowl game.
Beard was the youngest person to become Missouri State’s head coach when he was promoted at 34 years old in December 2022.
Previously, Beard was Missouri State’s defensive coordinator for three seasons. During that span, he coached a defense that earned 18 all-conference nods and four All-American accolades while three players from that time had opportunities to play professionally. Missouri State was among the best in the country in several statistical categories on defense when Beard was the DC.
Before going to Missouri State, Beard was a special teams and safeties coach at Central Michigan in 2019. He was a quality control coach at Louisville, where he was from 2017-18, before becoming the team’s linebackers coach and co-special teams coordinator. He was also a defensive quality control coach there from 2014-15.
He coached defensive backs in 2016 at Western Kentucky, where he was a two-time All-Sun Belt defensive back himself, and was a graduate assistant at WKU in 2012-13.
SMU Offensive Coordinator Casey Woods
Woods is a successful coordinator at a current Power Four school who has experience in the Sun Belt.
The Mustangs were eighth in the FBS in points per game (38.7) and 16th in yards per game (454.9) in 2023, their last year in the American. Woods, in SMU’s first year in the ACC, helped the Mustangs reach the College Football Playoff in 2024. The Mustangs are 8-4 overall this year.
At UAB, he was a tight ends coach, run game coordinator, and recruiting coordinator for three years after the football program came back in 2016. The Blazers set several school records and put together some highly-regarded recruiting classes during his time there.
Woods has also been a tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator at Missouri. He coached wide receivers and was a recruiting coordinator at Arkansas State in 2012 when the Red Wolves went 10-3, earned a Sun Belt title, and won the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
