Charles Huff details how a study a few years ago led him to make a coordinator hire he'd never met

Coaching is such a unique profession in that often times when someone is hired in college or the NFL as an on-field coach chances are pretty good they've got a previous relationship with the head coach or coordinator they're working with simply because the stakes are so incredibly high.

That is especially true when talking about coordinators. While it's not completely unheard of to see a coach like Mike Gundy pluck a top coordinator from the Division II level (something he did a number of times during his tenure at Oklahoma State) to come run an FBS offense or defense, it is increasingly rare.

One of the more intriguing coordinator hires of this past off seasons came at the Group of Five level where Charles Huff lured Old Dominion offensive coordinator Kevin Decker away to be the Tigers new offensive coordinator. On paper, there seemed to be no obvious ties to each other and they had not worked with each other previously. Come to find out Huff had been an admirer of the offenses Decker had been rolling out for quite some time, dating back to his days as an FCS coordinator.

Then he got to face off against Decker and the Monarchs offense with their extremely fast tempo and wide splits a number of times at Marshall and that admiration grew. 

So what else drew Huff to bring Decker to Memphis as his offensive play caller? Well it started with a deep dive into the top offenses at the NFL and all levels of college football and that study.

After opening his answer by letting an f-bomb slip, Huff initially shared it was the points Decker was putting up before adding "I just know every time you turned the TV on, f-ers, excuse me, suckers were running down the field wide open."

That part got edited out of the official presser video shared by Memphis below, but (we provided it as it) provides a true uncensored glimpse into the respect Huff has for his new OC.

"I did a study the year before we won the championship at Marshall, of the top off enses in the country at all level - NFL, college, all levels of college - and what I found was it's all some type of spread offense that's scoring the most points. Not necessarily winning the most games, but scoring the most points consistently."

"So I kind of did a deep dive into some of the coaches and systems that were kind of top of the line. Well, obviously we played ODU three years in a row at the other place, so we went against an offense that was really challenging. You start going around and, you know, there's certain offenses that you know they're good because they got good players, but schematically you know what they're going to do...

"Coach Decker's system does the same thing from a different perspective; it stresses you because it's different. The wide splits, the ability to get in and out of plays, the ability to create space, the ability to get the ball to players in space consistently. When you sit down and you talk with him, the simplicity of it...it's not really that elaborate where the kids have to think a lot, which allows them to play faster, which allows them to play a little bit more freely." 

"When you look at his track record, and you go all the way back to Fordham, that's my litmus test for a coordinator. You know, anybody can go to Texas and have the best players in the country and light it up, right? Anybody can go to one of these schools where they got unbelievable rev-share and collect the best players and light it up. But are you able to do it where resources are limited but the skill level is equal? He's been able to do that all the way from Fordham. Obviously every year at ODU they got better. They were consistent. It wasn't like, 'Hey, just because they had a good quarterback this year they were good.' Every year they were consistent."

"So just going through the last six weeks, and I'm an offensive guy, so you know I look at things offensively, but just going through the last six weeks has been phenomenal just to watch him install. What's really good is his demeanor and disposition with the offensive players, the coaches, the way he manages the day, the way he installs, the way he connects with the players, the way he holds them accountable. I think that's a big piece of it.

"He's not just an X's and O's guy; he's a guy that fully understands what it takes to truly operate and manage the offense. So I've been impressed. He's not going to tell you guys what we do, but I mean he'll tell you guys how we do it as far as what we're trying to do. Obviously you can see that on film, but he's been really consistent and been really good since he's been here." 

Hear more from Huff in the clip.