Standing at a podium with the American Conference logo front and center in St. Petersburg, Florida, on July 24, Memphis football coach Charles Huff made it very clear that he hopes he'll eventually be standing at a different podium with a different conference logo on it.
"I'm in the best situation possible," he said. "I'm in a vehicle that has the resources and has the platform and has the opportunity to continue to grow. So hopefully I'll be standing here one more or two more or 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. I can't speak about anyone
else's vehicle. But the vehicle I'm in, I feel really good about."
Even if the setting was unique — saying at a conference's media days that you want to be in a different conference — the sentiment was hardly new. Huff has been open since he arrived in Memphis that he fully supports the Tigers' long-term goal: To get into a power conference.
He's not the only one. Athletic director Ed Scott addressed it at his introductory news conference and has repeatedly brought it up since. And it's not going away. At a news conference back in Memphis on July 28, Huff made it known that he's going to keep talking about his hopes for Memphis' long-term future.
Memphis tried and failed to join the Big 12 in summer 2025. That was at least the fourth time the Tigers have tried to join the Big 12, but they believe they're now in a better spot when it comes to realignment conversations.
For years, Memphis believed there were three main elements that were holding the school back: A football team that had struggled historically, a stadium that badly needed renovations, and a university that didn't have high enough academic standards. All three have improved in the past decade-plus, with the $226 million renovations to Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium expected to be completed ahead of the Tigers' home opener against Arkansas State on Sept. 5.
"If we don't win, we ain't going nowhere," Huff said. "Let's throw that out there. But if you don't speak those things that are not as if they are, you'll never get there. So we're going to talk about it. Now, we understand that there's work that has to come with that. But we're not going to shy away from our goals. No disrespect to a conference, no disrespect to our opponents, we've got work to do. But I believe in: You speak those things that are not as which they are and they'll come true. You trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding.
"Because our own understanding would be 'little old Memphis can't go to a Power Four conference.' Our own understanding would be we tried to go to a Power Four conference before and it didn't work so we shouldn't try again.
"Well, I don't believe that. I believe God's timing wasn't ready for us to go the last time we tried to go. And there were things we needed to do to get ready. Stadium, new coach, new team, city on fire. Everyone believing that this is reality. The actual time of the conference realignment fitting where we should be, not where we were able to go at that time. That's just what I believe when I wake up every day."
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Why Memphis football coach Charles Huff is so open about conference realignment goal
