Topic: Clarification on the Huff contract talks

[Garbanjo]

Lol. On one end I agree with you, Huff himself brought a lot of drama to the equation.

But we do have to admit, he kept a clean program, and many of his players had their head on straight. I don't think enough Marshall fans really appreciate that.

Oh I agree man, and I do wish we could have kept him, but he clearly didn't want to stay at Marshall until he realized his only job offer was the trash job at Southern Miss.

Dude overplayed his hand and we all pay the price, as all we can do is hope Gibson is the real deal at this stage. We have no way of knowing yet if he is a SBC championship level head coach.

 

[MUther]

Lol. On one end I agree with you, Huff himself brought a lot of drama to the equation.

But we do have to admit, he kept a clean program, and many of his players had their head on straight. I don't think enough Marshall fans really appreciate that.

I think we all appreciate it.  But if that was all that mattered we could recruit choirboys to play here.  Pruett had quite a few problems with all the props and NQs but I'd take those teams over most of the teams since then.  2012 offense, '13, '14, '22 defense, and '24 are the only teams I'd stack with Pruett's teams.  Even the lesser performing ones.

[NewfieHerdFan]

If Marshall wanted an exorbitant buyout, and Huff wanted zero, I wonder if there were any "meet in the middle" conversations? I can see both sides. No buyout is crazy and a buyout so high, thus keeping you prisoner somewhere, isn't great, either.

[rileylives]

If Marshall wanted an exorbitant buyout, and Huff wanted zero, I wonder if there were any "meet in the middle" conversations? I can see both sides. No buyout is crazy and a buyout so high, thus keeping you prisoner somewhere, isn't great, either.

Nobody knows. But the only information we've been provided is that talks ended. There were no more meet in the middle conversations.

[HoPPy785]

Smith and spears wanted huff to sign a huge buyout agreement. Huff was smart not too. It wasn't an offer it was joke. Huff laughed and walked as he should have.

What was the huge buyout number? Have a range, a specific number?

[Rockin Herd Fan]

Here's my read on what happened between Huff and MU based on what people have posted. 

Huff has had one foot out of the door from the day he hit campus.  He's contacted multiple schools over the years looking for a new job.  The MU administration got tired of his shenanigans and when they offered him extension, they put in a huge buyout.  Huff's agent countered with no buyout and the two side reached an impasse.  As a result of Marshall having a losing record last season, Spears told Huff that he had to win the SBC championship in order to return.  In the meantime, Huff reached out to S. Miss about their job and the AD of S. Miss did the right thing and asked permission from MU to talk to Huff about the job.  Smith and Spears were blindsided by this and at that point they decided to move on from Huff regardless of the outcome of the season.  Big money donors wanted Gibson to replace Huff and now he is the new head coach. 

[ru4mu2]

See that's the thing that is insane, if true, that Huffs agent came back with a zero buyout offer.

This is a classic case of an agent really botching things for his client. Good deal, I think the more people that see this the more healing will come.

So here are the facts as we know them. We offered Huff two contracts that he turned down between 2021 to 2023, we did not offer him anything all year in 2024, so no talks took place all of 2024. The last time we had conversations on contract talks, we offered a large buyout, they (Huff's agency) countered with a zero buyout proposal.

Huff knew the writing was on the wall at that point, that negotiations completely broke down with Marshall. Which is why he panicked and reached out to Southern Miss or probably others. But we know for a fact Southern Miss.

Does this all seem to track with everybody?

This is not correct.  They met weekly.  Not sure about an offer.  Supposedly an agreement was in place that while they worked on a contract, Huff wouldn't seek other jobs (crazy he'd agree to that) however once he or his agent reached out to USM and USM contacted Spears for permission to speak with Huff,  MU felt the trust was broken and decided to move on. 

[MarshallSteve]

Smith and spears wanted huff to sign a huge buyout agreement. Huff was smart not too. It wasn't an offer it was joke. Huff laughed and walked as he should have.

Wow....you have absolutely no clue.

The beggining of the end for Huff started in 2023. Win or lose he was likely not being offered to come back. Not going to be offered after all the drama and breach of contract type stuff he pulled. Even Huff himself stated he had not been offerred an extension recently. In one of his last press conferences (After he realized he had messed up) he stated he would like to stay with Marshall for another 5-6 years. Basically going public in hopes of getting a deal done with Marshall after realized he had backed himself into a corner. Dont believe me? Go watch the press comference.

The problem for him at that point was that Marshall didnt want him around anymore and had moved on. He was clearly in shock over the ordeal but sometimes thats what you get when you are not as big as you think you are. Its callled reality.

I will always be appreciative of the Notre Dame win and the Sunbelt Championship. That being said, the drama surrounding everything with him is exhausting. And to be quite honest....I think he's just an average coach. Nothing special.

Glad he's moved on and glad we are moving on.

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[Garbanjo]

Wow....you have absolutely no clue.

The beggining of the end for Huff started in 2023. Win or lose he was likely not being offered to come back. Not going to be offered after all the drama and breach of contract type stuff he pulled. Even Huff himself stated he had not been offerred an extension recently. In one of his last press conferences (After he realized he had messed up) he stated he would like to stay with Marshall for another 5-6 years. Basically going public in hopes of getting a deal done with Marshall after realized he had backed himself into a corner. Dont believe me? Go watch the press comference.

The problem for him at that point was that Marshall didnt want him around anymore and had moved on. He was clearly in shock over the ordeal but sometimes thats what you get when you are not as big as you think you are. Its callled reality.

I will always be appreciative of the Notre Dame win and the Sunbelt Championship. That being said, the drama surrounding everything with him is exhausting. And to be quite honest....I think he's just an average coach. Nothing special.

Glad he's moved on and glad we are moving on.

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Spot on

Go Herd!