Less than two months after Charles Huff was announced as the 23rd head coach in Southern Miss football history, the new staff joining the Maryland native in Hattiesburg is complete.
Former Southern Miss offensive coordinator and Utah State head coach Blake Anderson was the first on-field staff addition when he was tabbed to run the Golden Eagle offense. But compiling the remainder of the staff became a more gradual process. A series of names headed to Hattiesburg were whisked away to Power 4 programs like Arizona and Oklahoma State.
Now, Huff has his guys.
Jason Semore – Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
Semore is one of multiple staff members to trail Huff’s move from Marshall to Southern Miss. He will hold the same position he coached in Huntington in 2023 and 2024.
In last year’s campaign, the Semore-coached Thundering Herd defense ranked No. 11 nationally in 3rd down defense, No. 22 in sacks (2.77), No. 26 in tackles for loss per game (6.8), and No. 34 in turnovers gained. Marshall finished top 25 in those same categories in Semore’s first season in 2023, in addition to having the No. 9 red zone defense.
Semore came to Marshall by way of Georgia Tech, where he spent three seasons as the linebackers coach and a defensive analyst.
Joe Bolden – Special Teams Coordinator
Bolden was one of the final pieces to be added to the staff, joining Huff after coaching the special teams units at Tulsa the past two seasons. He also coached the JACKS linebacker position and was the co-defensive run game coordinator in 2024.
Last season, Bolden guided the Golden Hurricane to the second-highest average return yards per game mark (28.44 yards per attempt) in America, along with ranking No. 25 in DI FBS for punt returns and No. 43 for kick returns.
Before his time at Tulsa, Bolden worked as the special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach at Nevada. The former Michigan linebacker also spent two seasons at Ohio State as a defensive quality control coach, helping the Buckeyes to a College Football Playoff championship game and the Rose Bowl.
Dominique Bowman – Defensive Backs
Bowman reunites with Huff after spending the 2021 season at Marshall as the defensive backs coach.
After one year in Huntington, Bowman coached cornerbacks at Arkansas under Sam Pittman and Barry Odom in 2022. He most recently coached cornerbacks, safeties, and defensive backs at Temple from 2023-24.
In 2021, Marshall’s pass defense ranked No. 28 in the nation and second in Conference USA – allowing just 204.6 yards per contest.
The Memphis native began his coaching career at Cordova High School and played under Hugh Freeze at NAIA Lambuth University.
Taveze Calhoun – Cornerbacks
The former Mississippi State and Brandon High School star will add some Magnolia State familiarity to Huff’s staff.
Calhoun got his start as a defensive backs graduate assistant under Mike Leach in Starkville before a move to West Georgia in 2024 to serve as cornerbacks coach.
Sean Coughlin – Offensive Line
Coughlin brings a wealth of collegiate coaching experience to Hattiesburg – 24 years total – at both the FBS and FCS levels.
The Illinois native spent the last four years as Eastern Michigan’s assistant head coach and offensive line coach. Before his time in Ypsilanti, Coughlin coached in the same position at Sun Belt peer Arkansas State for two seasons and worked for 13 years as the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Missouri State.
The Eastern Michigan rushing attack thrived under Coughlin, leading the MAC in rushing touchdowns in 2023 and notching top-tier scoring offenses in all four years. Coughlin also constructed multiple top 15 passing offenses at Arkansas State (2019, 2020) along with developing multiple offensive line draft picks.
Brandon Deadrick – Defensive Line
Deaderick didn’t have to go far for his next coaching role after working as a defensive analyst for Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss from 2023-24. Before the stop in Oxford, Deaderick served as the defensive line coach at East Mississippi Community College from 2020-22 after three seasons at Tennessee as an analyst.
While Deaderick has never worked as an on-field coach and recruiter at the Division I FBS level, his reputation as a coach is quickly catching up to his notoriety as a standout defensive end at Alabama and in the NFL. The Virginia native spent seven years playing at the professional ranks for five different teams, including competing in Super Bowl XLVI for the New England Patriots.
Aaron Dobson – Wide Receivers
Another former NFL standout and Marshall staffer, Dobson will coach the same position as he did in Huntington for the 2024 Sun Belt championship season.
Dobson spent two years at Marshall, first as an offensive analyst before being promoted to the position coach role last season.
The West Virginia leaves his home state for the first time in his young coaching career. And like Deaderick, will bring the benefit of a multi-year career in pro football to Hattiesburg.
Telly Lockette – Running Backs
Lockette is yet another addition bringing Sun Belt title experience to south Mississippi after coaching under Huff the past four years at Marshall.
He guided the conference-leading rushing attack in 2024, a unit that ranked No. 19 nationally at 201.7 yards per game. In Huntington, standout running backs Khalan Laborn (2023) and Rasheen Ali (2022) logged seasons that ranked top 10 in FBS for total rushing yards and rushing touchdowns.
Before coaching at Marshall, Lockette spent two years as an analyst at Miami (2020), two years as the tight ends coach at Florida State (2018-19), three seasons coaching running backs at Oregon State (2015-17), and three seasons as the running backs coach at South Florida (2012-14).
In 2016 at Oregon State, Lockette directed a rushing attack that broke the school’s single-season record with an average of 5.2 yards per carry. That season, the Beavers ranked fourth in the Pac-12 and 28th in the country in yards per rush.
Dalton Williams – Tight Ends
Williams is the second assistant getting his first swing as a position coach in FBS football.
He most recently worked as an offensive analyst for two seasons at Texas, helping the Longhorns to two College Football Playoff semifinal appearances in 2023 and 2024. Prior to his time in Austin, Williams coached under Huff as an offensive quality control coach at Marshall (2022) after working as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Dean College in 2021.
The former Stephen F. Austin quarterback also worked as a graduate assistant at West Virginia from 2016-17 and as an offensive quality control coach at Akron from 2013-15.
The Charles Huff era will begin on August 30th at M.M. Roberts Stadium against Mississippi State. A kickoff time for the season-opening showdown is yet to be announced.
