Memphis Tigers Head Coach Charles Huff Bans Lil Baby and NBA YoungBoy From Practice, Citing “Navy SEAL” Focus
The Memphis Tigers are officially under new management, and head football coach Charles Huff is already setting a strictly business tone for his spring practices. One of his first major culture shifts? Unplugging the aux cord.
During a recent press conference, Huff made it abundantly clear that music, specifically tracks by hip-hop stars Lil Baby and NBA YoungBoy, has no place on his practice field. For the newly minted head coach, hitting the gridiron is a serious operation, and he expects his players to treat it with military-level precision.
“When the Navy SEALs get ready to go do a mission, they’re not listening to Lil Baby,” Huff told reporters. “When they train to go to war, which we’re training to go to war, they ain’t listening to NBA YoungBoy.”
Haha Love it! never change! I know firsthand the kind of impact he has on you as a man and how he brings greatness out of you https://t.co/a6v7uhGROH
— Saquon Barkley (@saquon) March 29, 2026
Huff, who previously served as the associate head coach and running backs coach under Nick Saban at Alabama, credited the legendary coach for instilling this no-nonsense approach. According to Huff, the goal of practice is laser focus and execution, not enjoying a customized team playlist.
“Coach Saban trained us like that. We should be focused on what it takes to execute the next play, not who’s on the aux, who’s pressing play,” Huff explained. “I’ve never seen the military get ready to go on a crucial war mission and NBA YoungBoy is playing in their heads or in the background.”
He elaborated that if a player requires a soundtrack to find their motivation, they might not be the right fit for the rigorous culture he is building at Memphis. “If I got to play music to get you to play the game you love at a high level, we’ve got the wrong guys,” he stated flatly.
Beyond the philosophical approach, Huff’s music ban is rooted in practical game preparation. College football teams only get 15 allotted spring practice sessions, and Huff believes every second counts. If players have enough downtime to dance and sing between reps, he argued, the team simply isn’t moving at a fast enough tempo.
More importantly, Huff wants his practices to mirror the exact environment his players will face in the stadium. He said that the discipline of tucking in shirts, running through the lines, and operating without music is all about building game-day habits.
“When the ball snaps in the game and it’s 50,000 people yelling, NBA YoungBoy ain’t playing,” Huff pointed out. “We need to try to replicate game-like situations. Everything we do in practice is replicated in a game… I’ve never heard NBA YoungBoy or Lil Baby playing on third down. All I’ve heard is the fans yelling, and I should be zoned in on my task.”
While the strict, a cappella policy might seem a bit old-school in the modern era of college football, it has already received a massive endorsement from one of the NFL’s biggest stars. Running back Saquon Barkley, who was coached by Huff during their time together at Penn State, took to X to share his full approval of the viral press conference.
Retweeting the video, Barkley wrote: “Haha Love it! never change! I know firsthand the kind of impact he has on you as a man and how he brings greatness out of you.”
With a proven track record of developing elite talent and successfully turning programs around, Huff’s methods clearly yield results. Memphis fans are hoping that trading in hip-hop for hard counts will be the exact formula needed to bring a championship to the Bluff City.
