FRISCO, Texas — Ryan Silverfield was drenched, head to toe, in gallons of iced coffee.
It’s not what anyone pictures during those workouts in January, those nights spent in the spring scheming plays and making roster decisions. It wasn’t what anyone expected in August, when Memphis football began its most highly anticipated season with dreams of the College Football Playoff, dreams of a road game in December in Austin or Columbus or State College.
But Silverfield was standing in the center of the Toyota Stadium field, the aroma of coffee radiating everywhere, and he was beaming.
“It was actually refreshing,” he said a few minutes later. “It smells delicious.”
His team had just held on to beat West Virginia 42-37 in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl, earning the Tigers their 11th win of the season and Silverfield the celebratory coffee bath. It was actually an upgrade over what happened around this time last season, when the celebratory Gatorade bath after their AutoZone Liberty Bowl win over Iowa State went awry and ended up with Silverfield bleeding from a gash caused by the cooler.
Those two wins were similar in a few ways. Memphis’ offense was dynamic against two Big 12 opponents. And the defense came up with key plays both games. Against West Virginia, it was a wild play that sealed the game, where linebacker Elijah Herring intercepted quarterback Garrett Greene’s pass, then fumbled on the return but was later ruled to have been down as he initiated a slide.
There was one major difference, though — last year’s win was about the future, about the players Memphis was bringing back in 2024 and the expectations in the first year of the expanded playoff. Tuesday’s win was about the past, about quarterback Seth Henigan’s impact on the program through four highly productive years.
“It’s meant the world to me,” Henigan said. “Just to be able to go out with a win, I feel like that’s a good way to cap off a pretty good career. And having stayed at the same university four years, I mean, I hope that’s a testament about who I am and about who the people around me are.”
He threw for 294 yards and two touchdowns against West Virginia. That moved him up to No. 13 on the NCAA all-time passing yards list, and it moved him into a tie with Clayton Tune for most touchdown passes in AAC history.
Henigan and this Memphis senior class never made it to an AAC title game. This was his best chance, the best roster Silverfield has put together, with the most experience, and with playoff access finally a reality for teams in the Group of Five. Teams with realistic playoff expectations don’t want to end their season at a soccer stadium in Frisco.
Still, that roster won 11 games and showed it could hang with anyone. It also gave Henigan the chance to celebrate a bowl win in front of friends and family just minutes from his hometown in nearby Denton.
He was the first quarterback Silverfield recruited. Silverfield installed Henigan as the starter when he was a true freshman, riding through the mistakes and believing that the kid from Denton who’d just won a state title could eventually be the Tigers’ standard-bearer.
“There’ll never be another Seth Henigan,” Silverfield said. “And that’s OK.”
It’s almost cruel that a few hours later, Silverfield would be meeting with recruits back on campus. Life moves fast in college football, and by the time he landed in Memphis early on Wednesday, he’ll have had to move on from Henigan.
“I’m going to enjoy these last few minutes with him,” Silverfield said.
The story of Henigan’s legacy will be ever-changing. Fans might look back in a few years or in a few decades and view his career differently. Will there ever be another four-year starter for an FBS team? Will anyone break all those records Henigan worked so hard to set?
One of the many complicated parts of Henigan’s legacy is the fact that he changed his jersey number every year. No. 14 was the wide-eyed freshman who had to learn on the job. No. 5 was the sophomore who went 6-6 again and had fans wondering about his development. No. 2 became the all-time leading passer in program history.
No. 9 was the grown-up version of all of them, smiling as he celebrated one last win.
Silverfield said he hopes Memphis can honor Henigan by retiring his number at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium — or, one of his numbers.
Linebacker Chandler Martin, who also etched himself into Tigers’ lore the past two seasons, leaned over from his seat on the other side of the table and offered a different idea.
“A statue,” he said.
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
