Hughes claimed he had finally found a job in which he could make changes from top to bottom like Ferguson was allowed to when he first arrived at Manchester United.
Insisting he had no intention of using Rangers as a stepping stone, Hughes pledged his long-term future to his new employers, declaring he was looking for "longevity" after his controversial decision to quit Fulham last summer.
And while it would be unrealistic to expect Hughes to stick around for the 25 years Ferguson has been in place at Old Trafford, it was the chance to create a similar legacy of his own that lured him to Loftus Road.
"That's the attraction for me," said Hughes, who is expected to have an input into the club's proposed new training ground and stadium.
"When I talk about their ambition, I am talking about their plans for the future, their plans for a training ground and a new stadium and all those things.
"To be at the beginning of that you can have a real influence on that and how they are shaped and that's some kind of legacy.
"As a player, as a manager, you want to make a mark on the game, and in my view this is a fantastic opportunity to be able to do that.
"Other situations and other opportunities I have had in the past prior to this role haven't matched that.
"That is the frustration for me. I have put things in place that I don't get the benefit of, so I would love to have a period of time at a club that wants to do great things, and I would like to drive that."
Hughes arguably had that at Manchester City, whose owners proved even more ambitious than he did and certainly wealthier than QPR supremo Tony Fernandes.
Hughes admitted he "made mistakes" in dealing with City's mega-rich benefactors.
"I can learn from that and I am a better manager now than when I first went through that," he said.
"The lines of communication and the different ways of management, that was a little bit difficult to navigate, but I'm happy with the structure here and I think that it will be more beneficial to me."
It was not lost on Hughes that he is QPR's 13th different manager of the last six years.
"I've noticed," he said. "Perhaps there's a will just to calm things down and back somebody and give someone a chance to actually show what they can do."
Hughes' first priority is to lift Rangers away from the relegation zone, with only a point separating them from the bottom three, and he insisted he would not walk away even if they were relegated.
He was also delighted to be back in the game after seven months away, the same length of time he spent out after leaving City two years ago.
"People talk about a seven-year itch, in football it is seven months," he said.
"First couple of months you can go on your holidays and enjoy it, but very, very quickly you want to get back in and that has certainly been the case with me."
He added of his sabbatical: "I went on a Spanish course. Eight hours a day in a room for five days is agony, but you have to do that kind of thing.
"That will help in talking to players, it is multinational now the Premier League in terms of players. Another string to the bow."
Hughes was linked with plenty of jobs before ending up at QPR, including the vacancies at Aston Villa and Sunderland.
"I don't think the Aston Villa job was ever there anyway," he said. "There were tentative enquiries about a number of positions. But this was the one."
Hughes will not be short of funds to overhaul his squad, but played down talk of £30million to spend in January.
He all but confirmed his interest in Chelsea defender Alex, who Rangers have reportedly made a bid for, but would not be drawn on links with Blackburn's Christopher Samba or Manchester City's Nedum Onuoha.
