Biff Poggi
Francis Xavier "Biff" Poggi is an American football coach and former player. He was most recently the interim head coach at the University of Michigan, a position he was promoted to after the firing of head coach Sherrone Moore. Biff rejoined the program in 2025 at the same role he held from 2021 to 2022. From 2023 to 2024, he was the head football coach at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Poggi also coached over twenty years of high school football at Gilman School and Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore.
Early life and playing career
Poggi grew up in Baltimore's Little Italy neighborhood as a son of a pharmacist. Poggi graduated in 1979 from Gilman School in Baltimore. He played for the Pitt Panthers in 1979 and later transferred to Duke where he graduated in 1985. He started out as an assistant with various college programs, working with future NFL coach Bruce Arians, before leaving college coaching after his mother was diagnosed with cancer.High school coaching career
Poggi entered high school coaching as a volunteer with his alma mater, the Gilman School, while working a day job in finance. In 1996 he was promoted to head coach until he left to begin as an analyst at Michigan. As head coach of Gilman he won 13 conference championships and was the winningest coach in school history. After one year at Michigan, he returned to Baltimore as the head football coach of Saint Frances, where he also donated equipment, provided scholarships, and paid tutors and cooks for the team.College coaching career
Poggi got his first win as an NCAA head coach at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte against South Carolina State in his first game on September 2, 2023. Poggi recorded his first FBS and conference win on October 21, a 10–7 road win over in-state rival East Carolina. Charlotte fired Poggi with two games remaining in the 2024 season. Tim Brewster succeeded him as interim head coach. In 2025, Poggi returned to the University of Michigan as an associate coach under Sherrone Moore, a position he held there from 2021 to 2022 under former head coach Jim Harbaugh. He was first hired by the Wolverines as an analyst in 2016, serving for one season under Harbaugh before he returned to coach high school football the next four seasons.During the 2025 season, Poggi served as the interim head coach for Michigan's wins against Central Michigan and Nebraska in late September while head coach Sherrone Moore was serving a suspension. On December 10, Poggi was again named interim head coach, being promoted for the 2025 Citrus Bowl after Moore was fired.
Personal life
In 1985, Poggi was engaged to Amelia Jean "Amy" Mix, a fellow member of Duke University's class of 1985. The couple were married on March 8, 1986, at St. Helena's Episcopal Church in Beaufort, South Carolina. The Poggis have three sons and two daughters. Henry Poggi played as a fullback at Michigan and was one reason Poggi restarted his college career there. Both daughters also attended Michigan.Before coaching football, Poggi was a hedge fund manager with his father-in-law. Poggi's company, Samuel James Limited, was founded in 1986 and made him a multimillionaire. After three decades, Poggi relinquished the firm over to multiple former players.
The nickname "Biff" dates from his childhood and was selected by his older brother after "Spike" was vetoed by their mother.