Michigan will be under new leadership this week, as Biff Poggi takes over for Sherrone Moore following the latter’s continued suspension from the sidelines. The interim HC comes with a not-so-flattering resume when it comes to college football head coaching. But he sure does know Michigan from the inside out, being Jim Harbaugh’s second-in-command previously. He might be the reason why Michigan’s 2023 Natty came in the first place, despite largely being a relatively silent figure in the larger scheme of things.

Poggi is a famous name in the high school circuit of Baltimore. He was the head coach of Gillman High football for 19 years, where he had a 135-43 record. The school won 13 national championships during his tenure. He’s a man whose high school resume commands respect. Jim Harbaugh reached out to him, out of the blue, via a phone call. Poggi ultimately met him in the Citrus Bowl game against Florida in January 2016. “It was kind of love ever after that,” Poggi said of their dynamic. Those words weren’t thrown around just like that. He has relatively kept himself away from the limelight at Michigan. But he might as well just be the man behind the levers, like in the Wizard of Oz.

Joel Klatt spoke about the day-night difference in Harbaugh before and after COVID in a September 17 appearance on CFB on FOX. “What Jim did post-COVID wasn’t about football. It was about people,” the analyst noted. Poggi might have been the whisperer who made it all possible.

“One of the things that they did is they would meet multiple times a day. And Jim would say like, ‘Hey, this is how I’m feeling, Biff. I really loved the way the kids practice. Like, I love that.’ And Biff would be like, ‘Tell them. Tell them authentically from your heart,” Klatt noted. According to him, Harbaugh went from being a “standoffish” guy before COVID to someone who was “open” and “authentic.”

Poggi is regarded as Harbaugh’s “right hand,” which is why his contributions to Michigan football should be regarded on a serious note. He might have been the reason why the Wolverines shot up to 12-2 in 2021 – the year Poggi returned to the coaching staff—from their 2-4 record in 2020. “Those meetings [with Poggi] changed Jim Harbaugh into a player’s coach, with football foundation principles that would win,” Klatt added. That push from the interim HC snowballed into Michigan football winning the natty in 2023, after a 15-year wait.

Poggi has been in football coaching for a long time. He steps in for Sherrone Moore with very little head coaching experience after the tough Oklahoma loss. But Poggi has contributed to building the modern-day glory of Michigan football.

Biff Poggi will be Jim Harbaugh’s ride-or-die

When Jim Harbaugh tried to get him on board all those years ago, Poggi was very iffy about it. “Why don’t you come up and join the staff?” the former HC persisted even when Poggi made it clear that he was still very much employed. His son came to Michigan football as a walk-on player in 2019. And after that, Ann Arbor became home for the interim HC. He rose up the ranks quickly, given his sheer experience. In time, he became one of Harbaugh’s closest confidantes. Poggi even stood up for him when the sign-stealing controversy broke out.

“I have been quiet on the Michigan situation but no longer. I was closer to Jim Harbaugh over the last three years than anyone except his wife and kids. If Jim knew, I would have known. I didn’t know, and neither did he. I stake my reputation on it. Stop whining and get a better team,” Poggi wrote on X in light of the sign-stealing scandal. We need nothing more to gauge how significant the dynamic between the two had become. This was also at a time when Poggi was not even with Michigan—he was the head coach of a college football program for the first time, at Charlotte.

“[Poggi’s] kind of like the consigliere,” former Michigan DC and current Seahawks HC, Mike Macdonald, told The Athletic. “He’s really the only guy that is willing to hash it out with [Harbaugh],” he added. It’s often the silent partners in something as big as Michigan football that end up being its biggest saviors. That’s often without them even realizing it. Biff Poggi will take on the mammoth task of leading the Wolverines against Nebraska now after beating Central Michigan.