CHARLOTTE — Charlotte football fans eager to know the successor to fired coach Will Healy don’t have to wait any longer. The program announced on Tuesday afternoon that it has named Francis “Biff” Poggi, associate head coach of the undefeated Michigan Wolverines, as the 49ers’ third head football coach.
Poggi, currently in his third year with the third-ranked Wolverines, has assisted the team to a 10-0 record working under coach Jim Harbaugh this season.
“We are extremely fortunate to welcome Biff Poggi as our head football coach,” Charlotte athletic director Mike Hill said in a press release. “He is a transformational leader and has a sterling reputation as a coach, having had phenomenal success at the highest levels of college and high school football. But he is much more than that. He has demonstrated it by pouring himself into young men and communities, and the results have been spectacular. We are thrilled to have Biff and his wife, Amy, join Niner Nation and the Charlotte community.”
Before his tenure in Michigan, Poggi — a Duke alumnus — found dual success as a hedge fund manager as well as a high school football coach in Baltimore, where he led Gilman School to 13 state titles.
He later founded the football program at Saint Frances Academy and personally funding 65 scholarships as the school became a football powerhouse that was recently chronicled in the HBO documentary “The Cost of Winning.”
Poggi, 63, will be formally introduced as head coach next week.
“Joining the Charlotte 49ers is an incredible opportunity,” Poggi stated in a university announcement. “The great momentum created by the leadership of this University and its athletics program gives us every opportunity to build a successful pathway for so many young men in our region. For me, this is a full circle moment, a chance to pay forward the wonderful opportunities that were given to me as a young man. We can build a championship program at Charlotte, and I can’t wait to get started.”
The Niners (2-9) are currently in last place in Conference USA standings with their final game of the season — at home against Louisiana Tech (3-7) — set for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Richardson Stadium.
Poggi will join Charlotte as it moves to the American Athletic Conference next season.
