Michigan football: Wolverines fall to Oklahoma, 24-13; what it means
Michigan football: Tony Garcia talks the Wolverines’ loss to Oklahoma Sooners, 24-13, on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025.
After months of speculation, Michigan football has named Sherrone Moore’s replacement for his upcoming two-game suspension.
Biff Poggi — the Wolverines‘ associate head coach, Jim Harbaugh’s former right-hand man and formerly the coach at Charlotte — has been tabbed to serve as acting head coach while Moore is banned for Weeks 3 (Central Michigan) and 4 (at Nebraska).
Moore made the announcement Monday, Sept. 8, in Ann Arbor, two days after U-M’s 24-13 loss against Oklahoma in Week 2.
“We’ll operate as a collective unit — Chip (Lindsey) will handle the offense, Wink (Martindale) will handle the defense, JB (Brown) will handle special teams, but the overall operation, Coach Poggi will stand in as interim,” Moore said. “It’ll flow like normal. Obviously, I won’t be on the sideline and be there, but how we handle gamedays … our players, they’ll be ready to go.”
Moore said of Poggi’s day-to-day, “if I’m in a meeting, he’s in a meeting,” and that he’s constantly taking notes as Moore does. Poggi meets with the offense, defense and special teams, helps build the schedules and is as integrated in team-wide decisions as Moore.
The biggest difference this week other than Moore’s absence? Poggi will now wear the headset during the game.
Who is Biff Poggi?
Poggi, 66, previously worked for Michigan as an analyst in 2016 and then as associate head coach in 2021-22. He left Michigan to work as Charlotte’s coach in 2023-24, but was fired in November with two games remaining.
Though he has been at the collegiate level for more than a decade, Poggi has more experience running a program in high school, where he grew the Baltimore-based Gilman School (1996-2015) and Saint Frances Academy (2017-20) into national powerhouses.
“Great being ‘back home’ at Michigan,” Poggi posted on social media in November. “The players, coaches, staff, administration and fans were so welcoming. It feels great to have a football home. It all started years ago with my son Henry Poggi’s career as a player and my great friend Jim Harbaugh. Special people and place.”
The move makes sense for several reasons: Poggi is intimately familiar with U-M’s gameday operations, and like Moore, worked closely with Harbaugh, so the two likely have similar philosophies on how to approach the game.
“Obviously he’s been in the program before,” Moore said of the decision. “He was a huge help for me when I was brought in as O-line coach at first, and just has a general feeling of how the program goes, the knowledge of the players specifically was huge.
“Then obviously the experience as a high school head coach, as a (college) head coach, but just in general, his love for the players, importantly, his knowledge of everybody in our building and keeping the cohesion in the building was huge.”
Also importantly, neither Lindsey nor Martindale will have to add additional duties; they can focus on installing gameplans and calling plays.
Moore said that was a factor, having himself stepped in as acting coach before — he took over for Harbaugh in the final three games of the 2023 regular season. He felt there was a lot on his plate acting as both the coach and a play-caller.
“Wanted our coordinators to be able to do what they do, you know, and continue their jobs as they go through the season,” he said. “Let me come back and let there be no hiccups, and not have to do anything extra. And I think that’s gonna be important so that they can do that at a high level.”
Biff Poggi coaching record at Charlotte
Poggi has experience leading a Football Bowl Subdivision program, though his 49ers didn’t fare well, going 6-16, including a 4-10 mark in the American Athletic Conference.
He was fired with two games remaining in the 2024 season.
When does Sherrone Moore suspension start?
The NCAA has changed its rules on suspensions since, with suspensions covering the entire week before a game.
However, Moore’s suspension officially begins Saturday, so he will be allowed at the practice facility this week. He will be banned for all practices leading into the Week 4 game at Nebraska to open the Wolverines’ Big Ten Conference schedule. Michigan has a Week 5 bye.
Moore is also suspended for Week 1 of the 2026 season, likely to be played in Frankfurt, Germany, against Western Michigan, though Michigan is appealing the ruling which was handed down last month by the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions.
Whether or not that is upheld or amended, it remains unique that Moore’s suspension was hand-picked by the Wolverines for Weeks 3 and 4 of the season, as opposed to the first games of the year, which is standard.
Moore is an alumnus of Oklahoma, so he wanted to make sure he was available for that game. He commented Monday on how the decision was made.
“It was a collective decision with us and me and Warde (Manuel),” Moore said. “Making sure that, especially new team, new offense, new defensive people … I wanted to be there for that to be there to keep that cohesion in the first couple games. So that was the main reason.”
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
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