Biff Poggi is UM’s interim coach while Sherrone Moore serves two-game suspension.
Biff Poggi is UM’s interim coach while Sherrone Moore serves two-game suspension.
Ann Arbor — Michigan associate head coach Biff Poggi will be Michigan’s acting head coach the next two games while Sherrone Moore serves a two-game self-imposed suspension.
Moore was penalized by the NCAA and given a three-game suspension that includes the first game of the 2026 season, stemming from an impermissible scouting scheme the NCAA began investigating in mid-October 2023. Moore deleted a thread of 52 text messages with Connor Stalions, the architect of the scheme. Moore also was given a two-year show-cause order.
Moore, who had been mum for weeks on who would replace him the next two games, shared the decision Monday. During the 2023 season, Moore was acting head coach for four games during the regular season while then-head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended, and Moore was also coordinating the offense and coaching the offensive line. That went into Moore’s decision-making for a replacement, because he didn’t want offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Chip Lindsey and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale to have too much on their plates.
“It’ll flow like normal,” Moore said Monday at his weekly news conference. “Obviously I won’t be on the sideline and be there, but how we handle game days with Chip handling offense and Wink handling the defense and J.B. (Brown) handling the special teams will feel the same and our players will be ready to go.”
Moore can coach the team until 12:01 a.m. the day of the Central Michigan game, according to the NCAA punishment. The Wolverines (1-1) are coming off a 24-13 loss at Oklahoma last Saturday night. The loss dropped them eight spots in the AP poll to No. 23.
“I’ll be here, so I’ll be coaching. I’ll be coaching hard,” Moore said. “This week is about the how; it’s not necessarily the what. We’re going to really attack all the details. (Poggi’s) always with me, he’s always around me, so he’s in all the meetings. He’s right there by my side, so he sees it. He understands exactly how I feel, and obviously he’s not me, but the players have a lot of respect for Biff, and they love Biff. They love being around Biff. So we’ll continue to work in that direction.”
Michigan and Moore chose Games 3 and 4 — against Central Michigan this Saturday and the Big Ten opener at Nebraska the following week — as those he will miss. Moore said he and athletic director Warde Manuel discussed how the suspension should be handled.
“It was a collective decision just making sure that, especially, new team, new offense, new defensive people … I wanted to be there for that to keep that cohesion in the first couple games,” Moore said. “That was the main reason.”
Poggi, 66, was hired in February as associate head coach. He was an analyst on Harbaugh’s staff in 2016 and after spending three seasons coaching St. Frances Academy, the high school program in Baltimore, he returned to join Harbaugh as his associate head coach in 2021 and 2022.
After leaving Michigan, Poggi became the head coach at Charlotte but was fired last November after going 6-16 in two seasons.
“Obviously, he’s been in the program before,” Moore said of Poggi. “He was a huge help for me when I was the coordinator, O-line coach at first, and just a general feeling of how the program goes. The knowledge of the players, specifically, was huge. And then his experience as a high school head coach, as a 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. And I also wanted our coordinators to be able to do what they do and continue their jobs as they go through the season. 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.”
On a daily basis, Moore said he and Poggi are together going to meetings, taking notes and he understands how Moore operates. Poggi also interacts with the players every day.
“Coach Poggi is just another one of the OGs,” receiver Donaven McCulley said Monday. “Everything he says we take into account and really listen to it and really try to apply it every single day, whatever he says. So Coach Poggi is great.”
Moore will first miss the game against CMU, a program where he coached the tight ends from 2014-17, but he has not decided how he will watch the game. He can’t have any contact with the team beginning at 12:01 a.m. Saturday until after the game at Nebraska.
“As far as how I’m going to watch the game, I have no idea yet,” Moore said. “I haven’t even thought about it, but I can imagine, since I’ve already talked to half the team from after the game until now, that they’re gonna be fired up and ready to go, no pun intended for the Chips. They’ll be excited. They’ve all have voiced their opinions of how they feel about everything and what they want to do. I continue to say, like guys, you’re not playing this game for me, you’re not going to win it for me, go win it for yourself, go win it for Michigan and for the goals that you guys have set. They’ll be excited, ready to play.”
Max Bredeson, a two-time captain who plays fullback/tight end, was asked last month during camp about not having Moore on the sideline for two games. He was also asked Saturday after the Oklahoma loss and reiterated his thoughts.
“I love Coach Moore,” Bredeson said in August. “Electric. Always good to have on the sideline, but I told him (this) too, I’ve never played a snap with him. I’m ready to play.”
Injury updates
Starting left guard Gio El-Hadi is “day-to-day,” Moore said on Monday, and the progress of defensive back Zeke Berry, who suffered a “mild” lower-body injury but was jogging on the sideline in the second half at Oklahoma, will be monitored this week. Berry did not return to the game and Moore said that was more of a precautionary move.
Tight end Marlin Klein was in uniform and his right ankle was heavily taped but did not play against Oklahoma.
“Marlin’s looking better, so we’ll see what he can do this week,” Moore said. “I think he’ll practice a little bit Tuesday and Wednesday, and then we’ll go from there.”
Safety and two-time captain Rod Moore, who hasn’t played since suffering a knee injury in March 2024, was in uniform at Oklahoma but did not play. He could make his return against CMU on Saturday.
“We think there’s a good chance that Rod could play this week,” Sherrone Moore said. “We’ve been very cautious with him. No one knows their body like Rod. He wanted to play in that game, believe me. But high probability that Rod Moore plays in the game on Saturday, but we’ll see. We want to make sure he feels right.”
Rod Moore had surgery in April 2024 for an anterior cruciate ligament tear and then last December underwent surgery to repair a meniscus tear.
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