Long before Biff Poggi made his way into national headlines this week in the wake of Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore’s termination, the former Gilman and Saint Frances coach was a larger-than-life figure in the Baltimore area.

The 65-year-old was named interim coach of the Wolverines, the University of Michigan said Wednesday. Moore was fired after a university investigation found he had had an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.

Poggi has been at Michigan for a handful of stints, first as an analyst in 2016 and as associate head coach in 2021 and 2022, both times under coach Jim Harbaugh. The Baltimore native returned to Michigan this year, again as associate head coach.

Here are five things to know about Poggi.

He took his alma mater to new heights

Poggi, who played football for Gilman before graduating in 1979 and going on to play at Pittsburgh and Duke, is widely considered the most successful high school football coach in Baltimore. He led Gilman to 13 Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association titles in 19 seasons, keeping the Greyhounds in the national spotlight.

He was head coach at the Roland Park private school from 1996-2015, amassing a 139-40 record.

Some called his coaching style “The Poggi Way,” and not all meant it as praise. Poggi faced criticism for bringing players from out of state, including Virginia and Delaware, with some suggesting the coach’s drive to win trumped the development of young athletes. His methods — and partnership with a former Colts player turned minister, Joe Ehrmann — became the subject of a New York Times bestseller, “Season of Life.”

He had a finance business and was a hedge fund manager

Before turning to coaching, Poggi, whose full name is Francis Xavier Poggi, had a successful finance career and launched the investment management firm Samuel James Limited in 1986. He credits his father-in-law with walking him through all things Wall Street, stocks and commodities, he told ESPN in 2018.

In a year, Poggi grew a modest fund into six figures, according to ESPN. Three decades later, he was investing in real estate, biotech and energy distribution. He later hired three of his coaches to work for him full time at the investment firm.

He invested a lot of money in the high school programs he coached

Poggi was known for making financial contributions to the football program at Gilman. He is also credited with helping Saint Frances Academy, a historically Black Catholic high school in Johnston Square, where he was coach from 2017-20, become a national powerhouse.

In 2008, while still coaching Gilman, Poggi wrote a $60,000 check to establish the football program at Saint Frances, reported The Catholic Review. By 2018, Poggi told ESPN, he had spent more than $2.5 million of his own money building the program.

Poggi told The Catholic Review in 2018 that the East Baltimore school seemed to be “a place that was making a big impact in the lives of a good number of kids who didn’t have much.” He also funded the hiring of an SAT specialist for the school and helped several players financially during the academic year and summer school, according to ESPN.

He had a close relationship with Jim Harbaugh

Poggi was instrumental as the associate head coach of the Wolverines after a disastrous 2020 season, according to The Athletic. Part of that meant being unafraid to be blunt with Harbaugh.

Harbaugh, the brother of Ravens coach John Harbaugh, sought Poggi out after the Wolverines went 2-4 and lost three games by double digits in the 2020 season, cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. Poggi was credited with uniting players and coaches as Michigan went on to win back-to-back Big Ten titles.

“The most important thing was, Jim trusted Biff to go in the coach’s office and close the door and tell him what he doesn’t want to hear,” a former Poggi co-worker told The Athletic.

Poggi returned to Michigan, which was dealing with the loss of Harbaugh to the NFL and a sign-stealing scandal, as associate head coach in spring 2025. He coached the Wolverines in two games against Central Michigan and Nebraska that season while Moore served a suspension. Michigan beat both.

He was fired from Charlotte after not meeting expectations

Poggi left Gilman to be an analyst for Michigan in 2016, which he described as an “agonizing decision.” He also received an offer to coach at Maryland but ultimately went for the Ann Arbor school because his son, Henry Poggi, played for the team as a fullback. His daughter was a member of the Michigan crew team, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Poggi left the job after a year to coach at Saint Frances, which he quickly built into a nationally relevant program (local teams began refusing to schedule the Panthers).

He returned to Michigan again in 2020 but then was hired as the head coach at Charlotte. However, the “on-field results” fell short, according to The Athletic. He had a 6-16 record and was fired before the end of the 2024 season.