Michigan associate head coach Biff Poggi, left, talks to running backs coach Tony Alford during the second half of the spring game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, April 19, 2025. Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Michigan football names interim coach during Sherrone Moore's suspension

Originally posted on Michigan Wolverines on SI
By Seth Berry | Last updated Sep 8, 2025 12:58 PM ET

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore has named the interim coach who will take over the team when he is suspended for the Wolverines' Week 3 and 4 games against Central Michigan and Nebraska.

When meeting with reporters on Monday, Moore announced associate head coach Biff Poggi will serve in the head coach role when Moore is serving his suspension. Poggi is in his third stint in Ann Arbor, first coming to Jim Harbaugh's program as an analyst in 2016. In 2021 and 2022, Poggi served as the associate head coach under Harbaugh before taking the head coaching job at Charlotte in 2023.

At Charlotte, Poggi posted a 6-16 record and was relieved from his head coaching duties following a challenging two seasons with the 49ers. This offseason, Moore brought Poggi back on staff to serve in the same role as he was under Harbaugh in 2021 and 2022.

Sherrone Moore says Biff Poggi will be interim head coach but operations will remain the same with the assistants.
— Chris Balas (@Balas_Wolverine) September 8, 2025

Michigan self-imposed a two-game suspension for Sherrone Moore in the offseason as part of the Connor Stalions in-person scouting investigation from the NCAA. Moore's suspension ties back to his deletion of a thread of 52 text messages with Stalions in October of 2023, on the same day media reports revealed Stalions was leading an effort to capture signals from Michigan's future opponents.

The texts were ultimately recovered and Moore subsequently produced them to the NCAA. While the text messages did not reveal Moore had any knowledge of Stalions' scheme, the NCAA docked Moore for a Level II violation and added an additional game suspension for Moore, which he will serve in 2026.

Moore's suspension begins at 12:01 a.m. EST on Saturday, Sept. 13 and ends at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20. During the suspension period, Moore is prohibited from all coaching activities, meaning he will miss this Saturday's game against the Chippewas and the week of preparation leading up to the team's Big Ten opener against Nebraska the following Saturday.

Biff Poggi will serve as Michigan’s interim head coach for the Central Michigan and Nebraska games.

Sherrone Moore’s suspension starts 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 13, and runs through 11:59 p.m. Saturday, September 20.
— Clayton Sayfie (@CSayf23) September 8, 2025

That means Moore will still be with the team at practices this week as the they prepare for Central Michigan, as the Wolverines look for a bounce back after a poor showing at Oklahoma this past weekend.