Ex-Michigan interim HC Biff Poggi reveals how close he came to landing job

Biff Poggi gave his side of the Michigan Wolverines’ most recent head coaching search in an interview released Thursday on Stadium & Main, the Blue By Ninety show hosted by sports journalist Jordan Strack and former Michigan captain Chris Wormley.

Poggi coached the team through its bowl game as interim head coach after Sherrone Moore was fired last December, and he made no secret at the time that he wanted the job for good.

“I was a finalist, it came down to me and Kyle. It was hard because I really thought I was going to get it. I had four interviews, they all went really well, I was getting really positive feedback from the search guy. It was all going very well. We were also the players’ favorite, and that doesn’t always mean that’s the right thing. But what was disappointing was that I wasn’t going to be around those kids anymore,” Poggi told Strack.

Biff Poggi told us it came down to him & Kyle Whittingham for the Michigan job.

He had a ton to say. Check it all out.

Watch the full episode here: https://t.co/iou1j9B1hP https://t.co/AwTKDLMJvm

— Jordan Strack (@JordanStrack) November 5, 2026

Poggi had led those players twice, going 2-0 as acting head coach while Moore served a two-game suspension early in the 2025 season. He was back on the sideline for the 41-27 Citrus Bowl loss to the Texas Longhorns, by which point Michigan had already hired Kyle Whittingham.

Whittingham brought a 177-88 record from 21 seasons with the Utah Utes. Poggi’s only college head coaching job, with the Charlotte 49ers, ended in a midseason firing in 2024 with a 6-16 record.

Michigan is 5-3 overall and 2-3 in Big Ten play in Whittingham’s first season, and all three losses were decided by seven points or fewer: 20-19 to the Iowa Hawkeyes, 20-14 at the Minnesota Golden Gophers and 13-6 in overtime to the Indiana Hoosiers. The offense topped out at 19 points in those games. A finalist who, by his own account, had four strong interviews and the locker room behind him hands Michigan fans a ready-made what-if for each of those near misses.

How Poggi handled losing out to Kyle Whittingham

“And then you quickly transition to, ‘Well, too bad. Who cares? You’re an old fart, who cares about what you think?’ You’ve got to support this program now because these are the kids you care about, and you can’t be, like, putting a divorce into the family. You’ve got to jump all in and support this guy. And that’s what I tried to do,” Poggi said.

He backed Whittingham publicly once the hire was announced, writing that Michigan football was in great hands, and he confirmed after the Citrus Bowl that he would not be part of the new staff. Big Ten Network then added him as a studio analyst for the 2026 season.

The Maryland Terrapins fired Mike Locksley on Oct. 21 after a 2-5 start, and Poggi, a Baltimore native who built Gilman School and St. Frances Academy into high school powers, made his interest in the opening known the next day.

“Yeah, I really would like the job,” Poggi told The Baltimore Sun’s Michael Howes.

Maryland has not named Locksley’s replacement, and Poggi’s account of reaching the final two at Michigan after four interviews is now on the record for the people running that search.

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