Biff Poggi will be Michigan interim head coach for two games, but 'operation will remain the same'

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore will serve the first of a two-game suspension Saturday when U-M takes on Central Michigan, and he’ll miss the game at Nebraska, as well. Speculation as to who would serve as interim head coach pretty much ended when we learned in late August that offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey would be calling plays from the press box — Moore confirmed Biff Poggi would get the nod.

Poggi, Michigan’s associate head coach, last served as Charlotte head coach before returning to Ann Arbor. He’d been on Jim Harbaugh’s staff after several years as a prep head coach at Gilman School and St. Frances Academy in Maryland.

“We’ll operate as a collective unit,” Moore said. “Chip will handle the offense. Wink [Martindale] will handle the defense. JB [Brown] will handle the special teams, but the overall operation Coach Poggi will stand in as the interim. It will all flow like normal and obviously, I won’t be on the sideline and be there, but how we handle game days with Chip handling the offense and Wink the defense and JB handling special teams, [it will] feel the same. Our players will be ready to go.”

Poggi is in every meeting with him, Moore said, and has knowledge of the operation.

“Obviously, he’s been in the program before,” Moore continued. “He was a huge help for me when I was coordinator, o-line coach at first, and just has a general feeling of how the program goes. The knowledge of the players specifically was huge, and then obviously his experience as a high school head coach, as a head coach. But just in general, his love for the players, most importantly, his knowledge of everybody in our building and keeping the cohesion in the building was huge.

“But 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 be no hiccups, not have to do anything extra. I think that’s going to be important so that they can do that at a high level. Biff’s right there by my side, so he sees that — he understands exactly how I feel. 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 I will continue to work in that direction.”

Moore will be allowed to coach the team this week and be hands on in preparation, he confirmed, before starting his punishment at noon (kickoff) Saturday.

“I’ll be there for a while [at the team hotel], and then I’ll probably be here [at Schembechler Hall] until I can’t be,” he said of his plans for Saturday.