Make no mistake, Biff Poggi is wearing sleeves, pants over shorts merely to follow orders: 'I feel like I'm a mummy'

Michigan Wolverines football associate head coach Biff Poggi is stepping in for his boss, Sherrone Moore, who’s serving a two-game suspension, as the acting head coach. And he’s doing so in shirts with sleeves and pants over shorts — not by choice, but by mandate, he’s shared with a laugh.

The 66-year-old former Baltimore (Md.) St. Frances and Charlotte 49ers head coach is known and went viral for coaching in cut-off shirts and shorts.

“Yes,” Poggi said when asked if it felt weird to wear sleeves. “And long pants.”

Heading into last weekend’s game against Central Michigan — a 63-3 Wolverine win — Poggi inquired about his wardrobe.

“I actually called [Michigan athletics chief of staff] Doug Gnodtke and said, ‘Doug, what can I wear this week?'” Poggi said on the ‘Inside Michigan Football’ radio show. “And he said, ‘[Athletic director] Warde [Manuel] said you have to wear sleeve and pants, and we’ll let you maybe wear your visor,’ And I said, ‘Ok, well…’”

It jut didn’t feel right.

“I’m walking down the tunnel, and I was like, ‘Jeez. I feel like I’m a mummy. I can hardly move,'” said Poggi. “And I went out on the field and Warde was there, and I was like, ‘I basically feel like I’m wrapped like a mummy,’ and he laughed.”

The temperatures were in the low 70s Saturday, and little sun shone through the clouds until the second half of Michigan’s blowout win.

“I can tell you something: If it would’ve gotten any hotter on the sideline, clothes would’ve been coming off,” Poggi said. “They would’ve been coming off.

“It was kind of humid, and then it got warm, and I looked at [equipment manager] Sonny [Anderson] and said, ‘Really, do I have to wear this?’ And he was like, ‘Yes.’

“… I will tell you this, the Michigan players were horrified that I wore the sleeves. They were like, ‘What? You can’t go out like that!’ I’m like, ‘Well, I am.’”

Poggi began wearing his unique look when he became the head coach at St. Frances — in his hometown of Baltimore — in 2017. He founded (and helped fund) the football program that wound up producing all sorts of college talent, including former Michigan running back Blake Corum, current linebacker Jaishawn Barham and EDGE Derrick Moore, among many others.

It really picked up steam on social media when he stuck with it while leading his own program at Charlotte in 2023, where he went 6-16 over 22 games and was fired in November 2024.

“I always thought it was rather peculiar that baseball coaches would dress in uniforms,” the Michigan coach said. “You see a bunch of old guys with potbellys wearing the uniform. Then you see the basketball coaches with the really cool haircuts and the Lululemon pants or the suit and stuff, and I always thought that was so ridiculous.

“So, when I became the coach at St. Frances in Baltimore, we had to play everywhere, because nobody wanted to come because we didn’t have a field. So, we played in Florida and California, and we played at the worst times of the year. It was so hot, I’m like, ‘Hey, look, I’m wearing what I want to wear.’ And I’m wearing what I wear to practice, because to me, that seems like kind of appropriate. So, that’s what I wore to practice.”

For those wondering, there’s a projected high of 78 degrees with quite a bit of sun Saturday in Lincoln, Nebraska, for Michigan’s game against the Cornhuskers.