Biff Poggi on Michigan's 'tumultuous time' after Sherrone Moore firing: Wolverines 'feel betrayed'

While the talk of the college football world — and beyond — is all about former Michigan football head coach Sherrone Moore, who was fired with cause, arrested, jailed and charged with a felony for home invasion, and the search for the program’s 22nd-ever head coach, the Wolverines are preparing for a matchup with Texas in the Dec. 31 Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

Interim head coach Biff Poggi, who served in this same role for wins over Central Michigan (63-3) and Nebraska (30-27) earlier this season while Moore was suspended, has been steering the ship in the meantime.

“Unique and complex,” Poggi said of the team’s preparation while meeting with media in Orlando. “Multiple levels of complexity that our young people are dealing with, our university is dealing with, our athletic director, Warde Manuel, is dealing with. And our team, our kids.

“I don’t know that you can prepare for something like this. I’ll just say, complicated.”

The news of Moore’s firing for credible evidence that he had an inappropriate relationship with a staff member sent shockwaves through the football community and, obviously, hit those inside Schembechler Hall especially hard.

“It has been a tumultuous time,” Poggi said. “A lot of anger. First, disbelief, and then anger, and really what we’re in right now is the phase of the kids, quite frankly, feel quite betrayed. We’re trying to work through that.”

Poggi has been worrying more about the players as individuals than football players, creating a clear line of communication.

“I’ve met individually with all of the players multiple times, and with the parents,” the Michigan coach said. “Zoomed with the parents multiple times. The message has been listening. I want to listen to them. I want to understand what the kids are feeling and what their parents are feeling. And so, a lot of listening, and there have been a wide range of emotions, as you can imagine, and we kind of are going through those steps. They’re not over yet, and I don’t expect them to be over for a while, quite frankly.

“But our main message is the mandate that Warde Manuel gave me — as the athletic director, when he asked me to be the interim coach — was to love and take care of the kids. So, that’s what I’m spending all of my time doing, loving kids.”

The Wolverines and Longhorns will square off at Camping World Stadium Dec. 31, with kickoff slated for 3 p.m. ET.