Biff Poggi, who had a highly successful, yet controversial, high school coaching career in Baltimore as the head coach at both Gilman School and St. Frances Academy, has been named the new head football coach at Charlotte University later today.

News of the hiring was first reported by Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, on Tuesday morning, and the school made it official with an announcement in the afternoon.

Poggi has the endorsement of none other than Alabama head coach Nick Saban.

“Congratulations to Mike Hill and the Charlotte 49ers for a great hire,” said Saban in a statement. “Biff Poggi will generate excitement and success for the program. The players will love playing for him and the coaches will love working with him. Get ready to win!”

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Poggi built Gilman into the dominant program in the Baltimore area, winning outright or sharing 13 MIAA A Conference titles prior to departing in 2016 when he and the school were at odds over the direction of the program. In 19 seasons at Gilman he posted a record of 135-43.

He spent the 2017 season as an Assistant head coach at Michigan, but transplanted his entire staff to St. Frances, a program he funded with his own money, and the Panthers were instantly transformed into a national powerhouse. The following year he returned to the St. Frances sidelines and served as co-head coach with his long time assistant Henry Russell.

The Panthers continued their ascent on the national stage, but were shunned locally when their MIAA rivals refused to play them, citing alleged recruiting violations and an influx of national caliber players from outside the state. St. Frances responded with charges of racism. Eventually, the MIAA reached an agreement with the program to allow them to play football as an independent, outside the rules of the Association, while remaining a conference member for all other sports. This arrangement remains in place today.

After the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Poggi accepted an offer to return to Michigan as an Associate Head Coach, serving under Jim Harbaugh.

Prior to his time at Michigan, Poggi’s only previous college football coaching experience were three one-year assistant posts at Brown, Temple and The Citadel.

Charlotte, a member of Conference-USA, fired former head coach Will Healy midway through this season and the 49ers finished 2-9. Charlotte’s 2023 schedule will offer Poggi a trip to his old stomping grounds as his team is slated to visit the University of Maryland.