Charlotte 49ers football: Coach Biff Poggi talks about ’3 questions’ lack of respect
Charlotte 49ers football coach Biff Poggi is a man with some very big plans.
He envisions his new school having a nearly 50,000-seat football stadium, packed with fans every week. That’s five years from now.
In the more immediate future, Poggi, 64, plans to win at a place that’s had one winning season in its history. He’s brought in 52 transfers, many from Power 5 schools, as Charlotte moves up to the more competitive American Athletic Conference.
The 49ers were picked last in the league and at an infamous news conference this summer, Poggi was only asked three questions about his team.
He thinks before the season is over, reporters will be asking a lot more about Charlotte.
“I think we’re going to win the league,” Poggi said. “That’s why we’re here. The only thing that will stop us from winning the league in my opinion is if I screw it up. So if we don’t win, I screwed it up. We have scoreboards on campus. Sports is like business, you keep score. And so if scores aren’t good, you change the CEO, and I’m the CEO and I shouldn’t be here if we’re not successful.”
Poggi sat down for an exclusive interview on the first Talking Preps show of the season. It’s the seventh year that The Observer has hosted the high school football program.
Poggi’s answers are lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Q. What’s a home game going to look like at Charlotte five years from now?
POGGI: It’ll be 46,000, almost 47,000-seat capacity (up from about 15,000 now). We have plans to expand, and I expect every seat to have a backside (many seats at Charlotte’s stadium now are bleacher-style).
Q. Why do you think you can turn Charlotte around so fast?
POGGI: Football games are never won by coaches. They’re won by players, and we have really good players — really good players.
Q. How important is it to get involved with the local high school recruiting scene?
POGGI: It’s critical. Before I took the job, I had one of my young friends up at University of Michigan and I asked him, ‘How many players in a 90-minute radius of Charlotte’s campus in the last five years played Power 5 football.’ It was over 200. And we don’t have any of those guys on our roster. We do now, because we’ve gotten a lot of guys in the (transfer) portal, so it’s critical. Actually, I didn’t go on the road. When I first got here I just stayed in Charlotte and met (West Charlotte coach and Talking Preps co-host) Sam Greiner and (Providence Day coach) Chad (Grier) and all those guys.
Q. Why Charlotte. What drew you to this job?
POGGI: Couple things. New football program. I like the fact that’s it’s new. Hadn’t been very successful. I like the fact we’re building something. It wouldn’t have been nearly as enticing if you’re taking over for a very successful coach that’s retired. He’s built a program. I want to build a program here. It’s a really good school. There’s a lot of great academic programs here and you come here, you’re going to get a great degree and there’s a lot of great graduate programs here, too.
The other thing that’s interesting to me, too, is that Charlotte is a city. Charlotte is the banking capital of the country, no matter what anybody says. They say it’s No. 2, but it’s really not. It’s No. 1. And de-facto it’s No. 1 in the world because we have the biggest GDP in the world. And my background in business just seemed to work, there were so many possibilities to get Charlotte community involved with our players…It just made so much sense for somebody with my background.
Q. How do you want to see the financial community get involved with Charlotte?
POGGI: Charlotte is a really, really wealthy city. There are more Fortune 500 and 1000 companies moving here every day than any place on the planet. Why? Because financing is here. There’s a lot of very successful people here in real estate and other things.
I just feel like having a successful Division I football program in Charlotte is critical because the city has everything: got a pro football team, pro soccer team, pro basketball team, symphony and great arts, and this is our university. This is Charlotte’s university that has a Division I football program. And so I know how much having a Division I program that’s successful means to the school, means to the state and most importantly means to the city. So it’s a symbiotic relationship that I would just like to see develop.
Q. How important is winning towards those goals?
POGGI: Winning’s critical. We have to win, and if we do, I think people will be very excited. Listen, there hasn’t been a lot to be excited about here. And I’m just another coach that comes in and makes all kind of promises and things, but as I said, players win games, not coaches. People will see. The proof is in the pudding.
Q. Why were you so mad about only being asked three questions at AAC Media Day.
POGGI: Football teams last for one year. In (Charles) Dickens’ great novel (A Christmas Carol), they’re like the Ghost of Christmas Present. They last for a season. So last year’s Charlotte team isn’t this years. It’s, like, ridiculous comparing them. If people did their homework and saw who we brought in the portal, we brought in 52 guys, many, many, most of them are Power 5 players, like great, great players. I know respect has to be earned, and....you can disrespect me all you want, I don’t care, but when we’re at a function with our players, c’mon. That’s what ticked me off.
Q. How are your players using that lack of respect as motivation this season?
POGGI: They’re bad company and every one of them knows how I feel about them. Every one of them knows what happened in Dallas, and we’re a highly motivated football team.
Q. Describe your coaching style.
POGGI: I’m here because of one reason: the players. I love the kids. We have unbelievable human beings on the team. The ones we inherited and the ones we brought in. And I remember what it was like to be a kid. I think college football is a great breaker of youngsters. They have goals. They play for high school coaches that have loved them and cared about them and college football coaches on the Pinocchio scale — 0 to 10 they’re a 10. They know how to look at you and tell you in 30 seconds what you want to hear and not what you need to hear.
We haven’t done that. We brought back a bunch of guys who are broken, and I was like that as a kid too. I was in eight schools before I was in the 11th grade, from the other side of the tracks in Baltimore.
I tell them this, I believe God made you all a masterpiece, and the world is tough on masterpieces. College football is especially tough on masterpieces. So you have a chip in the frame and a rip in the canvas and a smudge. My job is to repair that frame, sew up the canvas, clean up the smudge and restore you back to what God made you to be. And we’re going to show everybody. This is our museum here (pointing to the field), right. We’ll let that all happen (on the field).
Q. You’ve reportedly said Charlotte should move on from you if don’t win immediately? Is that true?
POGGI: Why would you have a football coach that doesn’t win? That’s like having a dog that bites you. Not great to have.
Q. What do you think this team is going to do?
POGGI: I think we’re going to win the league. That’s why we’re here. The only thing that will stop us from winning the league in my opinion is if I screw it up. So if we don’t win, I screwed it up. We have scoreboards on campus. Sports is like business, you keep score. And so if scores aren’t good, you change the CEO, and I’m the CEO and I shouldn’t be here if we’re not successful.
Q. How long do you see yourself at Charlotte?
POGGI: I’d like to be here for a long time, but I don’t want it to take a long time for us to be good. I don’t think that’s fair to the University. I don’t think it’s fair to the students here. It’s not fair to the fans here, and it’s not fair to the players that we’re recruiting. I’m one of those guys, if I wasn’t doing this, I’d probably be sitting in a rocking chair somewhere with somebody feeding me oatmeal. I wouldn’t last long. I’d be gone. I might not last long as it is, but I’d like to go out, you know, coaching.
PHOTOS: Talking Preps with Biff Poggi
This story was originally published August 16, 2023 at 6:30 AM with the headline "Charlotte 49ers football: Coach Biff Poggi talks about ’3 questions’ lack of respect."
