Charlotte football began a new era when it hired Biff Poggi as head coach in November and now the 49ers have the most confusing depth chart in sports. It could not be any more indecisive.
Poggi, whose legal name is Francis Xavier, has always marched to the beat of his own drum. This season has/will been/be no different!
The 64-year-old played offensive line at Pittsburgh in the late ’70s, went on to become independently wealthy as the manager of a hedge fund and later taught high school history while beginning his coaching career. He has since become one of the most feared high school football coaches in the country at both Gilman and Saint Frances in Maryland and most recently served as the associate head coach at Michigan.
That brief description doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the enigma that is Biff Poggi.
His profile picture on social media is an egg, just to troll his children.
He wears cutoff t-shirts on the sideline and smokes cigars before kickoff.
Before the season began, he went off on reporters after a lack of questions at AAC Media Days.
All of this goes to say that Poggi is one-of-one. His players love him and he expects greatness.
Charlotte football’s offense is up in the air.
The 49ers, who were abysmal in 2022, are 1-1 after a season-opening win over South Carolina State and an 18-point loss on the road at Maryland after going up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. Poggi didn’t love his team’s collapse down the stretch on Saturday, but he has the team trending in the right direction.
As Charlotte prepares to host Georgia State this weekend, there is no telling who will be playing where on the offensive side of the ball. Poggi and his staff chose to leave it entirely open-ended.
It is not uncommon to see “OR” listed on college football depth charts early in the season. Coaches are trying to figure out what works best and which players provide the best opportunity for success.
USF had 30 “ORs” on its depth chart for Week 1.
Typically, though, the amount of “ORs” decrease as the season goes on.
That is not the case for the 49ers offense so far. While the defensive positions are set in stone, Charlotte released a Week 3 depth chart that lists at least one “OR” at every offensive position.
Every single one!
Poggi does things his way. That will always be the case.
Even if it means that his depth chart makes absolutely no sense!