Bill Poggi Looks to Rebuild Team Morale Leading up to Citrus Bowl originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
There is no playbook for what Michigan is facing now, and no interim label that can soften the weight of the moment.
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In the aftermath of the firing and arrest of former coach Sherrone Moore, the task confronting Michigan is not simply to finish a season or prepare for a bowl game.
Moore was dismissed last Wednesday after the university determined he had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Hours later, prosecutors announced Moore had been charged with felony third-degree home invasion, along with misdemeanor charges of stalking in a domestic relationship and breaking and entering.
When Poggi spoke publicly for the first time since taking over, he did not frame the past week as a disruption to football operations. He described it as an emotional rupture — one that has left players struggling to process what they believed versus what they now know.
“It has been a tumultuous time,” Poggi said. “A lot of … first disbelief, then anger, then really, what we’re in right now is the kids, quite frankly, feel very betrayed, and we’re trying to work through that.”
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Betrayal is not a word coaches use lightly, especially at a place like Michigan, where trust and tradition are foundational to the program’s identity. For players, the scandal was not just about the fall of a coach, but the collapse of a relationship built on authority, mentorship and accountability. Rebuilding that trust is far more complex than installing an interim staff or setting a depth chart.
Poggi’s response has been deliberately unglamorous. Rather than asserting control or projecting certainty, he has prioritized listening — to players and to parents — and acknowledged that healing will not follow a timetable.
“Lots of arms around shoulders, lot of listening, lot of telling them that you love them, but showing it, because words are cheap,” Poggi said. “What it really takes is you being willing to listen.”
That approach was not self-selected. Poggi said athletic director Warde Manuel made the expectations explicit when asking him to step into the interim role: protect the players first. In that sense, Michigan’s leadership recognized that the immediate challenge was human, not competitive.
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“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,” Poggi said. “And so that’s what I’m spending all of my time doing.”
The ramifications of the scandal extend even to Michigan’s participation in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl against Texas on Dec. 31. Poggi confirmed that players have been given the autonomy to decide whether they want to play, an acknowledgment that commitment looks different under extraordinary circumstances.
“What we’ve told them is this is a personal decision for you all, based on a very unique situation,” Poggi said. “So, we’re trying to be really sensitive to making sure that we’re not forcing anybody into doing anything.”
Still, Poggi noted that football has provided a narrow refuge — a few hours where structure replaces chaos.
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“When they’re inside that rectangle for those hours that were either in meetings or practicing, it’s a bit of a sanctuary,” Poggi said. “And a chance to not think about what is a constant barrage of media questions and things like that.”
Michigan will eventually hire a permanent coach. It will move forward, as major programs always do. In the present however, there is doubt on whether the program will be able to persist in the upcoming bowl game.
