Donāt really ever pull for Michigan in anything anywhere anytime. I still relish when we beat them in 77 to go to the Final Four. However Iām now pulling for them to win the Natty in football. Go big blue and coach Biff!
Watch āThe Cost Of Winningā. on HBO Max, if you want to get a feel for who our new coach is there are 4 episodes.
- He has recruited elite level talent and won consistently with it
- He develops and cares for his players
- He developed an impoverished high school who was 2-11 into a nationally elite power in 2 years
- In a world of NIL, there is not a better hire in the country as he is willing to do what it takes to get recruits
- Heās a strong personality who doesnāt appear to be built on hype
Everyone brings up lack of college coaching experience, the coordinators we interviewed likely didnāt either.
He recruited higher ranked athletes in HS than we have ever gotten at Charlotte
He makes his players accountable for their words, actions, and results on the field.
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(Direct link to the part of the show where Hunter discussed).
As an ECU fan and fellow G5 team, sometimes you have to step outside of the box to find success. You guys are in a very unique situation where your moves up the conference ladder have come unprecedentedly fast, and some gambles are worth taking. What is telling here is that Michigan fans feel this is a big loss to their program. When we went āoutside the boxā and hired Scottie Montgomery no one in their football admin or on their boards seemed to feel like it was a loss. In the court of public opinion from the school heās departing from thatās already a good sign. Even if he was paying their tuition, it takes some serious charisma to recruit talented players to come play in inner city Baltimore because Iām sure plenty of other private schools in better locations were offering the same opportunities.
My two areas of concern are 1. Heās 61 2. It sounds like the majority of his high school coaching experience was with overwhelming talent. While I have no doubt he can recruit, heās not going to enjoy an overwhelming talent advantage at Charlotte over conference peers at any point in his tenure most likely. That being said, I have no doubt he can bring recruiting up to standards of peer institutions. Lastly, beware of the transfer portal. You can get lucky and find a couple pieces (our leading receiver this year will eclipse 1,000 yards and heās a fifth year portal kid) but you canāt build a program off of that alone. Itās going to take time through foundational high school recruiting for you guys to get to where you want to be, and that may take three full cycles of recruiting with a few well placed portal pieces.
Best of luck to Poggi in 11 games a season except when you play the Pirates!
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You just gave all of us Alan Major flashbacks. When we hired him off the end of Ohio Stateās coaching bench, even they were like āwho? That guy? Really??ā.
Totally different reaction from Michigan fans.
Honestly, if ECU football fans were nervous about the hire, thatād be another good sign.
Also, I agree with your 2 concerns. Theyāre both valid.
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Mike Hill is gonna be on 730 AM at 4pm.
I have a pretty good guess as to what the topic of conversation is going to be.
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clt says welcome eCu fan. clt thinks high school recruiting is still important, but you have to work the portal at the #P6 level
Soon, St. Frances will unveil a new locker room; the players will no longer have to change in the school bathrooms. It was paid for by Poggi. The planned training room? Poggi. The planned weight room? Poggi. The new football equipment? Poggi. Messay Hailemariam was there the first day of practice in 2016. Hailemariam had served as St. Francesā head coach in 2015 and then transitioned to assistant coach when a new staff was hired. Waiting for the team that day were boxes of football shorts and matching workout shirts, a surprise gift from Poggi. Hailemariam was overwhelmed.
Poggi coaches St. Frances for free. He rents two townhouses for players who have nowhere else to go. When he discovered that several of his players were diagnosed as clinically malnourished, he arranged for daily meals. And on occasion, he helps pay the college tuition of players who didnāt receive a football scholarship.
āI decided I wanted to put my time, my money, my resources into these kids,ā Poggi says. āAnd if you donāt like it, then tough sā.ā*
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Please Mike, even if it is true, please donāt say on air you found out about this guy by watching a e60 special 
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Poggi sounds like the type of Football Coach / Director that you need in the new era of NIL.
As long as he hires solid coordinators and staff, this makes a lot of sense. I hope he has the budget to get and retain good people so that we donāt have constant turnover
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If he isnt taking a salary or much of one would enable us to pay some pretty high salaries for coordinators. Upper tier G5 for sure and probably more than the position coaches in P5.
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Thatās been my hope NWA. Even if he takes a modest salary - itāll still leave us with a bigger budget for assistants.
Mike Hill coming on now.
āI see him as a disruptor of the status quoā.
(In addition to all of the standard things - good at recruiting, coaching, etc).
Mike also said we will be VERY happy with his staff when he finishes hiring them.
Says he is already thinking and working on Niner stuff. Says that isnāt unusual - Sabanās coordinators in this position all the time and they manage.
Former Navy football player Chad (didnāt catch his last name) was the exec at the search firm that Mike partnered with at Turnkey. Said he has full faith in him. Value in the search firm is info on who is available, who is interested, and what their actual compensation is (vs what online might say).
He also said that we had a very big candidate pool and one of his decisions was what type of candidate he wanted. Had all the traditional stuff. But Poggi was unique in his complete skill set.
Said Poggi is an offensive oriented guy who did a lot to fix Michiganās offense.
From earlier today:
āDistruptorā is an interesting word choice. Hill wasnāt content to hit a good solid double it appears with this hire. Itās not the type of person heās hired previously either.
He also made it sound like Poggi would be with Michigan through the end of the year, will be interesting to see if the playoffs vs a bowl changes that dynamic.
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You donāt know that. Total speculation.
I am referring to the post that nobody wants to work for Hill because he released info on the firing of Healey too early. I say that I doubt that, and it is speculation. No proof.
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Michael Stratham the OL transfer from Pitt (6-7 370) played for Biff in high school.
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Hill mentioned Chad Chatlos of Turnkey: