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Pete Thamel, ESPN
Charlotte fired football coach Biff Poggi on Monday.
Tight ends coach/associate head coach Tim Brewster will be the interim coach for the final two games, and the school will immediately begin its search for a replacement.
“I am thankful to Biff Poggi for his leadership and mentorship of our student-athletes over these past two seasons,” athletic director Mike Hill said in a statement Monday night. “No one can question Biff’s passion for helping young people succeed in life, both personally and professionally, but our on-field results have unfortunately fallen short of everyone’s expectations. As we move forward into the next chapter of Charlotte 49er Football, we will be looking for a leader to take our program to the next level as a consistent bowl and championship contender.”
Poggi went 6-16 in his two seasons and was the second American Athletic Conference coach to be fired Monday after just two campaigns. (FAU fired Tom Herman earlier in the day.)
Poggi is expected to be owed a $1.3 million buyout from his original contract, sources said.
Poggi was an unconventional hire, as he came to Charlotte from Michigan, where he was an associate head coach. He arrived at Charlotte with limited college football experience, as he had been a successful head coach at St. Frances Academy of Baltimore.
His dismissal comes amid a four-game skid for the 49ers that includes back-to-back blowout losses to Tulane and South Florida. The slide has dropped Charlotte to 2-4 in AAC play.
Poggi went 3-9 last year, with the team’s discipline issues spilling over with a spree of personal foul penalties in a game against FAU. Poggi suspended an unspecified number of players and issued a statement in which he said he was “extremely disappointed with our comportment as a football team.”
There are now five open AAC jobs, as Rice, Temple, East Carolina and FAU have all fired their coaches.
Charlotte’s last and only bowl game in school history came in 2019.