It took a while, but as expected, former Michigan coach Biff Poggi has come to Jim Harbaugh's defense. Poggi is now in his first year leading the Charlotte 49ers in The American. Although the former Wolverines staffer was not calling plays or anything like that, he was widely seen as Michigan's secret sauce in their turnaround of late. Of course, the Connor Stalions component has mired all that.
Given that he is leading his own Group of Five team, one that has plenty of work to do to get back to being largely competitive, Poggi had been quiet over the last few weeks as the sign-stealing scandal has been unearthed. So when Poggi came to Harbaugh's defense only a few hours before the Big Ten decided to suspend Harbaugh for the rest of the regular season, you can say the timing was strange.
This probably had something to do with those with close ties to the Michigan program preparing for the unexpected. In truth, I think Poggi is between a rock and a hard place in this particular situation. If he stayed quiet, it would have played a part in Harbaugh looking guilty in knowing what Stalions was supposedly doing. But by speaking his mind on social media, it came across cultish and very JoePa...
These allegations are nowhere near as nefarious as what Penn State dealt with a little over a decade ago, but Poggi's comments come across like Rick Pitino denying that he knew about Louisville's on-campus brothel.
Harbaugh is not allowed to speak on the matter, but god, this is getting so insane...
Poggi may be this close to The Harbaughs, but there is a chance that Jim could have other friends...
Biff Poggi goes to bat for Jim Harbaugh is saying that he knew nothing
This was only a matter of time. Anyone who has been tied to the Michigan program over the last three years could have come under fire with this very important investigation. While it remains to be seen if the Big Ten has any indisputable proof of Michigan doing anything wrong that Harbaugh new about, nobody is despised more in Ann Arbor than new conference commissioner Tony Petitti as of Friday.
No matter what happens between now and the end of the season, I fully anticipate this scandal will get stranger and uglier by the day, especially with the Big Ten getting involved and the NCAA remaining as feckless as humanly possible. The worst part about all is this is a damn good football team. The players are having to deal with potential shenanigans going on within the coaching staff.
Ultimately, Poggi's comments only add air to the fire. He may have tried to put it out, but this thing was already cooking. Again, the investigation is ongoing, but we are really dealing with an unprecedented perfect storm with this. We have a massive brand, one that is one of the best in the sport, having an amazing season, with a head coach who had already been suspended for something else entirely...
Poggi may have been Harbaugh's right-hand man the last two years, but he works for Charlotte now.