CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Many college football programs say they want a CEO head coach. Charlotte literally got one.
The 49ers introduced Francis "Biff" Poggi as the third head coach in program history on Monday.
The 62-year-old is a successful hedge fund manager, who won over a dozen state championships coaching high school football in Maryland.
"It took guts," Poggi said. "It's outside the box."
Poggi is no stranger to college football.
For the last two seasons, he's been the Associate Head Coach at Michigan, and calls Jim Harbaugh his best friend.
Many have publicly credited Poggi with the Wolverines, who are currently in line to head to the College Football Playoff, recent run of success.
"Having extensive conversations with Michigan people, including Jim Harbaugh," Charlotte AD Mike Hill said, "it was clear and obvious that Biff was pointed to as the biggest factor in the turnaround."
Poggi is a Baltimore native who was college teammates with Dan Marino at Pittsburgh, before finishing his football career and receiving his career from Duke University.
He eventually found himself in the financial world, and became a successful founder of a hedge fund, but soon got back in to coaching.
At his alma mater, The Gilman School, in Baltimore, Poggi won over a dozen state championships.
Then in 2016 he went to cross-town St. Frances Academy, and has famously help fund and turn around the program there.
That portion of his career has been chronicled by ESPN and HBO Sports.
At Charlotte, Poggi plans to bring elements from Michigan's offense and defense.
His task taking over a team that finished 3-9 will be tall, and made taller by next year's move into the more competitive American Athletic Conference.
"Our goal is very simple. We want to win the AAC and we want to win it repeatedly," Poggi said. "We want to get to the College Football Playoff. That's why I left Michigan, and that's what I'm expecting to do here. You should be asking, what's your timetable? My timetable is now."