Charlotte 49ers football: Coach Biff Poggi, players out to prove prediction wrong

Four minutes, three questions, two podium slaps and one irritated head coach is all you need to know about Biff Poggi and the Charlotte 49ers’ first American Athletic Conference media day.
The jury is still out on if the first-year head coach will turn the 49ers’ on-field product around, but one thing is for sure — Poggi isn’t afraid to voice his displeasure with how some view the program.
“That’s it? Three questions? Maybe that’s because you have us ranked last; that’s what you think of us. We get that message. Thank you,” Poggi exclaimed to a room filled with media members on Tuesday in Irving, Texas.
Following his media day outburst, Poggi elaborated on the culture of his program.
“Everything we do is about our players. (The rant) wasn’t a ploy to get them fired up, I don’t need to motivate them. They are highly motivated. That was me being pissed for them. That’s what that reaction was. It wasn’t planned,” Poggi told The Observer. “What we want is a singular laser focus on what we have to do to be ready to accomplish our goals. When we get into pads, we want an extremely physical practice to develop a callus for the season. Uber competitive.”
Although not a ploy, quarterback Jalon Jones and edge linebacker Eyabi Okie got the message.
“It made me excited,” Jones said of Poggi’s rant. “Seeing him bang on the desk, that made me want to go out there and play right now. We can really go out to (any stadium) or out in the backyard and (be competitive). We don’t need to wait. You love being counted out. People are looking past us, and we take that with a grain of salt. We’re ready to prove everybody wrong.”
“It got me fired up. They’re going to see,” Okie added.
The 49ers were picked to finish 14th out of 14 teams in the new AAC alignment, with Okie as the only 49er appearing on the preseason all-conference first team.
Charlotte has road bouts against Maryland, Florida, East Carolina and SMU, as well as home contests against Navy, Florida Atlantic and Memphis this season. According to 49ers athletic director Mike Hill, this is program’s toughest schedule to date, and he trusts in the culture Poggi aims to instill.
“He gets fired up. He protects his program. Just a relentless drive,” Hill explained on the Highway 49 podcast. “I’m not sure I’ve been around a staff that works as hard as this staff does in recruiting. It’s nonstop, and we’re seeing the results of that. There’s an incredibly relentless pursuit of attracting the best possible talent we can to our football program and then amplifying that.”
Charlotte’s roster is completely revamped from a season ago, with 52 new faces including four- and five-star talent from across the country. The 49ers brought four newcomers to media day — Jones, Okie, linebacker Demetrius Knight and offensive lineman Jasper Parks, with the latter being a post-spring practice addition to the roster.