4TH AND GOAL

The story of a successful CEO who left his position to pursue a long-deferred dream of becoming a college football coach.

In 1983, Joe Moglia was the defensive coordinator for Dartmouth’s football team. He was also a husband and a father of four, and he was faced with a decision: continue slowly climbing the college coaching ladder, not making enough money to support his family, or turn his back on that dream and pursue something more lucrative. A great deal of hard work and chutzpah later, he had secured a comfortable position with Merrill, which he left to take over foundering TD Ameritrade. Moglia turned the company around, making it one of the most stable and respected brokerages in the country. After eight years, and at age 60, he left to pursue coaching. Breaking into college-level coaching at this age proved to be a different challenge, which left him back where he'd started, clawing his way through the ranks of coaching. Burke (Sowbelly: The Obsessive Quest for the World-Record Largemouth Bass, 2006, etc.) does Moglia's story justice, showing how his strengths in finance helped lift his coaching of a small UFL franchise into financial stability. A winning record for the team, almost essential for Moglia to achieve his college coaching dream, was another matter. The team struggled, and as the focus shifted from a winning record to saving face, Moglia's perspective on his dream also shifted. Burke's approach is unique among financial, business and sports books, as it's not crucial to understand much about football or money to enjoy the book. A winning story for fans of Friday Night Lights and believers in the American dream.