

In case you've missed it, the Chanticleers, who've been riding a hot streak of late, are preparing for a showdown this Saturday at Old Dominion in the round of 16 of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs—the tier previously known as Division I-AA.

Joe Moglia has led Coastal Carolina to an 8-4 record this year. MCT/Zuma Press

But what's most remarkable about this team is the resume of its 63-year-old, first–year head coach, Joe Moglia. Five years ago, Moglia was the chief executive of TD Ameritrade, the Omaha-based financial institution with a market capitalization of $8.9 billion.

Football coaching is widely understood to be a forbidding game of six-dimensional chess that can only be mastered through sleepless nights and a lifetime of commitment to the gridiron. But in 2012, just a few years after he left Ameritrade to "pursue other interests," Moglia seems to have taken conventional wisdom, given it a swirly and hung it in the shower by its underwear.

Moglia's greatest perceived weakness—that he spent most of the past quarter century NOT coaching football—is starting to look like his greatest strength. "People tend to make not only football but business sound a lot more complicated than it should," Moglia said Tuesday, taking a break from preparations for the 10-1 Monarchs. "Just because a plan sounds smart doesn't mean it can be executed."

In other words, football coaches of the world, spare us your blather about cover-twos, zone blitzes, pistols, wildcats and A-11's. Allow us to introduce that 300-page binder you brought to the job interview to our paper shredder. "There isn't any question I was better in business because of my experience in football when I was younger, and I know I'm a better coach now because of my experience in business," Moglia says.

Before any of you Wall Streeters abandon your desks and deliver your two-weeks notice, bear in mind that Moglia didn't just fall into this job. He spent 16 years on high school and college sidelines before beginning his business career when he was 34. After he left Ameritrade, his connection to former Nebraska coach and athletic director Tom Osborne helped him land an internship on that school's staff. He also coached for a year in the fledgling United Football League before he convinced Coastal Carolina to hand him the headsets. By mid-October, Coastal Carolina was 2-4, including a 55-14 drubbing by Appalachian State. But the Chanticleers have reeled off six straight wins since then.

In his first months, Moglia tested each of his players to figure out whether they were auditory, visual or kinesthetic (touch-and-feel) learners so he and his coaching staff knew the best way to teach each of them. He spends most of his time working with his coaches to make sure they are using their time and personnel most effectively instead of pushing them to all-night film sessions. As games approach, the Coastal Carolina playbook often shrinks. Instead of adding in wrinkles, his team is more likely to focus on the handful of plays they execute well. Anyone on Moglia's staff is allowed to challenge anyone else. "There's usually a hierarchy in a football program, like in the military," said Mike Gallagher, Coastal Carolina's recruiting coordinator, who has coached in high school and college for 14 years. "But here you have all the ideas coming to the table."


Moglia is realistic about his team's chances at Old Dominion, a team that would likely beat a few teams playing in the top level of Division I, the Football Bowl Subdivision. His team's only chance is to avoid giving up the big plays and dumb turnovers. "We'll probably have to get a little lucky," he says.

Write to Matthew Futterman at