Candidate Tier #4

Category: Intriguing Possibilities

Who Is He?

“Crazy” Joe Moglia is a writer on NBC who often attacks his associates, stalks his ex-girlfriends, dresses up as a Pagliacci clown and encourages intruders into his home.

Wait. That’s Crazy Joe Davola from Seinfeld.

Joe Moglia is the 67 year old head coach at Coastal Carolina, who re-entered the football coaching profession after stepping down as CEO of TD Ameritrade.

Yeah, being a head football coach takes a certain level of crazy.

He went straight from CEO to unpaid volunteer on Bo Pelini’s staff at Nebraska, using his experience in the 80s as DC of Lafayette College and Dartmouth to help the Huskers’ defense (I guess). He took over as head coach of a UFL franchise in 2010, and was named President and head coach of the Omaha Nighthawks the year after…a franchise that played their games in TD Ameritrade Park. Huh. What a coincidence.

Moglia replaced David Bennett at FCS Coastal Carolina in 2012, and took a team that had been stuck right around 6 wins for a handful of seasons to 8, 12, 12, and 9 victories in ’12, ’13, ’14, and ’15 respectively, and currently has CC sitting at 4-2.

Why would he be successful at Purdue?

His job at Coastal Carolina has been legitimately impressive, and does not seem to be a fluke driven by his business connections. If he were 10 or 15 years younger, he’d be a super intriguing candidate at the sub-Power 5 (or even lower level Power 5) schools. He’s an outside-the-box hire, and would be a really fun story in the media for a few weeks.

Why could he flop at Purdue?

He’s a 67 year old investment banker who is living out his childhood dream of being a college football head coach. I mean, he literally has the greatest life of all time, so his luck is bound to run out sometime.

Would he come to Purdue?

In a heartbeat, but Purdue would be foolish to consider Moglia. But seriously, I wanted to write about Moglia because of his incredibly unique story. Imagine being this successful at everything you did professionally, and then going to live out your dream job. Mad shouts to Joe Moglia forever.