Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
Joe Moglia's latest step in his unlikely return to coaching football leaves the Omaha Nighthawks searching for a head coach for the third time in three seasons.
Coastal Carolina announced Tuesday that it had hired Moglia — out of football for 25 years before returning to the game in 2008 — as its second head coach. Moglia had served as the Nighthawks' head coach last season after spending time at Nebraska in a volunteer position.
United Football League Commissioner Michael Huyghue said in a phone interview that he will first look to the National Football League for a replacement for Moglia. Moglia was the only head coach in the four-team league last season that did not have NFL experience.
"There are a number of great coaches in the NFL who would love the chance to run their own programs in a league that is the next best thing to the NFL," Huyghue said. "We've looked before to the NFL, and that's where we intend to look again."
Huyghue confirmed that the financially plagued UFL is moving forward in its plan to operate for a fourth season in 2012 after barely surviving a tumultuous and truncated season in 2011. After losing more than $100 million in its first two seasons of operations, the UFL played a five-game season with four teams.
"We kind of crawled to the finish last season," Huyghue said. "It reinforced our need for better funding and securing a television contract. We feel we are doing what we need to do to get back on track for next season.
"We plan to announce an expansion city soon. We've identified an ownership group, and we're having discussions with a sixth city. We fully intend to put six teams on the field next season."
The league operated with four teams in 2009, then added Omaha as its fifth franchise in 2010. Jeff Jagodzinski was the Nighthawks' first coach, but he wasn't retained after guiding the team to a 3-5 record.
Moglia, who originally was scheduled to become the head coach of an expansion team, agreed to become Omaha's head coach when Jagodzinski wasn't retained. Moglia had spent the previous decade working in Omaha as chief executive officer and then chairman of TD Ameritrade, an investment firm headquartered in the city.
Moglia, who also served as the Nighthawks' president, guided the team to a 1-4 record but earned praise from UFL officials for restructuring the team's front-office operations.
Huyghue said Moglia has agreed to stay on as Omaha's president "for the time being.
"He is extremely valuable as we go about restricting our operations," Huyghue added. "He has a tremendous mind for business, and we can all learn a great deal from his insights and organization.
"We would like him to remain a part of the organization for as long as possible, but we also recognize there could be a point that his duties at Coastal Carolina would no longer make that possible."
Attempts to reach Moglia on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
At a press conference announcing Moglia's hiring, Coastal Carolina President David DeCenzo said the Conway, S.C., school is pleased to have him on board.
"His proven success on and off the football field will be a great asset to Coastal Carolina, its football program and our community," DeCenzo said. "His passion for the game and its players, his knowledge of the game, and his strong desire to succeed are perfectly aligned with the mission of our athletics program. He has all the ingredients that will take our football program to waters uncharted."
Coastal Carolina, which plays in the Big South Conference and is a member of the Football Championship Subdivision, started its football program in 2003. Moglia replaces David Bennett, the school's only coach. Bennett compiled a nine-year record of 63-39 but was just 29-28 in his last five seasons.
Liberty University, which recently hired former Kansas coach and Nebraska player and assistant Turner Gill, also is a Big South member.
Huyghue said he's happy for Moglia.
"I know there were five or six different schools that were looking at Joe," Huyghue said. "We're always interested in seeing our players and coaches continue to expand their careers. At the same time, we'd like to have Joe stay involved with us as long as he's capable of doing that."
Contact the writer:
402-679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com
twitter.com/PivOWH
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
