Dr. Rogge, pleased to introduce you to Coach Joe

No one can doubt that Joe Moglia has a great life story and a fantastic track record in business.

But when the name of the chairman and former chief executive officer of TD Ameritrade surfaced as one of the reported finalists for the U.S. Olympic Committee's open chief executive's job, those of us who have seen the USOC wander down this sort of path before could not believe it.

It was like déjà vu all over again.

Flash back 10 years ago. Meet Norm Blake, Purdue guy, superstar businessman. He lasted less than a year as the USOC's chief executive.

Flash back to 2001. Meet Lloyd Ward, Michigan State grad, superstar businessman. He lasted through 2002, at least, then departed in early 2003.

Now comes Moglia, who since July has added to his considerable resume the title of volunteer "life skills and leadership consultant" for the University of Nebraska's football team. Before becoming a huge success in business, Moglia coached football for 16 years, serving as the defensive coordinator when Dartmouth won back-to-back Ivy League championships.

Can't you just see the backstage, European-style whispering at International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, as the USOC posse awaits introduction, huddle-style, to the office of Count Jacques Rogge, the orthopedic surgeon from Belgium and IOC president since 2001: "Mr. President, the new man from USOC is here. He is American and they like informality, and so we understand that already some people over in the States are calling him 'Cornhusker Joe.' "

"What?"

Oops. My bad. It's not "Cornhusker Joe." It is, and this is for real, Coach Joe. 

So let's set the scene again. Now we have Coach Joe bringing Dr. Rogge an autographed Nebraska football as a lovely welcoming gift:

"Dr. Rogge, so nice to meet you. Love the Olympics. That 'football' tournament at the London Olympics in 2012 -- really looking forward to that, and I think we may yet teach our European friends a little something about the intricacies of the cover-two!"

"Pardon me?"

Or:

"Dr. Rogge, you ever heard of a fella named Colt McCoy? Did you see that last pass in the Big Twelve championship game? Over on our Nebraska sideline, we could have sworn the game clock had reached zero. One second left! What were those referees thinking? Go Big Red! Dr. Rogge -- do you have any idea what I'm talking about here?"

"Excuse me?"

I have never -- well, at least not yet -- had the privilege of meeting Mr. Moglia. Fun aside, and I'm reasonably certain he knows the difference between "football" and "soccer," it seems clear he is a quality guy. As I say, his life story is incredible -- how he overcame steep odds to really make it big. Also, he's full of confidence and ideas.

Since it's the season, by the way, perhaps Moglia's first book would express your holiday sentiments just so: "The Perimeter Attack Offense: Key to Winning Football." Or maybe his second: "Coach Yourself to Success: Winning the Investment Game."

In all seriousness, Moglia has led a remarkably accomplished life. Even so, the fact that he's on the shortlist, along with five others, those five reported by the Chicago Tribune, Moglia's name added by Associated Press, has to leave anyone who has been witness to repeated bouts of USOC turbulence with a sense of foreboding, if not dread.

I mean -- not again.

People! The USOC is not a business!

Repeat: The USOC is a sports organization! It has two main missions: Win Olympic medals. Promote Olympic sports at the grass roots. And, frankly, the first of those two missions trumps the second, and in a big way.

To win medals takes money, yes.

So, agreed -- the USOC is a sports organization with business attributes.

And, yes -- the USOC needs to find new ways to enhance its revenue streams, as they might say in business school.  That was the central thrust of the botched television network proposal last summer -- the notion that such an initiative might fundamentally reshape the revenue model unveiled by Peter Ueberroth for the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

But history shows that there's more to being in charge of the USOC than the ability to do well in corporate America.

For emphasis, see: Blake, N.

For further emphasis, see: Ward, L.

The reason it's so difficult to make the transition is that the USOC moves in interconnected cultures, and the skill set that is a proven winner, while it involves business experience, necessarily turns as much if not more on an affinity for international politics and -- this is the key -- a deep and profound background in the Olympic movement itself.

The USOC enjoyed relative calm over the prior Olympic cycle, 2004-08, and not coincidentally banked a ton of money.

During those years, Jim Scherr served as the chief executive and Ueberroth as chairman of the USOC board.

Scherr is an Olympic guy -- former Olympic wrestler, former USA Wrestling federation official, former senior USOC staffer. Along the way, he got his graduate business degree -- but was thoroughly grounded in the Olympics.

Ueberroth, of course, has moved in the Olympic scene since the 1970s.

When Ueberroth stepped down at the end of his term, he was replaced by video-game executive Larry Probst. Scherr was forced out earlier this year, succeeded by acting chief executive Stephanie Streeter.

Neither has moved easily within the USOC and wider "Olympic family" cultures, and that is at the root of the key USOC missteps this year, including the TV debacle and Chicago's humiliating first-round exit from the 2016 derby. Streeter is out in a few short weeks. Probst, for reasons perhaps only he knows, wants to stay on.

Let's assume that Probst -- the former chief executive and now board chairman at EA Sports -- not only knows how to make money but could someday even figure how to finesse the longstanding revenue and marketing dispute that has for years soured relations between the USOC and IOC.

If that's the case -- why would the USOC need another corporate hand to run the thing day to day?

If indeed business is Probst's strength, wouldn't that logically mean that the chief executive has to bring the Olympic relationships that Probst doesn't have -- and that, moreover, are going to take years for him to develop? (If ever.)

Thus the search logically ought to turn to the other five: Chuck Wielgus of USA Swimming; Mark Lewis, president of Jet Set Sports, who played a key marketing role at the 2002 Salt Lake Games, has been an NBC executive and enjoys extensive Olympic connections; Norm Bellingham, the current USOC chief operating officer; Scott Blackmun, the USOC's acting chief executive 10 years ago who now brings experience gained since during years at sports and entertainment colossus AEG; and Sandy Alderson, the former San Diego Padres chief executive and Major League Baseball official whose time at MLB saw him oversee international outreach projects.

Every conversation I have had with Alderson has been a pleasure because he is so obviously bright and thoughtful. But the depth and breadth of his Olympic experience simply can't measure up to any of the other four.

Which brings us back to where we were when the USOC started this process -- with a list of candidates so obvious that some of us pointed out there wasn't any need in the slightest for this sort of expensive and protracted search. 

Unless, of course, the USOC was searching all along for someone just like Coach Joe.

In which case this latest chapter in the USOC's theater of the absurd ought to produce yet more fanciful scenes in Lausanne -- maybe even a dissertation there in the bar at the Palace Hotel, ground zero for all things Olympic, about the use of the words "Nebraska" and "student-athlete" in the same sentence.

The thing is, it's no joke that for the last year the USOC has, to considerable detriment, played the fool in the international arena. That's real. And how could Coach Joe seriously be expected to fix that?