This Green Bay Press–Gazette story combines Marian University, the most pleasant workplace I’ve ever experienced, and the Packers, which I own:

A man heralded for his play with the Green Bay Packers sees great opportunity as vice president of advancement at Marian University.

George Koonce Jr., who spent 10 years as a professional football player — eight of them in Green Bay — is excited about his new job and the chance to become part of Fond du Lac. He is in the process of buying a home here and said he and his family will become immersed in the community.

Koonce, 45, holds several college degrees, including a Ph.D. He was hired to provide leadership and strategic direction to the Office of Advancement. He will be responsible for growing awareness and increasing philanthropic support for Marian through community and alumni engagement.

“I’m impressed with the mission of Marian University,” he said, noting the school’s core values of community, learning, service, social justice and spiritual traditions.

Marian leaders say they are pleased to have him as a member of the university’s administration.

“Koonce’s talent and experience bring an immediate ability to help continue the university’s advancement efforts and to focus on the future needs of the university,” said Lisa Kidd, director of university relations. “Marian looks to Koonce’s leadership in continuing the success of the university and advancing it to the next level.”

Koonce said he intends to interface with students and thinks it’s great that 60 percent of the student body at Marian are first-generation students — the first in their families to attend college — just as he was.

“I have to be able to articulate their stories,” he said.  …

Koonce grew up in a small, socially and economically depressed town in northeastern North Carolina. He said his late father, George Koonce Sr., was a contract painter who taught him the value of a strong work ethic at a young age.

“He taught me to be motivated, to never give up,” he said.

Koonce said he lives his life with “three Ps — purpose, passion and perseverance.”

He wants students to know they need to work to find their purpose and to persevere over anything that gets in their way.

“I’m just happy to be at Marian,” he said. “Marian is all about giving individuals opportunities and a chance to live out the American dream. They just need the opportunity.”

Koonce said he will tell students to pursue their goals and dreams.

“When I reflect on my life, I didn’t dream big enough,” he said. “I dreamed about playing football, but I didn’t dream I’d receive a Ph.D. I didn’t dream I’d be in the role of a vice president at an institution like Marian.”

Koonce won a Super Bowl with the Packers and is proud that a copy of his locker in Green Bay is on display at East Carolina University for 28,000 students to see.

Most recently he served as director of development for Marquette University’s Urban Scholars Program. He has held various administrative roles at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette and with the Packers.

He has co-written a book — Is There Life After Football? Surviving the NFL — that is due out in fall. The book focuses on player trauma and the difficulty transitioning to life after professional sports.

“When that day comes and they say your services are no longer needed, you are in a very lonely and dark place,” Koonce said.

To help fulfill his doctorate in philosophy at Marquette University, he wrote a doctoral thesis — more than 70,000 words — about the transition from professional football player to retired athlete. He speaks about retired athletes’ lack of identity, pain from injuries of playing the game, drug addiction and not being prepared for life after football.

My late boss, who had what now is Koonce’s job, would be amused to find himself replaced by a former football player, particularly at a college that doesn’t have football. (Hint, George: There is only one Catholic college in Wisconsin with football, St. Norbert. Furthermore, there is a Catholic high school with a long tradition of football success just up the road.)

There is a danger in hiring someone because he or she is a “name.” When Marian embarked on a presidential search last decade, I selected my preference of the three finalists based on who I thought would be easiest to publicize. That person was chosen as president, but let’s just say her era as president isn’t remembered fondly at Marian.

Colleges are nonprofits, but that’s only a legal definition. There are two things small colleges without huge endowments must get right. Admission is one, and the other is fundraising, or to use the more palatable term, “advancement.” If more money goes out than comes in, no organization has a long future.