Senior High School Football Coach Troy Moritz has had a challenging road to this point in his career. Growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, Moritz was a demon on the field. When he was 12 years old he was really a principal force on his Pop Warner teams defensive line. In high school he led his teams defense to a school record number of shut out games and was recruited by major Division I college football programs. Nebraska, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Notre Dame came calling as did Texas, Oklahoma and UCLA. Moritz decided to remain in his hometown and become a Wisconsin Badger.
While at Wisconsin, Moritz set a school record for the number of sacks on the opposing teams quarterback. He was a beast on the field and a gentle giant in the classroom where he double majored in Psychology and Education. Moritz was the heart and soul of the Badger team, arranging projects for team members to visit sick children in the hospital and working together with the administration to get senior citizen alumni to football games. A man of superb character alongside stunning athletic ability, Moritz was known in his undergraduate days to be somewhat of a Renaissance man. His dominating presence on a Division I, Big Ten football team was viewed as an advantage heading into the NFL Draft. Pundits had Moritz being drafted in the third round and prognosticated about the defensive linemans future NFL career being long and prosperous. Everyone who knew (and knows) Troy Moritz said that all of this good fortune couldnt happen to a better guy. Moritzs prospects took a tumble when he was significantly injured in a car accident that prohibited him from playing football professionally.
That was all two full decades ago and today, Troy Moritz says that not making it in the NFL was the most beneficial thing to happen to him. During the course of the months following his auto accident, he endured a great many very difficult days of physical therapy that strengthened him in ways he never thought conceivable. Grateful that he was dilligent about his education Moritz began to look for a teaching job and discovered his college sweetheart was also teaching. In the back of his mind though, he thought he may always live with the sorrow of what could have been but was surprisingly surprised when he found he loved teaching - it energized him in a way football never had. Football is one thing I did because I was good at it, he is fond of saying. Teaching is something I do because I love it.
Moritz married his college sweetheart Cheryl and the couple has four teenage children. His sons play football, which makes their father proud. He has coached the high school football team at his school for a decade. When asked if he could ever see himself coaching at the collegiate level, a sparkle took over his eyes. Its not out of the question; I would love to do that.
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