35 hard decision, but I wanted to leave football before football left me.” Spagnola explained that when you’re playing at the “highest possible level and doing what you love in front of fans and on TV, it’s an irreplaceable thing and hard to walk away from.” What spurred this transition was the big strike of 1987, which pushed Spagnola out of Philly. He played one year in Seattle and one last year at Green Bay, thus ending his eleven-year NFL career. “I had a real interest in broadcasting,” Spagnola continued, “and went on to broadcast college sports with ABC Sports, which was a blast.” Each team, he explained, has their own culture and traditions based on their geographical location, which was fascinating to him. However, he soon found out that the decision makers in the broadcasting industry often didn’t know a lot about football. “You could be completely wrong in your analysis,” he explained, “and they wouldn’t know.” He decided that he didn’t want to be reliant on a business that was so subjective, where advancement wasn’t clearly tied to a broadcaster’s merit. Combining his experience in the finance industry with the national exposure that Spagnola gained from broadcasting made Spagnola a great candidate for a financial planning firm in New Jersey. He continued to broadcast during the weekends as he took on the new role at the financial planning firm. During this role, Spagnola met people involved with organized labor in Pennsylvania who were undergoing police negotiations. “Pennsylvania,” Spagnola explained, “is very unique in that it holds one quarter of all the pension plans in the United States.” For example, in other states there is one statewide system, but in Pennsylvania, each city has their very own pension plan. As a result, there are 2,500 separate public pension plans in the state of Pennsylvania alone. This gave Spagnola and his financial planning partner the opportunity to branch out on their own, establishing Spagnola Cosack Inc., which Spagnola jokingly explained was their non-clever way of combining each of their last names. Together, Spagnola and Cosack toured the state leveraging their relationships and building their startup asset management business. It was a learning curve that would continue for a decade and eventually procure three billion dollars in assets. They sold the company to Public Financial Management (PFM) in 2003, and sold again last year to U.S. Bank, “bringing their pension advisory services to a national framework,” Spagnola explained. Now with U.S. Bank, they have built out their business to approximately forty billion dollars that they will be advising on. He concluded by emphasizing the importance of completing college, networking, and participating in in-person mentorships/internships, while remarking on the unique state of the economic environment. “The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates,” he explained, “and it’s abnormally more profitable to buy treasury bonds for two years as opposed to ten.” However, by using this inflationary tool, some damage to the economy is expected, but it’s not happening. “This is because there are new jobs being created with not enough people to fill them, which is good for you graduating from college. We’re in very interesting times,” he said soberly, “and the best thing now is to see the federal reserve back away to have normal supply and demand effects take place.” The event ended with a Q and A where students asked Spagnola many questions. “I will answer Super Bowl questions,” he said, causing a burst of excited chuckles from the audience. “I did play one in 1981,” he explained, “and I’d like to think that my memory has faded, and we won that game…but I will tell you that when you lose the Super Bowl, you never quite get over it.” Regardless, it’s evident to see that Spagnola won in other ways throughout his career with his willingness to branch out and his flexibility to transition into each role. Spagnola explained, “I would love to say that I sat here, when I was your age, with it all figured out, but I didn’t,” inviting the students in the crowd to allow room for growth and transition for their future careers after college. Spagnola continued to share stories and give advice to student leaders of the A.I.M club in the luncheon following the event, making for a complete ending to a great event.
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