Dave Volk was earning more than $100,000 a year with a corporate career in medical staffing but felt "something was missing."
So the former 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive tackle started applying for football coaching jobs in 2011.
Volk dusted off his impressive playing resume: captain of the 2001 Nebraska Cornhuskers, a member of the Big 12 all-academic team, short stints with the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys.
He then ran headfirst into the competitive world of coaching.
Volk was hired from a pool of 150 applicants to be an assistant at a suburban Dallas high school.