Q: You continued to further your education throughout your playing career. How did you balance both?

Brian Carroll: I’ve always had a strong desire to learn. Even though I left Wake Forest University early to pursue a career in professional soccer, a college degree was important to me. The longer my professional soccer career lasted the more important I knew it would be to finish my undergraduate degree and learn new skills for life after sports. After leaving Wake Forest without a degree, I immediately took advantage of an education grant included in my contract to complete my undergraduate studies. But I quickly learned that I enjoyed lifelong learning and was hungry for more business and investing education. Fortunately, education became more accessible through online platforms and I was able to take advantage of programs offered by established universities such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School and the University of Georgia Terry College of Business. Essentially, I’d finish training at 2:00 PM and then drive straight to campus, a coffee shop, or my home office to complete class and/or assignments until 10:00 PM. It was a change, going from class all day to soccer at night in my youth and college days, to soccer all morning and early afternoon to class and assignments all night. Eventually, I found a groove and my schedule felt like a new normal.