How One Text Changed Everything: Tim Schmoll’s Journey From Playing Professionally to Advising Members of the USMNT

The moment happened while Tim Schmoll was boarding a flight.

Soccer had taken him on an amazing journey to Geneva, New York, England and Harvard, but in this moment, his playing future was unclear and a source of anxiety.

Shuffling onto the plane with his now-wife Claire, Tim's phone buzzed. It was his dad, sending him an article from The New York Times, as dads are wont to do. But this article, titled "Meet the Money Whisperer to the Super-Rich N.B.A. Elite," would completely change the trajectory of Tim's life.

The 2019 story profiled MAI Capital Managing Partner for Sports & Entertainment, Joe McLean, whose firm (named Intersect Capital, later acquired by MAI Capital Management) had built a client list totaling over $1 billion in reported value of contracts from about 50 athletes.

As safety instructions echoed throughout the cabin and the plane's engines came to life, Tim was transfixed on his phone, reading how Joe pivoted from playing basketball to wealth management.

Tim turned to Claire.

"I think I know what I want to do after I'm done playing."

Living the Dream

Like most boys with two brothers, Tim's childhood became a proving group for athletic ability. Furthermore, his father played collegiate soccer and the family lived in Geneva, Switzerland, meaning the 1998 World Cup in France became transformational for a young, impressionable Tim.

"The World Cup that year was basically next door to us, but I didn't really register that when I was 5," he said. "My dad told me this folklore about the Brazil team, who had won four years before. That was the first game we watched, and they beat Scotland. It was just pure fandom from then on. My entire youth was just playing soccer."

Tim's inclusion in a talented local club led to a competitive regional squad that practiced daily and traveled across Switzerland, and at 15 made the academy team Servette FC, eventually earning captain of the U18 squad. "After I first practiced with the first team a couple of times at the academy, my dad said, "You could do this for a living,"' Tim recalls. 'I had never actually considered that.'"

The academy-to-pro route was a common one, but Tim's father, mother and older brother had all loved their years at American universities. Plus, a fellow International School and Servette alumnus, Kwaku Nyamekye, had gone on to Harvard and Major League Soccer and suggested Tim could follow a similar path. Tim assumed the Ivy League was out of reach (his soccer schedule had made straight A's near-impossible) until a Harvard coach watched him at a U.S. recruiting camp and brought him to Cambridge. Harvard coach Pieter Lehrer moved Tim from center back to center forward and he went on to lead the team in shots, goals, and points as a junior, earning All-Ivy League First Team honors.

Momentum from the standout junior campaign carried into the summer, where Tim competed in the Premier Development League (now called USL League Two) for the New York Red Bulls U23 team in his native center back position. He again played well, reinforcing to both himself and scouts that Tim could play professionally. The following January, New York signed Tim to the Red Bulls' second team. Harvard allowed him to pause his studies to play professionally, meaning progress on his degree would not be sacrificed while in pursuit of his dream.

Even on the second team, Tim was frequently training with the Red Bull starters, following similar travel and game schedules, living the life of a professional player. Soccer became a full-time job, and he couldn't have been happier.

"It was bliss," he said. "There was nothing to do besides focus on being as good as you can be and giving yourself the best shot at a long playing career.

"We had this amazing group of guys who went on to have incredible careers, guys on the U.S. World Cup team, guys on other nations' World Cup teams, people still playing in MLS today. You're a little stressed about trying to 'make it,' but at the same time it was the best year of soccer I'd ever had… every choice you make is conducive to that one goal. My whole life I'd balanced soccer with other things, and I'd earned the right to only think about that."

Cut to Black

Tim spent two seasons with the Red Bulls without cracking the first team of a deep MLS roster. He then had stints with Aldershot Town F.C. and Dover Athletic F.C. in England, relishing the passion and community that embodied the English game.

However, a nagging elbow injury required surgery and contributed to the uncertainty of where he would play from one year to the next. That, and Claire graduating from grad school in the U.S., made the couple's future a moving target. Would Tim's playing career dictate their next move, or should he stop playing and have Claire's job prospects point their compass? The pressure of the decision was overwhelming.

Then the Times article about McLean from Tim's father brought clarity. Tim realized that the main thing keeping him playing was familiarity. His identity was intertwined with soccer even if his body was trying to communicate that his time might be up. Tim was reinvigorated by the idea that there was another career path besides playing that he could be passionate about.

"What I'm realizing is that one of the common traits for me across any profession, especially coming from sports, is this full immersion and devotion to what you're doing," Tim explained. "Remember the source of the passion, the excitement, the energy - while not giving yourself any excuses to turn around later and say, 'I didn't give myself the best chance to succeed.'"

After a call with his doctors to review an MRI, Tim immediately emailed a contact at Morgan Stanley, yearning to learn more about wealth management. He'd gone from a highly disciplined athlete to someone who didn't yet understand the industry he wanted to enter. He reflected on how his life was about to change its trajectory; soccer had taken him across countries and continents, been the impetus for most of his friendships and memories, and now he was starting an entirely new path.

"And then, boom - not fade to black, cut to black. As soon as you make that decision to stop playing, you can no longer stand up and say what you're devoting your energy to, and you don't even really know what you're devoting it to," Tim said. "So having some light at the end of the tunnel to move slowly toward was an enormous factor in being able to make what was ultimately a really good decision at the right time, but an inherently difficult one, and maybe, without that guiding light, an impossible leap to take."

A Second Calling

At 27, Tim was one of the older students in the four classes he had to take to complete his Harvard degree. But he didn't mind. Without soccer taking up chunks of his time, Tim was as devoted to his studies as he had ever been; he was the guy sitting in the front row, raising his hand and going to office hours. He called it "nerding out in the best way."

He graduated in 2020 and joined a small, sports-focused RIA as a start. He wanted to work for McLean but knew a playing career alone wasn't enough of a credential. What he came to see was the role a good advisor plays on an athlete's team: the calm in a storm of people, familiar and new, all wanting a piece of the player's financial and personal life. His own path across the globe, he realized, had prepared him to meet each client as an individual, with their own background, needs, and circumstances.

"The part of this job I like most - really, the part of life I like most - is the relationships. Whether it's distilling a huge, complex situation into language a client can relate to, or a run-of-the-mill conversation that puts them at ease - feeling genuinely trusted by a client is the most fulfilling thing, and that only comes if there's a real relationship there."

As Tim progressed as an advisor, he began emailing McLean. A couple of years prior, Tim was boarding a flight, his life in flux, when a single text from his father changed everything. In a serendipitous way, the man whom Tim only knew from an article on his phone was now offering him a foot in the door at his firm, Intersect Capital, which would be acquired by MAI Capital Management shortly thereafter.

Today, he is trusted by elite athletes, including members of the U.S. Men's National Team, as a certified financial planner, working with McLean on MAI's Sports & Entertainment division.