Former Raider DE Justin Tuck sails the seas of high finance

Occasionally on our site we will tell you about a current or former Raiders player who went back to school and got his degree. Often that player entered the NFL early and went back to finish their schooling as a promise to their mother or another family member. This is sort of like that, but former Raider Justin Tuck, who graduated from Notre Dame in 2005, decided to take on a decidedly different challenge following his retirement from the NFL in 2016, according to this article from CNBC.

After leaving the NFL, Tuck attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. It is the finest business school in the country, if not the entire world, and in May Tuck graduated with an MBA in management.

Other graduates of Wharton include Robert Crandall, CEO of American Airlines, Julian Brodsky, CEO of Comcast, Mike Eskew, CEO of UPS, Reginald Jones, CEO of General Electric, and a few heads of state including Mauricio Macri, the current President of Argentina, and Donald J. Trump, current President of the United States.

On the field, Tuck was known as one of the most cerebral and physically sound players around. He played in and won two Super Bowls against two of the best teams ever to set foot on the field- the 2007 and 2011 Patriots. Both games were won on the back of the Giants’ defense, of which Tuck was a key cog. Tuck credits his success on the field and in the classroom to his preparation, as he mentioned during a Wharton Global Forum panel recently in New York City.

”My success in that Super Bowl was just being prepared,” Tuck says.

”I mean, you’re foolish if you go into that game and you haven’t done all of your film work, all of your practice, ate the right things and so on.”

While Tuck had limited production as a Raider being on the physical downside of his career, his example of professionalism and being mentally prepared certainly set the bar for young players such as Khalil Mack, who was drafted in Tuck’s first year with the team and has led to Mack becoming one of the most dominant defensive players in the NFL.

Recently, Tuck has parlayed his Wharton experience into a lucrative position at Goldman Sachs investment firm in New York as a Vice President in their private wealth management division, and he believes that his commitment to preparation will continue to pay dividends.

At the NFL level, “not being prepared means Tom Brady throws 400 yards against you,” he says, referencing the Patriots quarterback. “Not being prepared at a place like Goldman Sachs means that some of your trusted clients are losing money.”

“No one expected Justin Tuck from Kellyton, Alabama to go to Notre Dame, set records. Go to the NFL, set records. Translate from that and go to Wharton? Now Goldman?” Tuck asks.

”With all that is a tremendous responsibility that I put on myself to make sure that I am getting myself ready.”

The world of finance is a rough and cutthroat one, but so is the NFL, and a guy like Justin Tuck is set up for success.