Trouble Along the Way (1953) on Netflix

Plot summary

St. Anthony's College, a small Jesuit school, faces closing for lack of money. Father Burke, its elderly rector, hopes a football program will bring in revenue, and he recruits Steve Williams, a former big-time coach who has fallen on hard times. Steve turns the job down at first, then takes it after learning that Anne, the wife he divorced, has told Social Services he is unfit to raise their daughter, Carole, and means to sue for custody. Alice Singleton, the caseworker on the matter, is coldly prejudiced against Steve because of her own past with her father, and he sets out to win her over. Father Burke, using his clerical connections, arranges games against major Catholic colleges for the coming season.