There's more to life than Lance Armstrong and running around with your shirt off.

Despite the numerous Matthew McConaughey pictures you might come across to the contrary, this actor is aware of that. That may be part of the reason he immediately committed to a role in the upcoming film, We Are Marshall, after reading the script.

McConaughey plays coach Jack Lengyel, who took over the Marshall University football team after a plane crash killed 75 players, coaches and community members in November 1970.

"There's two scripts I've read in my career I've made 37 films that as soon as I finished the last page, I said, 'I'm in, no matter what,'" McConaughey said.

Those two? We Are Marshall and his first film, 1993's Dazed and Confused.

"I finished the script and I couldn't get it off my mind," he said. "I had emotions that I haven't had in a while. I didn't know this story."

McConaughey will be joined on screen by Matthew Fox from Lost.

The film tells the story of a football program's rebuilding. Lengyel was hired in March 1971, four months after the team's chartered jet crashed into a hill short of Tri-State Airport in rain and fog.

The school had to recover and Lengyel led the way. A slew of walk-ons joined the few returning players - who were not on the plane - and a group of freshmen who were not allowed to play the previous fall due to NCAA restrictions.

It should be a serious role for McConaughey, a slight departure from recent laid back fare such as Failure to Launch.