It didn’t take Erik Speakman long to find a new job.

The former Opelika head football coach has been named the new coach at Class 5A Faith Academy in Mobile.

Speakman, 49, replaces Jack French, who announced his retirement last month.

“We had a lot of good resumes,” Faith athletic director Woodie Head told AL.com. “A lot of great people applied for the job. Coach Speakman checks all the boxes. He’s a very strong Christian with a lot of experience. He’s young. He has a lot of years of coaching left and that was something that excited us.

“We feel like the Lord has sent him to us, and he’s the right man for this job.”

Speakman spent the last 24 years at Opelika, including the last six as head coach. He will finish the school year there and officially retire from public schools before taking over at Faith full-time.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity,” he said. “I’m excited to get back to Mobile where my career started under coach (Terry) Curtis in 1999. It will be pretty cool to play him in this region (5A, 1). I didn’t think that would ever happen.”

After graduating from Auburn University, Speakman served on Curtis’ first UMS staff before then-coach Spence McCracken hired him at Opelika. He served as an assistant for McCracken, Brian Blackmon and Caleb Ross before being promoted when Ross left following the 2017 season.

“I took a job with Terry right out of Auburn,” Speakman said Tuesday. “I worked about a year-and-a-half there and then got married. My wife, Drew, is from Opelika. Coach McCracken called and I figured I could either go to Opelika or get divorced, so we went to Opelika.”

Speakman went 45-25 as Opelika’s head coach.

“One thing that really excites me about this opportunity is just getting out of my comfort zone,” Speakman said. “When I took over at Opelika, I kind of already knew everything that was going on. Now, I get to learn new things and new people and how things operate somewhere else. I’m really looking forward to it.”

French turned Faith’s football fortunes around during his six years at the school.

He took over a program that had won 38 games in a decade since moving from the AISA to the AHSAA and had never been to the playoffs in that league. He led the Rams to the postseason every year, including a pair of runs to the Class 5A state semifinals and another to the quarterfinals. He finished with a 55-20 record at the school.

“I know coach French really turned it around six years ago,” Speakman said. “I’m looking forward to getting down there and continuing what he started and competing in Class 5A against UMS and B.C. Rain and Vigor and some of those traditionally strong programs. We want to keep Faith’s name right in there with those guys as playoff contenders.”

Speakman and his wife have five children, ranging in age from 8 to 19. His oldest, Bryce, is currently playing baseball at Coastal Alabama in Bay Minette.

“He was excited for sure,” Speakman said. “It will make for an easy commute home.”

Speakman plans to be at Faith for the long haul.

“Coach Curtis is a big mentor of mine,” he said. “I’ve told people I want to be like him and Danny Horn (Central-Clay County) and Trent Taylor (Andalusia). I wasn’t ever looking to retire from public schools and do something else. I want to be a football coach and, with the age of my children, I better be doing it for a while.”