Erik Speakman started his high school coaching career in Mobile almost 25 years ago.

He hopes to finish it there as well.

The longtime Opelika coach was named the head football coach at Faith Academy last week.

In an recent interview on Sports Talk 99.5 FM, he talked about his memorable 1999 season working with Terry Curtis at UMS-Wright, what interested him in the Faith job and where he wants to take the Rams in the future.

What attracted you to Faith Academy?

“After meeting with coach (Woodie) Head and Mr. (Tim) Skelton (headmaster) and the principal, Mr. (Barry) Pickering, I liked their vision of the program and where they want to take it. It’s an opportunity to come back to an area I started my coaching career in a long time ago where there is a lot of good football.”

How and where did you start in your coaching career?

“When I was in school at Auburn University, I actually got to work for coach Terry Bowden for three seasons. That was a great learning experience. After that, I took a job down there with (UMS-Wright) coach (Terry) Curtis on his first staff. I left Auburn on a Monday after an A-Day and started coaching at UMS that same day. I remember driving to Mobile with a U-Haul trailer and unhooking it in the back of a house off Airport Road. I spent about a year and a half total time there – one football season – before my wife and I got married. Moved to Opelika and was there for 24 years and now we are moving back down to Mobile.”

It’s got to be pretty good experience learning from great game day coaches like Terry Bowden and Terry Curtis?

“Both of them are great guys and great play-callers. Neither one uses a play sheet. Coach Curtis tucks his into his back pocket and does the same things he did back then. You can learn a lot from those guys, and certainly some valuable information that you need to use.”

What do you remember about that year at UMS (1999)?

“It was a really fun year. Coach Curtis came in. That was his first year. I think the expectations weren’t very high. I can’t remember the record the year before (5-7). We ended up going 9-4 and playing in the third round of the playoffs. We beat St. Paul’s. We beat Briarwood in an early-season game when they were ranked No. 1. We played T.R. Miller with coach (Jamie) Riggs up there in a really close game (21-20 loss). It was a really fun year to have your first year of high school coaching to be with guys like coach Curtis and Don Jennings and John Turner, who is at Enterprise now. It was a really good staff and a lot of fun.”

What is it about coach Curtis that has allowed him to stay at UMS as long as he has and capture eight state championships?

“I think his love for coaching high school football. I know he’s had some opportunities to join college staffs whether it be on or off the field, but I just think his love for the game and love for other coaches. He will tell you all the time at clinics and other functions that we go to that his best friends are in the coaching world. I think he has been a great mentor to a lot of guys throughout the state.”

Twenty-three years later, why do you remember your short time at UMS so fondly?

“A lot of it was probably that it was my first job. I’ve kept in touch with a lot of those guys whether it be coaches or some of the former players. I coached receivers down there, and I somehow managed to always keep in touch with a few of them. Of course, it helps when UMS is always playing in state championship games for you to go watch them. A couple of times I would go watch him in the playoffs if Opelika was already out, and also just staying in touch with coach Curtis all those years. It’s always been a fun program to support.”

Assuming he doesn’t retire this year, you will get to face him next year?

“That was one of the games I immediately looked for on the schedule just to see when it was going to happen and where it will happen. I noticed it will be the last region game, so it will be really cool to go back to UMS and get to coach against him on the other side. You could add the wins of a bunch of coaches in the state together and not have as many as coach Curtis. It will be a lot of fun that week leading up to that.”

How and why did you go back to Opelika?

“Drew and I got married. She was working at the old Colonial Bank there with the main office on Dauphin Street. We got married and were living in Mobile and, no lie, this was like a week later – coach (Spence) McCracken calls from Opelika, which was her hometown, and offers me a job. Back then, it was also important for me to get back into public schools. That is really what brought us back up here. It’s been a great place for us for 24 years, and now God is leading us to another area. When one door closes, another opens.”

What is your timetable for being in Mobile and being on the job?

“I don’t have a timetable. I have to finish out this year in order to get my 25th year. That was another thing that drew me to Faith. They knew that and were willing to work with me in that situation.”

How different is it going to be heading to a new program and starting over?

“The thing that excites me the most is just the new start. I am kind of getting out of a comfort zone that I’ve had here for 24 years, 18 as an assistant, and even when I took over as the head coach when Caleb (Ross) left to go to Prattville. I already knew everyone in town. I knew who you had to go to for money and who the parents were. I’m at the point now where I’m coaching kids that I also coached their parents a long time ago. It will be refreshing to see some new faces and get to know a new area of football. I’ve always had a great respect for the area and the tradition of football in Mobile and now to get to come down there and finish my career. I’m about to be 50 but I’ve also got an 8-year-old, so I plan on doing this for a long time. It will be nice to get down there where there is some really strong high school football.”

You are following a legend at Faith and in coaching in Jack French.

“I’ve somehow managed to follow legends along the way. It’s always hard to be the guy after THE guy, but somebody has to do it. I’ve never met coach French. We’ve kind of passed at a couple of clinics and different places, but just looking at his track record of what he did at Baldwin County and Baker and Faith is just incredible. He’s taken a lot of jobs where no one ever thought you could win, and you look at his record and he’s won a whole bunch of games. He did a great job of laying the foundation at Faith, and I just hope to continue that and hopefully add to it.”

Where do you start?

“Get in there and evaluate the players coming back. Get in the hallways and meet some of the kids that may need to play. It’s a bigger private school that you still are looking at around 100 kids per grade. I want to get in there with the upcoming seniors and juniors and sophomores and making sure that every boy that needs to be playing football is out there and, if they are not, find out why and try to go our best to get them out there. I also want to get to know the coaches of the other sports. I already know (baseball) coach (Matt) Seymour. He and I worked together at UMS a long time ago. Baseball has been such a strong sport for them. We’ll need to talk to some of the guys and make sure they are playing both sports. We’ll get the players going full speed and keep them in the weight room. I’m super excited to get started.”