Returning to California

One of the perks living in California is the warm weather almost year-round.

That is one of many reasons Mark Speckman is coming home again.

Last week, Speckman was named the new UC Davis football assistant head coach and running backs coach He’s reunited with new UC Davis football head coach Dan Hawkins, who hired Speckman as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Williamette University in Salem, Ore. in 1995. Speckman, a California native who was raised in the Bay Area, was the Bobcats’ coach from 1998 to 2011.

“I owe a lot to Coach Hawkins,” Speckman said about the coach who later put Boise State on the map. “He and I have very similar philosophies on football and life. We work well together and it has always been a lot of fun.”

For the last two seasons, Speckman, considered the mastermind behind the Fly Offense, was the offensive coordinator at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisc. Two seasons prior, he was the running backs coach for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. He was back in California for a brief time in 2012, as the Menlo College football coach.

One can see of his coaching adventures why Speckman, who was born without hands, is more than thrilled to be returning to California.

“I am excited for the opportunity to coach at UC Davis,” Speckman said. “I am very thankful for the opportunity to return to California. My mom and brothers live close to Davis, and we have many friends here.”

Before his collegiate and professional success, Speckman turned out winning teams on the high school football level. That started at Livingston High in the early 1980s. In his second year, his squad won a share of the now-defunct Golden Valley League crown. One of his players on his team was one of my brothers, John, who was a lineman. A U.S. History and physical education teacher, Speck-

man taught two PE classes — yours truly, then a freshman, was in one of his afternoon classes.

Speckman is also the reason I chose to play football all four years in high school. When I was an eighth grader in junior high school, Speckman, along with Livingston High’s boys basketball and baseball head coaches, came to visit our campus to encourage us to come out for each of the coaches’ respective programs. Although my brother played football, I’d debated if I should continue to play baseball in high school, as I had been playing America’s favorite pastime since I was a little kid, if not track and field as I did in my final year in junior high school.

During the visitation, Speckman made his sales pitch to us boys to come out for football — even if we’d never played tackle football in our lives. Yours truly was sold. Two weeks after graduating from junior high school, I, along with other incoming freshmen, took part in weight training in late afternoons on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the summer.

Then Speckman left Livingston to teach and coach football at Gilroy High. In 1986, he returned to the Central Valley as the new Merced High football coach. From 1986 to 1993, Speckman’s Bears made lots of noises in the Central California Conference; Merced won six consecutive CCC titles and had deep playoff runs between 1988 to ’93. His 1990 Merced squad went 14-0 that included the CCC and Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship. On top of that cake was the extra icing of Merced being named the mythical state champions — long before state title games were put in place toward the end of the 2000s.

After a stop at Golden Valley, also in Merced, Speckman went to the next level of coaching at Willamette.

Speckman shined as a linebacker through the high school and junior college rankings, then at Azusa Pacific University, and earned All-American status.

Over the years, he’s also made many motivational speeches around the United States. Three years ago, Speckman conducted one in Turlock in which thousands of people, myself included, attended. He has also written a book called “Figure It Out”, about his life living without hands but still being successful that includes being an alter boy to playing the trombone.

Now Speckman and Hawkins are ready to motivate young men in the Northern California region who play high school football to continue their educational goals and playing for the UC Davis Aggies.

“We are definitely hitting the ground running as far as recruiting goes,” Speckman said. “The Sac-Joaquin area has outstanding talent, and we will be actively recruiting here.”

As he transitions into moving back to the Golden State, Speckman reflects on his coaching adventures; from Livingston to today.

“I have really tried to have the attitude that I can be happy and thrive anywhere,” said Speckman, 61. “I enjoyed the different experience of living in another country. I have tried to embrace the winters in Wisconsin. But through it all, I have always felt that California was home. I missed being able to easily visit family and friends. I missed the local sports scene, no matter where I was, on Saturday mornings I would check online to get high school scores from the Sac-Joaquin Section.”

“And who’s kidding who,” Speckman added. “I really missed the weather.”