Mark Speir, a former recruiting director and assistant coach at Elon University, was hired as the head football coach at Western Carolina University in December, returning to the school where he was a coach from 1991-1996. He was asked about the excitement of heading into his first coaching job and his time as an assistant coach at Elon, Appalachian State and Clemson during his 21-year coaching career.
Q: What made you want to take the head coaching job at Western Carolina University?
A: It was a great opportunity to become a head coach in the best FCS conference in the country. WCU has had great tradition in the past, like playing for a National Championship in 1983. It is also a great university with an alumni and student body who are ready for a winning program again.
Q: Describe how it feels to be the coach of a Division I program.
A: It is an awesome responsibility that I don’t take lightly. You only get a very few opportunities this big in your life. You have an obligation to a group of players, coaches and university to provide vision and goals for success. I am very blessed and thankful to the administration here at WCU for their confidence in our staff’s ability to rejuvenate this program.
Q: How did your time at Clemson jump start your career? What did you learn while there?
While at Clemson, I learned from Coach Danny Ford the values of commitment, hard work and toughness in a program. There are no shortcuts to success. You have to be willing to give up stuff individually to become champions as a team. Coach Ford was also a relentless recruiter. I learned that the little things matter.
Q: Describe your time at Elon.
A: I enjoyed my time at Elon. I worked with some wonderful people such as Dr. Allen White and Coach Al Seagraves. We accomplished a lot of great milestones while there, such as making the move from Division II to FCS, opening Rhodes Stadium and making the jump to the Southern Conference. It was a part of my journey to this point at WCU.
Q: What challenges did you face while you were the recruiting director at Elon?
A: Always trying to establish yourself as a true contender in the SoCon. Budgets were going from Division II to FCS. It was hard when we were in Williams High School stadium with facilities. But a lot of those issues have since been addressed.
Q: You recruited some extremely talented classes while at Appalachian State. What made you such a successful recruiting coordinator?
A: The program that coach Jerry Moore established up there in Boone. It is all about the people and relationships you have with high school coaches. It is how you treat people.
Q: Would you say you’re more excited or apprehensive about the upcoming year?
A: I am extremely excited about the upcoming year. It is going to be a process of building this program, but that is what makes it fun. We have a great group of men here who we are excited about. With great challenges comes great rewards.
Information compiled by Kyle Maher.