New Minerva head football coach Tim Speakman is familiar with program building

Tim Speakman is a coach who relishes a challenge.

When he decided to return to his hometown, Minerva, after being gone for more than three decades, he took over a big challenge — his old high school football program.

In the five months after agreeing to take over the Lions, who only won three of their last 70 games, the 57-year-old Speakman is installing his philosophy while trying to redevelop the winning culture developed by Tom Walters and continued by Lynn Molen.

Walters was head coach from 1965-74, recording a 79-19-2 record. Molen, one of his successors, served two stints covering 12 years that ended in the late 1990s, recording a combined 93-30 mark.

"I remember those days," said Speakman, a 1983 Minerva graduate who played wide receiver and defensive back. "Those were great times and we had great tradition."

Five months can't erase what transpired on the field the previous seven seasons, but Speakman likes what he has seen during the offseason conditioning program.

"We have 57 kids [in grades 9-12] working out in the weight room," he said. "They've been dedicated and committed to our program, coming in early. We have stations and run a military [format]. It's lift, rack and rotate. The kids like the structure."

Tim Speakman is a Minerva High graduate and began coaching at Kent State

Speakman is a Kent State graduate, serving as a coaching assistant to head coaches Glenn Mason and Dick Crum. He returned to Minerva to launch his football coaching career, serving three years (1987-89) as an assistant to Molen.

"We went 10-0 in the regular season [in 1989], and I was also on the opposite end when I played," Speakman recalled. "We were 0-10 my senior year [1982].

Speakman also coached in the Kent area, starting as an assistant at Kent Roosevelt under head coach John Nemec in 1990, then Rootstown, where he assisted head coach Tim Campana the next three years.

"They were great mentors for a young football coach," Speakman said.

Migrating south, Speakman coached both football and softball during the 1990s. He helped start the football program at Naples Gulf Coast High School (Fla.) in 1998, serving as the offensive coordinator. His first head coaching post was at Naples Palmetto Ridge High, a school that opened in 2005. Both upstart programs made postseason play early. Gulf Coast qualified for postseason play in 2000, in its third year. Palmetto Ridge went 4-6 the first year, then won seven regular-season contests in 2006, advancing to the playoffs.

Speakman left high school football coaching for college softball, starting the program at Ava Maria University in Florida before leaving the state for North Carolina and returning to football, accepting an offer from Monroe Parkwood High School.

After posting 2-9 marks his first two seasons, Speakman guided Parkwood to a 7-5 mark and a playoff berth in 2019.

"We had to build each program from the ground up, but the kids worked hard and had winning seasons and made the playoffs in a short period of time," Speakman said. 

Tim Speakman seeks Minerva's first winning season in football since 2013

Minerva hasn't posted a winning season since 2013 when coach Mike Hall's team, led by Harrison Hoppel, went 6-4. The Lions haven't made the playoffs since 2011, when an offensive-loaded team led by quarterback Eli Maurer (18 touchdown passes), 1,225-yard running back Jake Riley and all-purpose running back Zach Wade (1,165 rushing yards, 842 receiving yards and 27 touchdowns) went 10-0 in regular-season play, edged Poland 29-28 in the playoffs and finished 11-1.

Following the resignation of Mark Hundley, the previous head coach, Minerva Local School Superintendent Gary Chaddock contacted Speakman.

"Gary asked me if I had an interest and I said I did," Speakman said.

While relishing the chance to restore his alma mater's winning tradition, Speakman admits his decision to return to Minerva was also family driven.

"The health of my mother, Freda, was a big concern," he added. "She is 81 and my sister [Kim Chuckalovchak] has done a great job caring for her, but [Freda] is battling serious illnesses. She taught 33 years in the [Minerva] district while helping my dad [Kenny] raise me, and I felt obligated to come back to help her."

Sounding enthusiastic but realistic, Speakman doesn't expect to revive the Minerva football program quickly. It will be more of a patient process than a quick fix following five months of player observation after taking the job in January.

"We've got to improve our strength and conditioning, and we have to improve our football IQ," Speakman said. "We've gotten off to a good start with improving our strength and conditioning through our weight program. We have to teach situational football. I learned the importance of that when I attended football clinics, and one of the guys who taught me a lot about the importance of it was [retired Canton McKinley, Warren Harding and Jackson head coach] Thom McDaniels."

Speakman is the father of two children: daughter Taylor, 17; and son Tyler, 14. He intends on spending quality time with them in the community in which he attended school and played football in high school.

"I know the fathers of some of the kids I'm coaching now, which makes it [different] than my previous places but also special," Speakman said. "The community cares about its football and I was blessed to have played here."