One of the most decorated coaches in any sport at Union, Brian Speck returns for his 25th season as head coach of the Union College women's soccer program in 2019.
Speck has compiled a career record of 302-104-34 (.725), ranking him fourth all-time in coaching victories at the school and third in career winning percentage among coaches with at least five years at the helm. The winningest coach in Union women's soccer history, Speck enters 2019 ranked 17th in D-III in winning percentage and 23rd in victories among active coaches. His 302 wins rank him 41st all-time among all NCAA women's soccer coaches and 32nd among Division III mentors.
Speck became the 31st coach in Division III women's soccer history to reach 300 career victories on September 29, 2018 with a 1-0 win over #24 Vassar at College Park Field.
In 2014, Speck led the Dutchwomen to a No. 12 national ranking as the team went 6-0 to start the season. Union finished with an 8-1 mark against non-conference opponents.
During his time in the Electric City, Speck has led the Dutchwomen to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, the most of coach at Union, including five straight NCAA Tournaments from 1999-2003. In the program's first-ever NCAA appearance in 1999, Union rallied from a 3-0 deficit to defeat Ithaca, 4-3, in three overtimes – the first NCAA win in the 30-year history of women's athletics at Union.
In addition, Speck has propelled Union to three Liberty League/UCAA Tournament titles, an ECAC Upstate crown and a pair of New York State championships. A three-time conference Coach of the Year, Speck has produced four conference Players of the Year, 33 All-Region selections, seven All-Americans and a whopping 121 All-Conference selections.
Taking over a Union program with just two winning seasons to its credit in 1995, it took Speck just four seasons to lead the Dutchwomen to their first league title in the UCAA with a 13-1-1 overall record. The following year in 1999, the Dutchwomen became the second Union team to capture a New York State Women's Collegiate Athletic Association Championship while also winning an NCAA Tournament game for the first time. That squad became the first women's team at Union to be inducted into the school's Team of Distinction wing of the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.
Speck led Union to identical 19-2-1 campaigns in 2003 and 2004, the 19 wins representing the most in program history. The 2003 squad started the year with a school-record 13 straight victories and went 15 games (14-0-1) before suffering its first defeat. The 2004 team outscored its opponents by an amazing 73-8 margin, recording a school-record 16 shutouts in 22 matches.
Speck has been a member of two coaching staffs for the U.S. Women's Deaf National Team, helping Team USA to back-to-back gold medal performances at the 2013 Deaflympics in Sofia, Bulgaria and at the 2012 World Cup in Ankara, Turkey alongside Yon Struble, who also served as Speck's assistant coach at Union.
Prior to coming to Union, Speck compiled a six-year varsity record of 102-20-6 at Niskayuna (N.Y.) High School. Both the New York State Sportswriters and Coaches Organizations named him Coach of the Year for Girls Sports and Section II. Under his direction, Niskayuna was ranked seventh in the nation in 1994 and was the New York State co-champions with Huntington, the nation's top team. Speck led Niskayuna to four Suburban Council championships, a Section II Class A title, a Section II Class B crown, back-to-back regional championships and consecutive state titles (1993, 1994).
A native of Burnt Hills, N.Y., Speck graduated from SUNY Albany in 1988.
Brian and his wife, Kim, have three boys, Ian, Cameron and Sean.
