It takes a special kind of person to be a football coach.
 
Excruciatingly long hours in the pursuit of progress and success, a never-ceasing willingness to learn and adapt, and a commitment to push through an endless list of responsibilities while leading and mentoring in large numbers – these are just the tips of the iceberg.
 
It's easy to measure on-field success in terms of wins and losses. It's even easier to forget that what the rest of the world sees on gameday showcases only a small fraction of all that goes on behind the scenes.
 
When Jake Spavital – who spent the last four seasons as the head coach at Texas State – decided to return to his old position as California's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in December, football wasn't the only thing on his mind. In fact, he was actually more concerned with how everyone else was going to be impacted.
 
"I wasn't even really thinking about the next move. It was more about taking care of my own people, making sure that they're getting jobs and they're good," Spavital said. "You realize all the responsibility you have as a head coach. It's kind of an obligation to all of the other people as well. I had a lot of opportunities arise, though. I really just sat down with my wife and was like, 'Where do we want to go? What are we looking for?'"
 
From a football perspective, the return made a lot of sense to Spavital. In his one season at Cal in 2016, the Oklahoma native formed a strong partnership with quarterback Davis Webb, resulting in the Golden Bears ranking fourth in the nation in passing offense and 10th in total offense. While he's still in the process of figuring out his new team ahead of the 2023 football season, Spavital sees a lot of similarities between that situation and the one he's in now.
 
"In 2016, there were a lot of moving parts. We had a lot of unknowns like we do right now," Spavital said. "The expectation is always the same though. It's about figuring out the identity of who we're going to become so we can move the ball and score points."
 
In order for him to come back, it also had to make sense from a non-football perspective. Luckily for the Bears, it did.
 
"I wanted to go where I had some familiarity. It was about the people that I was going to be working around," he said. "I had a great experience in 2016 and I love the area so much. I loved the University in terms of the type of kid that you coach here. This is a very ambitious group that has a lot on their plate on and off the field."
 
When Spavital and his wife, Mehgan, left Berkeley seven years ago, they moved to Mehgan's home state of West Virginia as a dynamic duo. When they returned several months ago to a pleasantly familiar environment, they did so with a completely new family dynamic; parents of their two young children, Madison and Landyn. Their long list of fond memories, which stretched from Berkeley to Napa to Half Moon Bay and Lafayette, made it easy to see their kids growing up in the Bay Area.
 
"We had the absolute best time in 2016. Obviously, we didn't have children at the time," Mehgan said. "Now, having two children and moving back out to California, Jake was concerned about if I thought it was the right move. I told him that without a doubt, I would love to take our kids back to California and let them experience what we did – the quality of life."
 
In 2009, Mehgan Spavital – formerly known as Mehgan Morris – ended one of the most decorated collegiate gymnastics careers that West Virginia has ever seen, leaving behind a legacy that included five conference championships in two years, multiple program top-10 marks and 11 All-EAGL honors. Less than two years later, when Jake became the quarterbacks coach for the Mountaineers, the two would cross paths.
 
Since then, Jake has helped develop top-tier talent while continuously building upon one of the most startling resumes for a coach just 38 years old. It includes recruiting and mentoring first-round NFL draft picks Kyler Murray, Johnny Manziel and Brandon Weeden, as well as current Seattle Seahawks' starter Geno Smith, among others.
 
"I'm surprised my wife's still with me," Jake said with a laugh. "She's a professional mover, I can tell you that. She knows how to put the house on the market, box it all up and go. Being an athlete, she understands it and knows the demands, the workload, and how much this game means to me. She's been awesome."
 
While being a football coach requires a special kind of person, the same can be said about being the partner of a football coach. Not everyone is cut out for that type of lifestyle, but Mehgan is the perfect fit.
 
"I feel I was meant to be a college football coach's wife," Mehgan said. "Thank goodness it's Jake. He's the most incredible person. I can't say enough - how he balances the work, the hours, the amount of people he tries to take care of, and then to still be the husband and father he is, I really don't know how he does it. Because I am a former college athlete, I'm a really independent person and I understand the importance of a coach's role in an athlete's life. The bond and the trust just goes so far beyond the field or the mat and continues way, way longer than the college career. Jake is such a player's coach and I have so much respect for that."
 
Mehgan attributes much of Jake's natural aptitude as a football leader to his parents.
 
His father, Steve, concluded his own football coaching career in 2013, following decades of success as a head coach and defensive coordinator for multiple Oklahoma high schools, different assistant coaching roles for four Canadian Football League teams, and a job in player development with the USFL's Michigan Panthers. Jake's mother, Tina, had a 32-year career as a teacher at five different Oklahoma elementary and middle schools, teaching topics such as math, earth and life science, and skills for adolescents.
 
"Jake's parents are just unbelievable people of the community. Their influence is absolutely where it initially comes from," she said. "Jake, growing up, watching his dad mentor so many people and his mom mentor as an educator, you see that he learned something every time we're around them, saying something that gives him inspiration for how to go about treating people and doing the right thing."
 
With Jake back on the sideline, the Bears' future on the field looks bright. For him though, a successful first year back at Cal will be about much more than the stories the final scores will tell.
 
"We're playing a game. There's so much more responsibility than just wins and losses," he said. "It's about how you handle yourself when facing adversity - to keep moving forward and not let the critics get into the mix of things, to not let doubt seep in, and to learn how to handle your successes and your failures the right way. Success to me is leaving an impact on these players, where they can enjoy their experience as student-athletes."