Duane Akina (born October 22, 1956) is the

defensive backs In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

coach for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

football team. In 28 years of coaching football, Akina has coached three

Thorpe Award The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Payc ...

winners in

Darryll Lewis Darryll Lamont Lewis (born December 16, 1968) is an American retired professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). Lewis was born in Bellflower, California. After going to high school at Nogales Hig ...

(1990),

Michael Huff Michael Wayne Huff, II (born March 6, 1983) is a former American football safety. He last played for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Texas, and was recognized as a conse ...

(2005), and Aaron Ross (2006), as well as five finalists for the award, among them

Chris McAlister Christopher James McAlister (born June 14, 1977) is a former American college and professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons. He played college football for the University of Ar ...

. Twenty of his defensive backs have also gone on to play in the NFL. He was an assistant coach to

Dick Tomey Richard Hastings Tomey (June 20, 1938 – May 10, 2019) was an American football coach and player. Tomey served as the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (1977–1986), University of Arizona (1987–2000), and San Jose State ...

at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

for 14 years, serving as defensive backs coach and offensive coordinator. He was named Arizona defensive coordinator in 2000, but decided to leave for Texas to become the team's defensive back coach. Akina was promoted to co-

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

and retained his duties as defensive backs coach for the Longhorns from 2005–2007. In the 2007 season, he shared the defensive coordinator position with

Larry Mac Duff Larry Mac Duff (born June 22, 1948) is an American football coach and former player. He played college football as a defensive end at Fullerton College (1966–1967) and Oklahoma (1968–1969). Mac Duff has eight years of NFL coaching experien ...

, but called the defensive plays. After a frustrating season, in which the Longhorns defense allowed a school-record 4,498 total yards, Akina could have faced dismissal following the 2007 Holiday Bowl. However, not Akina, but Larry Mac Duff resigned. Akina was nonetheless demoted to secondary coach after

Will Muschamp William Lawrence Muschamp (born August 3, 1971) is an American football coach and former player. He is the co- defensive coordinator and safeties coach at the University of Georgia. He served as head football coach at the University of Florida fr ...

was hired as the new defensive coordinator. Following

June Jones June Sheldon Jones III (born February 19, 1953) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the Offensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons. Jones was the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 19 ...

' resignation at

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, Akina was considered to be one of the candidates for his replacement. In January 2011, it was announced that Akina would be leaving the Longhorns to be the defensive backs coach at the

. One month later, his replacement at Texas,

Jerry Gray Jerry Don Gray (born December 16, 1962) is an American football coach and former player who is the defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Gray played college footbal ...

, left the Longhorns to become the defensive coordinator of the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

. A few days later, Akina announced that he would be returning to Texas to resume his defensive backs position with the Longhorns due to family considerations. On January 10, 2014 it was reported that Akina would not return for the Longhorns in 2014 after new head coach Charlie Strong decided not to keep him on his staff. In March 2014, Akina was hired as the

coach for

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

References

External links

Stanford profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akina, Duane 1956 births Living people American football quarterbacks Arizona Wildcats football coaches Calgary Stampeders coaches Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football coaches Stanford Cardinal football coaches Texas Longhorns football coaches Washington Huskies football coaches Washington Huskies football players Sportspeople from Honolulu Players of American football from Honolulu Coaches of American football from Hawaii