Texas to hire Duane Akina as an assistant coach
The dean of DBU is coming home. Steve Sarkisian is set to hire Duane Akina to fill the vacancy created by Terry Joseph‘s departure for the NFL, Inside Texas has learned. Akina, who was Arizona’s defensive coordinator during the 2024 season, coached at Texas under Mack Brown from 2001-2013.
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Akina was set to join Texas as an analyst last year before remaining in Tucson to call the defense under Wildcats head coach Brent Brennan. Now, he makes his return to Austin, ostensibly replacing one of his former pupils in Blake Gideon.
Orangebloods first reported the news.
Here’s what Ian Boyd wrote last year when Akina appeared slated to join the Longhorns’ analyst corps.
Akina was known for three main features at Texas back in the 2000s.
- A “four corners” recruiting philosophy
- Excellent man coverage
- Building NFL pipeline and developing “DBU”
The “four corners” philosophy meant Texas primarily recruited defensive backs who projected to play cornerback and moved some of them inside to safety as needed. The 2005 secondary is a terrific reflection of this approach. This unit started the following defenders:
- Right cornerback: Cedric Griffin, 2nd round pick and 7-year NFL veteran.
- Free safety: Michael Griffin, 1st round pick, 10-year NFL veteran, two-time Pro Bowler.
- Strong safety: Michael Huff, 1st round pick, 8-year NFL veteran.
- Left cornerback: Tarell Brown, 5th round pick, 7-year NFL veteran.
- Nickel (not a starter back then): Aaron Ross, 1st round pick, 7-year NFL veteran.
Michael Griffin was an elite athlete despite eventually checking in at 215 pounds. Michael Huff was a track star who could be a dominant box safety or erase a slot in man coverage as the situation dictated. Everyone in the lineup could run and cover and Akina made sure they all knew how to play man, which created flexibility across the unit. If you hadn’t heard, this unit won the National Championship.
Between Texas recruiting some of the best skills athletes within the state and Akina teaching them how to play defensive back and man coverage, the school began to claim status as “Defensive Back University” due to the volume of players sent to the NFL and their success after arriving.
From 2001 to 2013 while Akina was the defensive backs coach, Texas had 13 defensive backs drafted including five 1st round picks.
The approach evolved some over time. Akina was made co-defensive coordinator for the 2007 season and the Longhorns had some issues in pass defense, leading to the hire of Will Muschamp for 2008. Muschamp brought a base nickel and quarters coverage philosophy which was maintained by his successor Manny Diaz. This approach was scrapped before the end, in part due to Akina’s preference for playing single-high coverage. The Mack Brown Longhorns went out in 2013 blending Cover 1 (single-high man coverage) and Cover 3 (single-high zone coverage) under Akina’s direction.
After arriving at Stanford, Akina continued in that direction of teaching single-high defense with an emphasis on man coverage. Over his nine seasons in Palo Alto the Cardinal sent six defensive backs to the NFL, most notably safety Justin Reid who played a lot of nickel (man coverage on the slot) for Akina. The Arizona Wildcats had a similar philosophy.
Akina and current Texas linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen coached together at Arizona in 2023. They’ll be reunited at Texas in 2025.
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Sarkisian once again has the full complement of 10 assistant coaches with the addition of Akina.
