Who is the best assistant coach in Texas history?

While assistants have been a hot topic of discussion lately, here’s a chance to look back while we also try to look forward to who’ll be wearing the burnt orange soon

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Texas boasts some of the head coaches ever in college football like Dana Bible and Darrell Royal, plus a national champion like Mack Brown.

They’ve been supported by some of the best assistants in football. And a few come to mind.

Emory Bellard, Fred Akers, Ken Dabbs, and David McWilliams come to mind. So too do more modern examples like Greg Robinson, Will Muschamp, Tim Brewster, Gene Chizik, Greg Davis, and Duane Akina.

Steve Sarkisian’s staff has strong examples like Kyle Flood, Pete Kwiatkowski, and Tashard Choice.

Who takes the cake for you? 

Malaise: Oscar Giles

Stoneham_boy7: Jeff Maddog Madden

Dick Fingers: Probably Muschamp, imo.

Ian Boyd: Emory probably, tough resume to beat. Maybe Greg Davis but…Emory did the same things essentially but more successfully.

53 Veer Pass: I was going to say Bellard as he changed the game. But Mike Campbell was great in his day and was DKR’s choice to take over for him.

Anybody remember Leon Fuller? Great DC.

rngbullxv: DKR’s DC Mike Campbell!

Quick mike: Larry Mac Duff, o horror, horror, horror.

Will Gallagher: I thought of Fuller as well — he as the DC for those late 70s early 80s defenses that were dominant.

67cards: I think the debate boils down to Bellard, Muschamp, PK in my opinion.

Navy Horn 16: The answer is Mike Campbell, and 2nd isn’t close.

tinnto: Mike Campbell.

hoopshookem: Mike Campbell – Defense, Fred Akers – Offense

Dos Bobby: Not in the running for ‘best’ assistant, but my ‘favorite’ Texas assistant was Leon Fuller. And it was his accessibility that won me over.

He was always willing to give a HS coach 10 minutes on the phone, or to welcome you into his office for a sitdown to answer questions, and that wasn’t true with all assistants, (not at just Texas, but universally). I leaned on him regularly, and he was always cordial and took questions seriously.

He was a great guy with no pretenses. (a close 2nd was Bobby Jack Wright who was basically a Dandy Don Meredith clone when it came to personality. His visits to the field house were always a pleasure, and a good laugh was guaranteed).

Those 2 were not the best, but certainly 2 of the friendliest. Great ambassadors for UT.

I had a close relationship with 2 others through life long friendships as well,…..Pat Culpepper and David McWilliams. They were ‘good uns’ too. But I don’t want friendship to cloud judgement.

dk7245: Without a doubt, Emory Ballard and Duane Akina. Emory created the Cloud of Dust Wishbone attack led by James Street and Duane was responsible for creating DBU at Texas. There’s been several good assistants over the years, but these two had no peers during their time in the sun!

UTGrad91: McWilliams coached some great defenses as a position coach and coordinator and would have to be in the running IMO.

cirque du salado: Even though he was a position coach, Dick Tomey infused some backbone into that 2004 defense that carried over to 2005. There was definitely a difference between the 2004 defense and the first 6 defenses under Mack.

stovie: Not the best but Greg Robinson deserves kudos for sewing a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

DKM: Wish we could pull Brewster from Colorado for a roll on this staff. He could mf talk the shoes off a homeless person.

hopefulhorn: Ballard is my first choice too. Immediately thought of DKR’s assistants who were uniformly great. Bellard for his influence on CFB. Mike Campbell for two decades of sustained excellence.

coolhorn: Duane Akina overall. He put together some outstanding defensive backfields and established Texas’ reputation as DBU. Gene Chizik is a close second for me in that he was a major factor in building the championship defense of 2005. Mike Campbell and Emory Bellard off of Coach Royal’s staff and Will Muschamp were also very excellent assistants.