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Tomey joins Akina
on Longhorns staff
This is the third go-round for Duane Akina and Dick Tomey on the college coaching carousel.
The difference this time is Akina is one of Tomey's bosses instead of the other way around. Technically, anyway.
Akina was an assistant under head coach Tomey from 1981 to 1985 at Hawaii and again from 1987 to 2000 at Arizona.
Now, at Texas, Akina is a new co-defensive coordinator while Tomey will instruct the defensive ends.
Longhorns coach Mack Brown also announced the hiring of former Kansas City assistant Greg Robinson as co-defensive coordinator yesterday. He hopes the additions will take Texas over the hump from perceived underachievers to national champions.
"We need to get from 10 wins, 11 wins to 13 or 14," Brown said.
Akina moves up from coaching the defensive backs. The Punahou graduate has defensive coordinator experience under Tomey at Arizona when the Wildcats were famous for their attacking "Desert Swarm" scheme. He doesn't think he, Tomey and Robinson (whom Brown says has final say) will become a three-headed monster that consumes itself.
"There's no concern about that," Akina said in a phone interview last night. "We've all been involved long enough and we're all confident in our abilities. Nobody cares who gets credit or whose idea something is. The bottom line is we win. I'm just excited to be back with Dick. And I'm very much in line philosophically with and have known Greg a long time."
Robinson and Akina have know each other since the late 1980s when Akina expressed interest in a job at UCLA when Robinson was there.
"Greg was the one who called me back, and we've stayed in touch since," Akina said.
As for Tomey, a year as a San Francisco 49ers assistant after two in the KFVE television booth analyzing action only confirmed that his real love is dealing directly with players.
"I've always been about the way you play defense, not just the scheme," Tomey said. "I think you should be known for how hard you play and how hard you hit."
Tomey posted a career record of 158-110-7 in 24 seasons as a head coach.
Robinson has spent the past 14 seasons in the NFL and was the defensive coordinator for Denver when the Broncos won the Super Bowl in 1997 and 1998. He spent the past three seasons as defensive coordinator for the Chiefs and resigned Jan. 13, following Kansas City's 38-31 loss to Indianapolis in the AFC playoffs. Robinson also will coach the linebackers.
"You never dream of getting a guy like that back to college," Brown said.
Brown also said he'd take a more active role in the offense, including possibly some play calling.
Texas was 10-3 last season and finished ranked No. 12. The Longhorns haven't won a Big 12 title since 1996 or an undisputed national title since 1969. The Longhorns also have a four-game losing streak to rival Oklahoma, getting embarrassed 63-14 in 2000 and 65-13 last season.
Carl Reese resigned Jan. 6 after six seasons as Texas' defensive coordinator. Former defensive ends coach and recruiting coordinator Hardee McCrary resigned Jan. 21.
Akina said he doesn't know if the two Hawaii connections improve the chances of a UH-Texas game in the future. The Longhorns withdrew from a game at Hawaii in 2000.
"I don't have anything to do with that," said Akina, whose son Kainoa is a junior backup quarterback at UH. "But shucks, yeah, I would love it. I liked it when we were at Arizona and we went to Hawaii to play."
The Associated Press contributed to the report