By
Connor Doyle
The Tuesday announcement of the departure of Duane Akina, the defensive coordinator of the UA football team, came as a shock to those who watch the team, and apparently those within the program as well.
Akina had been with UA for 14 years and was one of the few people capable of maintaining the double-flex eagle defense that has been the trademark of Arizona football since the "Desert Swarm" years.
Akina had been offered jobs before. In fact, he had interviewed for the head coaching job at Hawaii a few years ago.
Akina said Tuesday, though, he never considered leaving UA for any job until he interviewed for the UT job over the weekend.
The coach, 44, essentially bit the hand that fed him. In a rare move, new UA head coach John Mackovic kept Akina on staff after taking over in December.
Three months later, Mackovic has lost his right-hand man.
The fact that he left the UA program is understandable - coaches leave schools all the time - but where he decided to go is mind-boggling.
He didn't leave for his beloved Hawaii or any other NFL position. He is now an employee of Mackovic's former bosses, the University of Texas.
Money may have been an issue, since reports say that the contract the Longhorns are giving him could be as much as $150,000, at least $50,000 more than he was making at UA.
But money had never been an issue for Akina during Tomey's tenure. It would seem a departure for him to suddenly make decisions based on finances.
Furthermore, Akina's new position is not a raise in status.
He will be taking over as the defensive backs coach, a clear step down from his role at UA.
Why would a relatively young coach leave a steppingstone job to become just another assistant coach somewhere far away?
The argument could be made that Akina is going to coach at a program steeped in tradition, and coaching at Texas in any capacity is a raise in status. That doesn't seem to explain all the events surrounding his leaving.
I wonder if Akina just didn't want to coach at UA any longer.
Mackovic, after all, is not Dick Tomey. Akina was a Tomey loyalist. You do the math.
Mackovic has big shoes to fill in terms of popularity. Tomey - even in his darkest hour - was seen as a good man with too much loyalty to his assistants. Mackovic is a football man, different from the kindly Tomey.
Maybe Akina's role in the UA system was changing. Akina was given free reign in Tomey's system, both in play calling and off-the-field decisions, and perhaps he saw that coming to an end.
If this is the reason why Akina left, his fears may not have been unfounded.
The lack of civility that surrounded his departure was telling.
The coach was not allowed to speak to his players and give them his reasons for leaving. Akina, the only coach his defensive backs had ever known, couldn't even explain himself.
Some of the players heard news of his departure first from the media.
The tone of Mackovic's comments seemed, well, bitter.
"I hired (Akina) - who was out of work - to have him coach a specific style of defense," Mackovic said. "When I was looking to hire a coach, I had a number of talented coaches and now they're all gone."
That doesn't sound like, "I wish him the best."
Mackovic probably felt betrayed by a man he trusted, but that's no reason to demean him in public. I wonder if Tomey would have handled it in this manner.
Maybe Tomey wouldn't have been the type to publicly reiterate the fact that he had given someone out of work a position in his program. Maybe he would have let Akina speak with the players and settle the score.
Tomey may not have been the best coach in the nation when it came to wins and losses, but he handled most situations with class. Some people thought he was too nice to be a football coach. Maybe he was.
As a UA football fan, I hope Akina's departure isn't a sign of things to come.
Mackovic is bringing with him an approach to football that the fans at UA may have never experienced before. Mackovic has brought a big-time attitude to a program that always seemed to play second-fiddle to the basketball team.
Let's just hope the big-time coach doesn't lose touch with the fans and his own assistant coaches.
