Langsdorf, Akey Eager to Win at Oregon State
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Danny Langsdorf knows his way around the Valley Football Center.
"It's good, it's good to be back in the Northwest", Oregon State's new offensive quality control analyst told reporters Thursday. The start of spring practices earlier this month marked the start of Langsdorf's third stint at Oregon State: he coached tight ends from 1997 & 1998 and double dipped the offensive coordinator and QB coach roles from 2005 through 2013.
After spending the past three seasons as Temple's offensive coordinator, Langsdorf looked for a change of scenery. Moving to Corvallis was an easy pitch: "[I was] kinda lookin' at a lot of different things, what was best for our family, both personally & professionally, and getting back closer to home was really appealing to me."
Langsdorf grew up in McMinnville, only an hour north of Corvallis, and later played quarterback at NCAA Division III Linfield College in his hometown. The Langsdorf name - his father Ed coached football at the school, and his wife Michele was a record holding pitcher on the school softball team - still reverberates through the heart of Oregon's wine country.
Wherever the offense needs help, Langsdorf will lend a hand: "There's kind of a laundry list of things, it's really just helping out where I can, whether it's with experience with some things, or the way I've done something a certain way, or a design, it's a lot of just helping."
Robb Akey didn't grow up in Oregon's wine country, and he's never coached at Oregon State before, but he fits right in with Trent Bray's staff.
In an entertaining, gleeful conversation with reporters Thursday Akey eagerly shared his expertise on a wide range of topics. Just don't ask him for his job title: "I can't spit it all out! I'm just happy to be here, and it's a good thing! I'm excited."
Akey, the Beavers new Special Assistant to the Head Coach, will be the defensive staff's swiss army knife. He has coached defensive lines at blue chip programs like Florida and two NFL franchises - on Mike Zimmer's 2014 Vikings staff, and Jay Gruden's 2015 & 2016 Washington staffs - he's also served as a defensive coordinator for three schools, and served as Idaho's head coach from 2007 to through 2012.
At a crossroads in his career, Akey found a fit at Oregon State: "I'm too young to retire, that's not gonna happen. I was looking for what could be the next great landing spot, and this was it! It was awesome, we've got a great relationship with Coach Bray and some of the other guys. Getting back out west was important to me, and I think we got a great thing going here."
Among his defensive coordinator stints, Akey excelled at Washington State from 1999 through 2006. He's still viewed highly in the Palouse: when the Cougars head coach job opened up this past Winter, many fans pushed for Akey to come home.
Instead, he donned the orange & black, and he has a lot of work ahead. "Well, you're gonna get in here and you're gonna coach. There's things with Trent [Bray] getting back, taking more hands-on as the defensive coordinator, which he should do, he's good at it, and I also know having been a defensive coordinator and being a head coach the ways you can get drawn a little bit. So that was kinda what we talked about."
Between Langsdorf and Akey, a strong argument can be made that Trent Bray's staff took a big leap this offseason.
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Matt fell in love with radio during his college days at Oregon Tech, and pursued a nine year career in sports broadcasting with Klamath Falls' and Medford's highest-rated sports radio stations. He currently lives in McMinnville wine country and is excited to talk about the Beavers again.