Post Fisch, Ex-Husky Duane Akina Put in Charge of Arizona Defense

As one coaching change leads to another and another, and works its way through the college football hierarchy, Duane Akina has emerged from the shadows.

Older University of Washington football fans remember him, don't they?

Akina was a high school player recruited from Honolulu, Hawaii, by legendary Husky coach Don James who became Warren Moon's back-up quarterback in the 1977 run to the Rose Bowl and then ended up as one of the most hard-luck Huskies ever.

On Wednesday, Akina officially was named Arizona's defensive coordinator for the new coaching staff headed up by Bob Brennan and replacing Jedd Fisch in the desert.

Akina served as a defensive analyst for Fisch this past season and then made plans to move to Texas in a similar role and work for ex-Husky coach Steve Sarkisian before Brennan chose him to put together the Wildcats defense.

In 45 years of coaching, this grizzled veteran of a coach, now 67, previously served as an offensive coordinator at Arizona for Dick Tomey, as a defensive coordinator for Mack Brown at Texas and as a near-decade long secondary coach at Stanford for David Shaw.

Duane Akina is set to become Arizona’s defensive coordinator. Our @aidan_wohl with more on Akina:https://t.co/i7VnRksNfe
— GOAZCATS.com (@GOAZCATScom) January 22, 2024

Akina was a candidate for the Hawaii head-coaching job when June Jones stepped down in 2007. He was hired as the Arizona defensive coordinator for John Mackovic in 2001 before Mackovic insulted him, they nearly came to blows and the tough-guy Akina walked away and never called a play for him.

Brennan and Akina previously worked together at Arizona in 2000 when Akina was the Wildcats secondary coach and Brennan was a graduate assistant.

“Just the teacher he is, the person he is, the leader he is, I’m excited about that,” Brennan said of making the Akina hire.

Akina has never coached at the UW, but he played quarterback in Montlake from 1975-78, albeit sparingly. He came away with career passing totals of 14 completions in 35 passes for 137 yards and no scores with 3 interceptions. He had his chance to do more.

After patiently waiting for an opportunity behind Chris Rowland and Moon, Akina got his shot to become the Husky quarterback starter. In 1978 spring football, he won the job outright over then-redshirt freshman Tom Flick and junior-college transfer Tom Porras, only to suffer knee and ankle injuries in fall camp and fall behind the others.

Doing his best to salvage Akina's senior year, coach Don James inserted him against Kansas during the second game of the season but the Hawaiian re-injured the same knee when a lineman fell on him and he was basically done as a player.

"I will never know," Akina said years later. "I know I won the job in the spring, but I didn't play under fire, so I can't say whether I could have done it or not. I would have liked to satisfy my curiosity."

In some ways, Akina's Husky quarterback disappointment prepared him for his long-running coaching success, using one career path to fuel the other.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published. Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.