Fred Akers

College coach infobox
Name = Fred Akers


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DateOfBirth = c. 1938
Birthplace = flagicon|Arkansas Blytheville, AR
DateOfDeath =
Deathplace =
OverallRecord = 108-75-3 (College)
26-12-1 (High school)
Contract =
BowlRecord = 2–8
TournamentRecord =
CFbDWID = 18
Championships =
Awards =
CoachingRecords =
Player = Y
Years = 1958-1959
Team = Arkansas
Position = HB / K / P
Coach = Y
CoachYears = 1963-1964
1965
1966-1974
1975-1976
1977-1986
1987-1990
CoachTeams = Edinburg HS
Lubbock HS
Texas (Co-OC)
Wyoming
Texas
Purdue
FootballHOF =
CollegeHOFID =
BBallHOF =

Fred Akers (born c. 1938) is a former American football coach. He served as head football coach of The University of Texas Longhorns from 1977 to 1986.

His notable accomplishments include a Heisman Trophy for Earl Campbell in the 1977 season and national title chances in the 1978 and 1984 Cotton Bowls. In both of those years Texas went undefeated in the regular season only to lose in their bowl game. Akers received criticism because he failed to live up to the standard set by previous head coach Darrell Royal. However, much of that was mitigated by a still-impressive overall record as well as the fact that he had a winning record against Barry Switzer of the Oklahoma Sooners, who was 3-0-1 against Texas before Akers came along. However, in Akers' last 5 years he struggled against OU (going 1-3-1) and against Texas A&M (losing his last 3 to the Aggies by an average margin of 23 points).

Akers drew ire from the Texas faithful for losing bowl games at the end of 4 consecutive seasons (1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985) and then missing a bowl entirely in 1986.

He left Texas to become the head football coach at Purdue University. He was rumored as a candidate for the Baylor University job in 1993 that ultimately went to Chuck Reedy.

He is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

As of August 2008, Akers lives in Horseshoe Bay, Texas. [cite news|url=http://www.news8austin.com/content/sports/?ArID=217626&SecID=5|title=Where are They Now?: Fred Akers]

Head coaching record

CFB Yearly Record Subhead
name = Wyoming Cowboys
conf = Western Athletic Conference
startyear = 1975
endyear = 1976CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1975
name = Wyoming
overall = 2–9
conference = 1-6
confstanding = 7th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
year = 1976
name = Wyoming
overall = 8–4
conference = 6-1
confstanding = T-1st
bowlname = Fiesta
bowloutcome = L
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Wyoming
overall = 10–13
confrecord = CFB Yearly Record Subhead
name = Texas Longhorns
conf = Southwest Conference
startyear = 1977
endyear = 1986CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
year = 1977
name = Texas
overall = 11–1
conference = 8-0
confstanding = 1st
bowlname = Cotton
bowloutcome = L
ranking = 5
ranking2 = 4CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1978
name = Texas
overall = 9–3
conference = 6-2
confstanding = T-2nd
bowlname = Sun
bowloutcome = W
ranking = 9
ranking2 = 9CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1979
name = Texas
overall = 9–3
conference = 6-2
confstanding = 3rd
bowlname = Sun
bowloutcome = L
ranking = 13
ranking2 = 12CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1980
name = Texas
overall = 7–5
conference = 4-4
confstanding = T-4th
bowlname = Bluebonnet
bowloutcome = L
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1981
name = Texas
overall = 10–1–1
conference = 6-1-1
confstanding = 2nd
bowlname = Cotton
bowloutcome = W
ranking = 4
ranking2 = 2CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1982
name = Texas
overall = 9–3
conference = 7-1
confstanding = 2nd
bowlname = Sun
bowloutcome = L
ranking = 18
ranking2 = 17CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
year = 1983
name = Texas
overall = 11–1
conference = 8-0
confstanding = 1st
bowlname = Cotton
bowloutcome = L
ranking = 5
ranking2 = 5CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1984
name = Texas
overall = 7–4–1
conference = 5-3
confstanding = T-3rd
bowlname = Freedom
bowloutcome = L
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1985
name = Texas
overall = 8–4
conference = 6-2
confstanding = T-2nd
bowlname = Bluebonnet
bowloutcome = L
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1986
name = Texas
overall = 5–6
conference = 4-4
confstanding = 6th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Texas
overall = 86–31–2
confrecord = CFB Yearly Record Subhead
name = Purdue Boilermakers
conf = Big Ten Conference
startyear = 1987
endyear = 1990CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1987
name = Purdue
overall = 3–7–1
conference = 3-5
confstanding = T-6th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1988
name = Purdue
overall = 4–7
conference = 3-5
confstanding = 6th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1989
name = Purdue
overall = 3–8
conference = 2-6
confstanding = 8th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1990
name = Purdue
overall = 2–9
conference = 1-7
confstanding = T-8th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Purdue
overall = 12–31–1
confrecord = CFB Yearly Record End
overall = 108–75–3
bcs = no
poll = two

External links

* [http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/?s=&url_channel_id=36&url_subchannel_id=&url_article_id=24&change_well_id=2 Head Football Coaches at The University of Texas]
* [http://www.hognation.net/greats/akers.html Former Coaching Greats: Fred Akers]