The University of Idaho Argonaut

This year’s seniors have seen as many head football coaches in their time at the University of Idaho as wins on the field this season.
Wednesday, the 4-8 Vandals announced Robb Akey as their fourth head coach since 2003. Akey, previously the defensive coordinator at Washington State, replaced Dennis Erickson, who left for Arizona State after just 10 months with the Vandals.

Akey and his fellow candidates had to know more than just football, Athletic Director Rob Spear said.
“We want to have a great football coach,” Spear said. “But we also want to have somebody who has great character. I want to have somebody that’s committed to the academic success of student-athletes.”
Spear said he believes that Akey meets these criteria and is the right man for the job, and Akey said he is dedicated to not letting him down.
“I’ll bust my tail to make you all proud that you made this choice,” Akey said.

Akey, 40, began his coaching career in 1988 at his alma mater Weber State as the assistant defensive line coach. He later became the defensive coordinator at Northern Arizona University before becoming the defensive line coach at WSU in 1998 and defensive coordinator in 2003.
“This has been 19 years of busting my tail to have the opportunity to take over my own program,” Akey said. “You couldn’t ask for a better opportunity than the one that is set forth before us today.”

Idaho’s search for a new coach began after Erickson announced his departure on Dec. 9. The list of possible replacements included such names as John L. Smith and Mike Kramer. Smith was fired as Michigan State coach this season. His 53 wins as Idaho coach from 1989-1994 are 20 more than any other coach in Vandal history. Kramer played for Idaho from 1972-1975. Both men withdrew their names from consideration last week.

Akey had been considered for the Idaho job before, but removed his name from consideration.
“We’ve got a completely different scenario here at this point in time,” Akey said. “At that point in time there was no president, there was no athletic director and there was no conference. I think I left a very good job to come here as well, and at that point in time I just thought that the situation was best for me to stay put. Now those things have been addressed.”
Akey also assured everybody that Idaho won’t be looking for another new coach next year.
“They have a $20 million buyout next year,” Akey said. “I always wanted a million-dollar contract.”

Akey’s enthusiasm has carried over to Vandal players.
“I’m pretty excited that someone is enthusiastic about our program,” Vandal running back Jayson Bird said. “We’re all just excited to have someone that believes in us, and someone that plans to be here for a longer period of time.”
Linebacker David Vobora didn’t get the chance to speak to Akey before he was hired, but said he kept hearing positive things about him. Vobora said he spoke to numerous other coaches during the process.
“It was really awesome to see all the interest in a job like this,” Vobora said. “Everybody and anybody who needed a job who is a big-time coach really wanted this job.”

Recruiting the players that Idaho already has is just as important as recruiting new players to Idaho, Spear said.
“Those kids have been through a tough situation,” Spear said. “But they’re resilient, they’re going to respond, and this guy here is going to bring them to greatness.”
Akey said he planned on contacting every member of the team within 48 hours of being introduced as the new coach.
As far as his plans on the field, Akey seems to have an idea of what he wants to do with the football.
“You can take the air out of the ball, but you can’t take the ball out of the air.”