Robb Alan Akey (born July 24, 1966) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach. He was recently the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a Public university, public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, United States. It was established in 1892 as a private normal school and became a state institution in 1895. CMU is one of the eigh ...

, a position he had held since 2019. Akey served as the head football coach at the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...

from 2007 to 2012.

Early years

Born and raised in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

, Akey graduated from Roy J. Wasson High School in 1984, having lettered in three sports. Akey played at

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

, and

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

for head coach Mike Price at Weber State, where he was an all- Big Sky and honorable mention All-American at defensive end in his senior season of 1987.

Coaching career

Akey was a college assistant coach for 19 seasons, beginning in 1988 as assistant defensive line coach at Weber State. From 1989 to 1994, Akey was defensive line coach, recruiting coordinator, and special teams coordinator at Weber State. From 1995 to 1998, Akey was an assistant at

Northern Arizona Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Yavapai counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the ...

, first as special teams coordinator and linebackers coach in 1995 then as defensive coordinator from 1996 to 1998. In 1999, Akey reunited with Mike Price and began an eight-year stint as an assistant at

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

. After being defensive line coach from 1999 to 2002, Akey added defensive coordinator to his duties in 2003 under new head Bill Doba, who was previously

under Price. Akey became Idaho's fourth head coach in 37 months when he was hired on December 20, 2006, by

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

Rob Spear. He was the first Idaho head coach since Jerry Davitch (

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

– 81) without previous ties to the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...

, either as a former player or assistant coach. Akey succeeded

Dennis Erickson Dennis Brian Erickson (born March 24, 1947) is an American football coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football (AAF) league. He was also the head coach at the University of ...

, who left his second stint at Idaho after just ten months for Arizona State of the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

. Erickson was preceded by Nick Holt, who voluntarily departed after only two seasons, compiling nine losses in each. Tom Cable was fired in late

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, after four disappointing seasons (11–35, ). When hired as the Vandals' new head coach, Akey stated that he was opposed to holding the Battle of the Palouse rivalry game with

every year. He said he preferred it as a "once-in-a-while thing," to minimize possible "off-field" problems between rival programs only eight miles apart. The annual game was revived in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and played for ten consecutive years; it was last played in Akey's first season of

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and was renewed for a game in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. Akey led the Vandals to victory in their first

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

in more than a decade in December

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, but his tenure ended in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

on October 21, when Idaho fired him following a 70–28 loss to Louisiana Tech, moving the team's overall record to 1–7 for the season. He achieved a 20–50 () record while head coach at Idaho, and the Vandals lost their final four games in 2012 after his termination.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Central Michigan profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akey, Robb 1966 births Living people American football defensive linemen American football linebackers American football tight ends Central Michigan Chippewas football coaches Florida Gators football coaches Idaho Vandals football coaches Minnesota Vikings coaches Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football coaches Washington Redskins coaches Washington State Cougars football coaches Weber State Wildcats football coaches Weber State Wildcats football players Players of American football from Colorado Springs, Colorado