Fred Akers (born March 17, 1938) is a former American football player and coach….who served as head football coach at the University of Wyoming from 1975 to 1976….the University of Texas at Austin from 1977 to 1986….and Purdue University from 1987 to 1990….while compiling a career college football record of 108–75–3.
Coach Akers’ notable accomplishments include a Heisman Trophy for Earl Campbell in the 1977 season…and national title chances in the 1978 and 1984….as the Longhorns went into Cotton Bowl Classics in both of those years undefeated in the regular season….only to lose in their bowl game….thus losing national championships….when Akers received criticism from those who believed he failed to match the standard set by previous head coach Darrell Royal. However, much of that was mitigated by an impressive overall record and a winning mark against Barry Switzer of the Oklahoma Sooners….who was 3–0–1 against Texas before Akers came along. However, in Akers’ last five years he struggled against Oklahoma, going 1–3–1….and especially against the Texas Aggies…., losing his last three game 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 four consecutive seasons from 1982 to 1985….as in the loss to Iowa in the Freedom Bowl that he speaks of in this video herewith.
