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Fred Akers, a coach who headed up the roller coaster that is Texas Football for a decade has passed away after a long illness.
The record says Coach was 86-31-2 in his ten years. But of course that doesn’t begin to describe the tumultuous time it was in Longhorn history.
As far as I am concerned that is for another day. He believed in his players and he wanted to be in their lives long after their playing days were over. I had the pleasure of serving as the producer/host on his TV show and the honor to call him friend.
My thoughts tonight are with his family. His wife, Diane, is one of the strongest people I have ever known. She has been the bedrock of her family for the past few years and I hope she will find some peace tonight.
As I said Fred didn’t just give lip service to the talk about teaching his players about life as well as football. Last year, on the Friday of the LSU game there was a celebration of Coach Akers life, hosted by former players and assistants. Below is the video of some of that night.