Former Texas Football Coach Fred Akers Dies at 82 from Dementia Complications

Former Wyoming, Texas and Purdue head football coach Fred Akers died at the age of 82 on Monday.

Akers' wife, Diane, confirmed the news to Kirk Bohls of Hookem.com. The coach suffered from dementia.

He starred as a halfback, punter and kicker during his playing days at Arkansas and became a high school football coach in Texas at age 24. He coached at Wyoming from 1975 to 1976, Texas from 1977 to 1986 and Purdue from 1987 to 1990 and finished his career with a 108-75-3 record.

Akers was best known for his time with the Longhorns, where he narrowly missed on two national championships and coached Heisman Trophy winner Earl Campbell. Texas would have won the 1977 national title if it had defeated Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl and the 1983 one if it had beaten Georgia in the Cotton Bowl.

The school noted only Darrell Royal and Mack Brown have more wins as a head coach at Texas than Akers' 86.

He also won the Southwest Conference in 1977 and 1983 and finished in the Top 10 four different times while amassing an 86-31-2 record with the Longhorns.

Akers is in the Texas Athletics Hall of Honor, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame.