In 28 years of coaching football, Akina has coached three Thorpe Award winners in Darryll Lewis (1990), Michael Huff (2005), and Aaron Ross (2006), as well as five finalists for the award, among them Chris McAlister. Twenty of his defensive backs have also gone on to play in the NFL. He was an assistant coach to Dick Tomey at the University of Arizona for 14 years, serving as defensive backs coach and offensive coordinator. He was named Arizona defensive coordinator in 2000, but decided to leave for Texas to become the team's defensive back coach.