Veteran defensive backs coach Duane Akina will return to Texas to replace Terry Joseph, according to Orangebloods.com.
Akina served as an assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator under former Texas head coach Mack Brown from 2001-2013. He spent the 2024 season at Arizona as the defensive coordinator but was demoted to defensive backs coach in January.
Joseph, who recently received an internal promotion to be the Longhorns’ safeties coach, left this week after securing his first NFL coaching position with the New Orleans Saints.
Joseph’s move marks the third departure of one of Texas’ assistant coaches this offseason. Previous safeties coach Blake Gideon took the defensive coordinator job at Georgia Tech, and running backs coach Tashard Choice took the same position with the Detroit Lions.
Hired in January 2021 by head coach Steve Sarkisian as a cornerbacks coach, Joseph oversaw the development of 2024 Thorpe Award winner Jahdae Barron. Barron is projected to be a late first-round pick, per ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper, who rated Barron as the fourth-best corner in the 2025 draft class.
Joseph, a New Orleans product and cousin of Vance Joseph, the defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos, will serve as the Saints’ defensive passing game coordinator. Alongside new defensive coordinator Braden Staley, Joseph will be tasked with rehabilitating a unit that gave up the sixth most passing yards in the league last season.
In addition to returning to his hometown, Joseph will reconnect with former Texas linebacker Jaylan Ford, whom he coached during Ford’s standout junior and senior seasons. At Texas, Ford earned All-Big 12 First Team honors twice and was tabbed the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.
Ford was significantly limited by injury during his rookie season in the Crescent City, playing sparingly on special teams and not playing a single defensive snap, though he may be more of a fit for Staley’s 3-4 scheme.
Notably, the new safeties coach will have consensus five-star recruit Jonah Williams under his tutelage. Williams, who is also a highly touted baseball prospect, has been compared to Baltimore Ravens All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton, who Joseph was instrumental in recruiting when he held the same role at Notre Dame.
