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Texas Football announces assistant coaching staff updates
Steve Sarkisian rounds out staff with four new assistant coaches, while promoting a pair of staff members to assistant coaching roles.
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Football recently completed several assistant coaching staff updates, head coach Steve Sarkisian announced Thursday. The group includes three assistant coaches replacing staff members that departed for other positions and three newly created assistant coaching roles, two of which were promoted from within his staff.
Most recently, former longtime Longhorn Football staffer Duane Akina returned to the Forty Acres as defensive passing game coordinator and safeties coach. Prior to that, Sarkisian brought Chad Scott on board to coach running backs, and Mark Orphey as cornerbacks coach. That group replaces Terry Joseph (New Orleans Saints) and Tashard Choice (Detroit Lions), who left for coaching positions in the NFL, and Blake Gideon, now the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech.
Additionally, staff members Michael Bimonte (co-passing game coordinator/assistant quarterback coach) and Keynodo Hudson (nickels) were promoted to newly created assistant coaching positions, while LaAllan Clark came onboard in a new assistant coaching role overseeing the defensive edge players. Bimonte spent the past four seasons as an offensive analyst for the Longhorns, and Hudson joined the staff as a defensive analyst last season.
Duane Akina - Defensive Passing Game Coordinator/Safeties (Full bio)
Duane Akina spent 13 seasons coaching defensive backs at Texas from 2001-2013. With the Longhorns, Akina brought the program its first winners of the Thorpe Award – honoring the nation’s top defensive back – in back-to-back honorees Michael Huff in 2005 and Aaron Ross in 2006, to go along with two finalists in Earl Thomas (2009) and Quentin Jammer (2001) and 14 first-team All-Big 12 picks. He was also co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach on the staff that guided the Longhorns to the program’s fourth National Championship in 2005. Texas went 131-36, won at least 10 games nine times (11+ six times), finished in the top-5 five times and top-10 on seven occasions during his tenure with the Longhorns. Thirteen of his defensive backs at Texas were selected in the NFL Draft with six going in the first-round. Akina spent the last two seasons at the University of Arizona where he coached the secondary in 2023 and was defensive coordinator in 2024. That was his second stint with the Wildcats, as well, having previously coached there 14 seasons from 1987-2000. In between his time at Texas and his second tenure at Arizona, Akina was the defensive backs coach at Stanford for nine seasons from 2014-22. In all, Akina has over 46 years of coaching experience in college and professional football that includes early stints as a graduate assistant at Washington, five years at Hawai’i and one season with the Calgary Stampeders. In all, Akina has coached three Thorpe Award winners, six Thorpe finalists and 41 defensive backs who have played in the NFL, including seven Pro Bowlers, nine Super Bowl participants and 12 All-Americans. Akina has coached in 26 bowl games. A native of Honolulu, Akina is a 1979 graduate of the University of Washington where he earned three letters as a quarterback.
Mark Orphey – Cornerbacks (Full bio)
A 14-year coaching veteran who has deep roots in the State of Texas where he played high school and college football, Mark Orphey (or-fay) has spent five seasons working in the SEC and has been a part of six bowl games, the FBS Playoffs and a College Football Playoff National Championship Game. Orphey spent the past three seasons coaching cornerbacks at Rutgers, helping revitalize a Scarlet Knights program with back-to-back winning seasons and a bowl game the past two years for the first time since 2011-12. Prior to Rutgers, Orphey spent the 2021 season as a senior defensive analyst working on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama and helping develop the defensive game plan while assisting with defensive backs. That Crimson Tide squad won the SEC Championship and advanced to National Championship Game. Orphey spent two seasons as secondary coach at Utah State (2019-20), two seasons at Montana State (2017-18) working under former Longhorn co-defensive coordinator Jeff Choate, and four seasons in the SEC working at South Carolina, serving as a quality control assistant (2013) and defensive graduate assistant (2014-16). Orphey began his collegiate coaching career at his alma mater as the cornerbacks coach at Texas Southern for two seasons (2011-12). Born and raised in Houston, Orphey is a 2007 graduate of Galena Park North Shore High School where he was an all-district standout in both football and track and field. A 2010 graduate of Texas Southern, he was a three-year starter at cornerback for the Tigers, earning All-Southwestern Athletic Conference honors as a junior and senior.
Chad Scott – Running Backs (Full bio)
Chad Scott, a 20-year collegiate coaching veteran, joins the Longhorns’ staff with five years of experience as an offensive coordinator in addition to three more as a run game coordinator. Scott comes to Texas after having spent the last seven seasons at West Virginia overseeing the running backs dating back to 2019. He also served as the offensive coordinator for the 2023-24 seasons, was the co-offensive coordinator from 2019-21 and was the run game coordinator in 2022. West Virginia finished an especially impressive 2023 season with 2,976 rushing yards and an average of 228.9 rushing yards per game, ranking No. 1 among Power Five schools for both. Scott helped guide the Mountaineers to three bowl games with two wins in those in his time there under head coach Neal Brown. Prior to West Virginia, Scott served stints at his alma mater North Carolina (TE/Hybrids/2016-18), Kentucky (RB/2013-14), Texas Tech (RB/2010-12) and Troy (RB/2007-09). The Red Raiders won three bowl games in Scott’s three seasons there, and at Troy, he helped lead the Trojans to three consecutive Sun Belt Conference Championships and a pair of appearances in the New Orleans Bowl. A native of Plant City, Florida, Scott began his collegiate playing career at Kentucky before transferring to North Carolina, where he lettered as a running back in 2003 and 2005. He led the Tar Heels in rushing as a senior and ran for a career-high 175 yards and two TDs in UNC’s upset of No. 4 Miami in 2004. Scott spent time in the National Football League with the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers before returning to his alma mater in 2006 as a graduate assistant video analyst.
Michael Bimonte – Co-Passing Game Coordinator/Assistant Quarterback Coach (Full bio)
Michael Bimonte enters his fifth season at Texas and first as the Longhorns’ assistant quarterbacks coach/co-passing game coordinator after serving as a senior football analyst from 2021-24. Bimonte has helped the UT program earn back-to-back appearances in the College Football Playoff, including 2024 when the Longhorns recorded a school-record-tying 13 wins for just the third time in school history, including a first-round playoff win over Clemson, and a Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Championship over Arizona State. The 2023 season also resulted in UT’s first Big 12 Championship since 2009 and winning 12 games for the first time since that season. In 2022, Texas attained an 8-5 record and Alamo Bowl appearance. Prior to spending time in the technologies industry, Bimonte was quarterbacks coach and offensive quality control coach at Delaware in 2016. A Manalapan, N.J. native, Bimonte played quarterback at Rutgers from 2011-2014, playing four seasons under current Texas co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Kyle Flood.
Keynodo Hudson – Nickels (Full bio)
Keynodo Hudson is in his second season on staff at Texas after serving as a defensive analyst in 2024. A veteran of 17 years as a college coach, he helped the Longhorns notch a school-record-tying 13 wins and earn a spot in the College Football Playoff semifinals after a first-round playoff win over Clemson, and a Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Championship over Arizona State. Prior to his time on the Forty Acres, Hudson spent one season at Ole Miss as the cornerbacks coach in 2023 when the Rebels finished 11-2 overall and 6-2 during SEC play. In 2021-22, he served as Western Kentucky’s cornerbacks coach, and prior to that spent two seasons on staff at Illinois as defensive backs coach. Hudson helped lead Illinois to the program’s first bowl berth in five years. Before Illinois, Hudson spent 2017-18 as cornerbacks coach at Florida Atlantic. In his first year in Boca Raton in 2017, FAU concluded the season on a 10-game win streak with victories over North Texas in the Conference USA Championship and Akron in the Boca Raton Bowl. Prior to FAU, Hudson spent six seasons from 2012-2016 as a defensive administrative assistant at USC. After starting his career as secondary coach at the University of Charleston in 2004-08, he was defensive coordinator at Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Fla. (2009-11). A Tampa native, he played college football at Reedley College from 1997-00 before transferring to West Virginia Tech where he played his final season and graduated in 2004.
LaAllan Clark – Edge (Full bio)
LaAllan Clark comes to Texas after spending two years as a defensive line graduate assistant for Ohio State from 2023-24. Clark helped the 2024 Ohio State defense rank first nationally in scoring defense, total defense, yards allowed per play, touchdowns allowed per play and opponents touchdowns scored in the red zone as the Buckeyes won the National Championship. In 2023, Clark helped mentor and develop an Ohio State defensive line that played an integral role in the Buckeyes in ranking first in the FBS in pass defense, third in total defense and 18th against the run. He spent the 2022 season as the defensive ends coach at Southern University. Clark began his coaching career in 2019 at Prairie View A&M as a graduate assistant. In addition to his college coaching experience, Clark has trained current NFL pass rushers such as former Longhorns Malcolm Roach, Joseph Ossai, Charles Omenihu, and Moro Ojomo. A native of Baton Rouge, La., Clark lettered two seasons (2014-2015) at Northwestern State before transferring Grambling State University, where he was a two-year letterwinner (2017-2018) as a defensive end for the Tigers and graduated in 2018.
Texas Football announces assistant coaching staff updates
Steve Sarkisian rounds out staff with four new assistant coaches, while promoting a pair of staff members to assistant coaching roles.
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Football recently completed several assistant coaching staff updates, head coach Steve Sarkisian announced Thursday. The group includes three assistant coaches replacing staff members that departed for other positions and three newly created assistant coaching roles, two of which were promoted from within his staff.
Most recently, former longtime Longhorn Football staffer Duane Akina returned to the Forty Acres as defensive passing game coordinator and safeties coach. Prior to that, Sarkisian brought Chad Scott on board to coach running backs, and Mark Orphey as cornerbacks coach. That group replaces Terry Joseph (New Orleans Saints) and Tashard Choice (Detroit Lions), who left for coaching positions in the NFL, and Blake Gideon, now the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech.
Additionally, staff members Michael Bimonte (co-passing game coordinator/assistant quarterback coach) and Keynodo Hudson (nickels) were promoted to newly created assistant coaching positions, while LaAllan Clark came onboard in a new assistant coaching role overseeing the defensive edge players. Bimonte spent the past four seasons as an offensive analyst for the Longhorns, and Hudson joined the staff as a defensive analyst last season.
Duane Akina - Defensive Passing Game Coordinator/Safeties (Full bio)
Duane Akina spent 13 seasons coaching defensive backs at Texas from 2001-2013. With the Longhorns, Akina brought the program its first winners of the Thorpe Award – honoring the nation’s top defensive back – in back-to-back honorees Michael Huff in 2005 and Aaron Ross in 2006, to go along with two finalists in Earl Thomas (2009) and Quentin Jammer (2001) and 14 first-team All-Big 12 picks. He was also co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach on the staff that guided the Longhorns to the program’s fourth National Championship in 2005. Texas went 131-36, won at least 10 games nine times (11+ six times), finished in the top-5 five times and top-10 on seven occasions during his tenure with the Longhorns. Thirteen of his defensive backs at Texas were selected in the NFL Draft with six going in the first-round. Akina spent the last two seasons at the University of Arizona where he coached the secondary in 2023 and was defensive coordinator in 2024. That was his second stint with the Wildcats, as well, having previously coached there 14 seasons from 1987-2000. In between his time at Texas and his second tenure at Arizona, Akina was the defensive backs coach at Stanford for nine seasons from 2014-22. In all, Akina has over 46 years of coaching experience in college and professional football that includes early stints as a graduate assistant at Washington, five years at Hawai’i and one season with the Calgary Stampeders. In all, Akina has coached three Thorpe Award winners, six Thorpe finalists and 41 defensive backs who have played in the NFL, including seven Pro Bowlers, nine Super Bowl participants and 12 All-Americans. Akina has coached in 26 bowl games. A native of Honolulu, Akina is a 1979 graduate of the University of Washington where he earned three letters as a quarterback.
Mark Orphey – Cornerbacks (Full bio)
A 14-year coaching veteran who has deep roots in the State of Texas where he played high school and college football, Mark Orphey (or-fay) has spent five seasons working in the SEC and has been a part of six bowl games, the FBS Playoffs and a College Football Playoff National Championship Game. Orphey spent the past three seasons coaching cornerbacks at Rutgers, helping revitalize a Scarlet Knights program with back-to-back winning seasons and a bowl game the past two years for the first time since 2011-12. Prior to Rutgers, Orphey spent the 2021 season as a senior defensive analyst working on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama and helping develop the defensive game plan while assisting with defensive backs. That Crimson Tide squad won the SEC Championship and advanced to National Championship Game. Orphey spent two seasons as secondary coach at Utah State (2019-20), two seasons at Montana State (2017-18) working under former Longhorn co-defensive coordinator Jeff Choate, and four seasons in the SEC working at South Carolina, serving as a quality control assistant (2013) and defensive graduate assistant (2014-16). Orphey began his collegiate coaching career at his alma mater as the cornerbacks coach at Texas Southern for two seasons (2011-12). Born and raised in Houston, Orphey is a 2007 graduate of Galena Park North Shore High School where he was an all-district standout in both football and track and field. A 2010 graduate of Texas Southern, he was a three-year starter at cornerback for the Tigers, earning All-Southwestern Athletic Conference honors as a junior and senior.
Chad Scott – Running Backs (Full bio)
Chad Scott, a 20-year collegiate coaching veteran, joins the Longhorns’ staff with five years of experience as an offensive coordinator in addition to three more as a run game coordinator. Scott comes to Texas after having spent the last seven seasons at West Virginia overseeing the running backs dating back to 2019. He also served as the offensive coordinator for the 2023-24 seasons, was the co-offensive coordinator from 2019-21 and was the run game coordinator in 2022. West Virginia finished an especially impressive 2023 season with 2,976 rushing yards and an average of 228.9 rushing yards per game, ranking No. 1 among Power Five schools for both. Scott helped guide the Mountaineers to three bowl games with two wins in those in his time there under head coach Neal Brown. Prior to West Virginia, Scott served stints at his alma mater North Carolina (TE/Hybrids/2016-18), Kentucky (RB/2013-14), Texas Tech (RB/2010-12) and Troy (RB/2007-09). The Red Raiders won three bowl games in Scott’s three seasons there, and at Troy, he helped lead the Trojans to three consecutive Sun Belt Conference Championships and a pair of appearances in the New Orleans Bowl. A native of Plant City, Florida, Scott began his collegiate playing career at Kentucky before transferring to North Carolina, where he lettered as a running back in 2003 and 2005. He led the Tar Heels in rushing as a senior and ran for a career-high 175 yards and two TDs in UNC’s upset of No. 4 Miami in 2004. Scott spent time in the National Football League with the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers before returning to his alma mater in 2006 as a graduate assistant video analyst.
Michael Bimonte – Co-Passing Game Coordinator/Assistant Quarterback Coach (Full bio)
Michael Bimonte enters his fifth season at Texas and first as the Longhorns’ assistant quarterbacks coach/co-passing game coordinator after serving as a senior football analyst from 2021-24. Bimonte has helped the UT program earn back-to-back appearances in the College Football Playoff, including 2024 when the Longhorns recorded a school-record-tying 13 wins for just the third time in school history, including a first-round playoff win over Clemson, and a Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Championship over Arizona State. The 2023 season also resulted in UT’s first Big 12 Championship since 2009 and winning 12 games for the first time since that season. In 2022, Texas attained an 8-5 record and Alamo Bowl appearance. Prior to spending time in the technologies industry, Bimonte was quarterbacks coach and offensive quality control coach at Delaware in 2016. A Manalapan, N.J. native, Bimonte played quarterback at Rutgers from 2011-2014, playing four seasons under current Texas co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Kyle Flood.
Keynodo Hudson – Nickels (Full bio)
Keynodo Hudson is in his second season on staff at Texas after serving as a defensive analyst in 2024. A veteran of 17 years as a college coach, he helped the Longhorns notch a school-record-tying 13 wins and earn a spot in the College Football Playoff semifinals after a first-round playoff win over Clemson, and a Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Championship over Arizona State. Prior to his time on the Forty Acres, Hudson spent one season at Ole Miss as the cornerbacks coach in 2023 when the Rebels finished 11-2 overall and 6-2 during SEC play. In 2021-22, he served as Western Kentucky’s cornerbacks coach, and prior to that spent two seasons on staff at Illinois as defensive backs coach. Hudson helped lead Illinois to the program’s first bowl berth in five years. Before Illinois, Hudson spent 2017-18 as cornerbacks coach at Florida Atlantic. In his first year in Boca Raton in 2017, FAU concluded the season on a 10-game win streak with victories over North Texas in the Conference USA Championship and Akron in the Boca Raton Bowl. Prior to FAU, Hudson spent six seasons from 2012-2016 as a defensive administrative assistant at USC. After starting his career as secondary coach at the University of Charleston in 2004-08, he was defensive coordinator at Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Fla. (2009-11). A Tampa native, he played college football at Reedley College from 1997-00 before transferring to West Virginia Tech where he played his final season and graduated in 2004.
LaAllan Clark – Edge (Full bio)
LaAllan Clark comes to Texas after spending two years as a defensive line graduate assistant for Ohio State from 2023-24. Clark helped the 2024 Ohio State defense rank first nationally in scoring defense, total defense, yards allowed per play, touchdowns allowed per play and opponents touchdowns scored in the red zone as the Buckeyes won the National Championship. In 2023, Clark helped mentor and develop an Ohio State defensive line that played an integral role in the Buckeyes in ranking first in the FBS in pass defense, third in total defense and 18th against the run. He spent the 2022 season as the defensive ends coach at Southern University. Clark began his coaching career in 2019 at Prairie View A&M as a graduate assistant. In addition to his college coaching experience, Clark has trained current NFL pass rushers such as former Longhorns Malcolm Roach, Joseph Ossai, Charles Omenihu, and Moro Ojomo. A native of Baton Rouge, La., Clark lettered two seasons (2014-2015) at Northwestern State before transferring Grambling State University, where he was a two-year letterwinner (2017-2018) as a defensive end for the Tigers and graduated in 2018.
