On Robb Akey, Bray, Barnes and the mess that is Beaver football

Interim head coach Rob Akey says OSU coaches “have to make the positive come out” of the remainder of the Beavers’ season

Updated 10/15/2025 12:48 AM

CORVALLIS — It seems odd to say, but the Robb Akey era at Oregon State begins Saturday night when the Beavers play host to Lafayette in a game of tackle football at Reser Stadium.

The Akey era will almost surely last only five games -- the remainder of OSU’s schedule in a season in which the first seven games have been tagged with an “L.”

Athletic director Scott Barnes named Akey interim head coach on Sunday, replacing Trent Bray, who lasted only 19 games over a season and a half before being handed his walking papers.

Akey, who came on in February as Bray’s special assistant, then took over special teams duties a week ago, displayed enthusiasm, positivity and a bit of humor as he met with the media for a half-hour Monday at Valley Football Center. As comfortable talking as Bray is introverted and understated, Akey would be a rich man if he were to get paid by the spoken word.

“The players have put in a ton of work,” Akey said in a folksy twang that belies his Colorado roots. “We haven’t had the results that we want to have just yet. Our goal is to see them be able to smile coming off the field again, to achieve what they came here to achieve and to accomplish some things and feel good about what they have done.”

The program is Akey’s for the next six weeks. A primer on the 59-year-old coaching veteran of 35 years:

• He was an All-Big Sky defensive end for head coach Mike Price at Weber State and was the school’s career sacks leader.

• He was defensive line coach (1999-2002) and D-coordinator (2003-06) under Price and Bill Doba at Washington State. The best season was 2002, when the Cougars went 10-3 and lost to Oklahoma in the 2003 Rose Bowl. The first season, he was on Price’s defensive staff with Craig Bray, Trent’s father, who coached the secondary.

• Akey succeeded Dennis Erickson as head coach at Idaho and was there for six seasons (2007-12) with career record of 20-50. The best season was 2009, when the Vandals went 8-5 and beat Bowling Green 43-42 in the Humanitarian Bowl. From 2000 to 2021, Idaho experienced two winning seasons; Akey was the coach for one of them.

• He coached D-line for three seasons in the NFL with the Vikings (2014) and the Redskins (2015-16). After that, he coached one year at Florida and six as D-coordinator at Central Michigan (2019-24), where he worked under Jim McElwain, who had been Florida’s head coach from 2015-17. The Chippewas were 33-36 and went to two bowl games.

Akey paid homage to Trent Bray and said Sunday’s team meeting to discuss the coaching change was “like a funeral.”

“Those guys came here for him and believe in him,” Akey said. “Still do, and they always will. That speaks a lot about Trent and who he is as a person. He has a great way about him with the players. He could give them a hard time; he knew when to put an arm around them. He knew the right thing to say. He could say things that a lot of other people couldn’t say because of the relationships he built.

“(Bray’s dismissal) is tough for everybody, but things happen in life. What matters the most is the players. We have to make sure they are taken are of.”

With a similar analogy, Akey said losing a football game “feels like death.”

“It’s not as expensive as (real) death, but that’s what it feels like to a young guy, and to us coaches, when it doesn’t work,” he said. “The players have been hit with that and with what happened (Sunday). We are dealing with adversity big-time right now. We have to make the positive come out.

“(OSU coaches) are going to bust our tails to make it great for them and help them accomplish what they want to accomplish. I am excited to help these guys through it.”

Akey sprinkled his comments with humor (and slipped in a four-letter word a couple of times, though it didn’t seem to offend anyone).   

“I was an English major — you can tell by how well I speak — and not a math major,” he quipped.

Later, when asked if he would make major changes from Bray’s philosophies:

“When you see the wishbone on offense and the 5-3 stack monster on defense, hey, maybe it’s a little different.”

Akey struck a more serious tone when he discussed changes in coaching responsibilities. He said Danny Langsdorf, who had been serving as offensive senior quality control analyst, will take over “play-calling duties.” Though Akey wouldn’t confirm it, a source said Langsdorf will also assume the offensive coordinator role in place of Ryan Gunderson, who will continue to coach quarterbacks.

Akey said the offensive coaching group of Langsdorf, Gunderson, Mike Cavanaugh (line), Will Heck (tight ends), Pat McCann (receivers) and Ray Pickering (running backs) “will put the (offensive) game plan together.”

Langsdorf, 53, was offensive coordinator at Oregon State from 2005-13 and at Nebraska from 2015-17 and was the quarterbacks coach — working with Eli Manning — for the New York Giants in 2014. Langsdorf was O-coordinator at Temple from 2022-24.

Mark Criner, who had been in a defensive quality control position, will replace Bray coaching OSU’s linebackers. Criner, 58, served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator under Akey at Idaho and also coached at Portland State from 1993-99. Criner coached outside linebackers at Southern Mississippi from 2021-24.

The Dean of Portland Sports is now on BlueSky.

There will be no specific coach assigned to overlook special teams. Akey said most of OSU’s assistants will share special teams responsibilities. Rod Chance (secondary) and Ilaisa Tuiaki (D-line) will serve as co-D coordinators.

“I was told to run the show, and this is the way we are going to go moving forward,” Akey said.

Akey said the players “are going to feel the energy” from the coaches this week.

“Life is moving at us,” he said. “We are going to go attack life. We are going to attack our new opponents and we are going to move forward.

“We need to get a little swagger back in (the players’) tails. Beaver Nation is ready for that. They want to feel good about things. There should be some great excitement about what we have moving forward. It’s an opportunity to explode and make some things happen. We need to get some doom and gloom out of the way and get the dust to clear.”

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And now for some commentary:

• I have a feeling it was Barnes who directed Akey to demote Gunderson from offensive coordinator. I doubt Akey, a coaches’ coach, would make such a change, even with Gundy’s shaky goal-line play-calling at the end of the Houston and Wake Forest games. I don’t believe Langsdorf would push for that, either.

• In a short meeting with media on Monday, Barnes explained his decision to sack Bray this way:

“It evolved over time. You are always looking for consistent improvement in every facet. We got some improvement and then we would step back. As we got through the Wake Forest game, it was apparent that we were at the place where we needed to make a decision at that time.”

Barnes couldn’t have liked what he saw Saturday during the 39-14 loss to Wake Forest at Reser, both on the field and in the stands. Attendance was announced at 29,710, and perhaps that represented tickets accounted for. Butts in the seats? Maybe a little more than half of that, but no more than 20,000. And by the start of the second half, many of the spectators — including a majority in the student section — had departed for places unknown.

• The biggest factor in Barnes’ decision was likely the external pressure from fans, alums and donors who had given up on Bray. Some of them evidently pungled up the $4 million necessary to buy out the remainder of Bray’s five-year contract.

“The dollars we raised were for three things: Buyout, additional revenue share and for more salary support,” Barnes told me Monday. “All are dollars external to the university.”

OK, but Barnes still comes out with egg on his face. Bray was Barnes’ hire, and the AD wanted anything but to have to fire his coach so quickly. As it turns out, Barnes is directly responsible for $4 million — a figure that drops with whatever Bray earns somewhere else through the length of the contract — that could have gone to more rev share/NIL funding of athletes or to any number of projects or facility improvements.

• Barnes says he has made five Division I head coaching hires in his 18 years as athletic director at Utah State, Pittsburgh and Oregon State.

“All of them have ascended to Power Five head coaching positions except this one,” Barnes told John Canzano in a Sunday interview. “They were all coordinators. The difference between those hires and this one is Trent didn’t embrace the enterprise as a whole, the CEO seat and the tough decisions. You (have to) see an appetite for wanting to take on tough decisions and the enterprise.”

Bray is a football coach, and was a very good one while an assistant coaching defense. He is not a great communicator, and I doubt if he ever aspired to play a “CEO” role in his coaching career. He saw a chance to become a head coach and help out his alma mater. If he didn’t turn out to possess the corporate skills Barnes seeks to lead his football program, that’s on Barnes.

• In November 2023, days after Jonathan Smith’s departure to Michigan State, Barnes made the quick decision to elevate Bray from his defensive coordinator role. The thinking was twofold: In his first head coaching job, Bray came cheap. And his presence would prevent Oregon State’s best returning players from leaving for other schools. Didn’t work. All of them left except offensive tackle Josh Gray.

Bray was left to pick up the pieces without a conference for which to recruit or sufficient NIL money to keep top players or recruit big-time transfers. Dam Nation collective came up with a $1.5 million bounty to land Duke quarterback Maalik Murphy, who has had his moments this season but has largely been a disappointment.

• Bray is not without guilt for his demise.

Never have I seen a college team have special-teams drama in every single game, costing them one win and impacting opportunities for at least two more. I have quarreled with some in-game coaching, including the decision to use the shotgun in short yardage at the goal line, when a direct snap and tush push could have produced touchdowns more than once. The Beavers have given up too many big plays on defense and make too few of them on offense. For the second straight season, pressure on the opposing quarterback has been a rare commodity.

OSU coaches deserve a portion of the blame, but they aren’t sending snaps over the punter’s head or throwing passes over a receiver’s head. They are not letting defenders block placekicks or receivers sneak unmolested beyond the secondary. Players must do the playing, and at crucial times they haven’t gotten the job done.

Since the break-up of the old Pac-12, and with the advent of NIL and the transfer portal, it’s a new world in college football. When stacked up against athletes from Oregon and Texas Tech and Houston and even Cal and Wake Forest, OSU’s talent base comes out second best. Until the Beavers’ NIL base expands, that is not going to change. That’s not an excuse; it’s a fact of life.

“The college football business is really impatient these days,” said Barnes, and he is right about that. It’s a microcosm of American society in general. Attention spans are short. There is little time for development. Succeed now, or else.

But I find little value in making a college football head coaching change at midseason. Sure, it appeases some of the fan base, but it disrupts so much inside a program. I’m not sure Bray could have matured as a coach to make it work at OSU, but he deserved more than a season and a half to prove his merit.

Now it is Akey calling the shots. If he can coach the Beavers to a few wins the rest of the way, I foresee “Akey Breaky Heart” as the students’ song of choice over the Reser public address system.

• Following the Wake Forest game, reserve quarterback Gabarri Johnson contradicted himself in a Q&A with reporters, seeming to confirm that he believed some teammates had “quit” while also talking about improved communication among OSU players as the season wore on.

I find it unwise to throw out the “Q” word loosely. With a losing team, quitting can be confused with frustration over poor performance. I don’t think anyone would have accused the Beavers of quitting in last-minute losses to Houston and Appalachian State the previous two games. The “want” was there against Wake Forest, too, but not the quality of performance. And surely, frustration is setting in as the losing streak continues.

“When you lose, it can wear on you mentally,” Bray said. “The last two weeks, (as) you bury yourselves early, self-doubt starts creeping into your head. At the beginning (of Saturday’s) game, they were fired up and ready to go. Bad things happen, and it’s natural that those things creep into your head. That’s what you have to fight against.”

Linebacker Aiden Sullivan said the OSU players are still united despite the losing streak.

“I feel like everybody in the locker room thinks of each other like brothers,” Sullivan said. “We are all family. It’s hard to go through things like this, but we are not going to just fall apart on each other. We are going to be family no matter what. … we just have to do it for each other. I love these guys, (but) it sucks not coming out with the win.”

• Barnes said he will use a search firm in picking Bray’s successor, though he doesn’t indicate which one. It might be Eastman & Beaudine out of Plano, Texas, which was contracted by Oregon State to help with an administrative hire in the past. Or it could be DHR Global from Chicago, which helped with the hiring of Smith after the 2017 season.

Paying an outside search firm — I am guessing the cost will be in the high six figures — to identify candidates for a coaching position is a waste of money. Barnes said he will also form “an internal committee made up of staff” to work with the search company reps. I am all for that.

I can think of many non-staffers with experience with Oregon State football who would be valuable members of such a committee. Steven Jackson. Tim Euhus. Mike Riley. Steve Preece. Dennis Erickson. Jaydon Grant. Jim Wilson. Jack Colletto. Scott Spiegelberg. I think all of them would be willing to contribute. Barnes should rely heavily on such a group, who would have a finger to the pulse of what Oregon State football should look like.

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Barnes on his criteria for picking a coach:

“I want someone who has shown success in recruiting the new marketplace with NIL and revenue share. Someone who has already cut their teeth in that. West Coast presence is not a must, but it’s an important component. And somebody who can command the enterprise, who can look at the big vision beyond next year, partner with me to move this program forward, a program that should be at the top of the conference.”

Barnes said there would also be an emphasis on hiring someone with head coaching experience. “The person, the leader is most important, but we will be looking at head coaches.”

I asked Barnes if a coach who has been out of “the marketplace” over the last couple of years lessens his chances of getting hired.

“Having that experience is important, and/or building a staff around you who has that experience,” Barnes said.

I was thinking of Paul Chryst, whom I endorsed when Smith left. Barnes interviewed Chryst but chose to hire Bray.

Chryst, 59, was offensive coordinator at Oregon State under Riley in 1997 and ’98 and 2003 and ’04. From 2015-22, Chryst was head coach at Wisconsin, compiling a record of 67-26 overall and 42-18 in Big Ten play over 7 1/2 seasons. The Badgers won 10 games four times, had seven straight winning seasons and played in seven straight bowl games, winning six. They were ranked among the nation’s top 20 at the end of every season.

Barry Alvarez, who hired Chryst, retired as the school’s athletic director in 2021. Chris McIntosh succeeded Alvarez and fired Chryst five games into the 2022 season, when the Badgers were 2-3, shocking the program’s fan base. His replacement, Luke Fickell, went 7-6 in 2023 and 5-7 in 2024. The Badgers are 2-4 this season and were rolled by Iowa 37-0 in Madison last Saturday.

Chryst served as a special assistant to Steve Sarkisian at Texas in 2023. Before the 2024 season, Chryst turned down the Indiana job. (Curt Cignetti has been a pretty good alternate choice by the Hoosiers). Paul, who lives in Wisconsin, spent much of the late summer and early fall visiting NFL camps and college campuses, observing practice sessions, learning how other coaches approach things, expanding his horizons in the business of coaching.

Paul loved his time at Oregon State, and I think he would consider coming back to coach the Beavers. If he is not familiar with navigating “the new marketplace” of college football, he would hire people to help him through it.

• With the new Pac-12 beginning play in 2026, Barnes is optimistic he will be able to find a top-level coach.

“What makes it different this time is the runway we have in front of us, and a clear direction and vision,” he said. “The last time we made the hire, we didn’t know where we were going. We didn’t have a conference.

This will be the first time we’ll have been on the top of the conference in resources. When you think about this opening, it’s the best job in the Pac-12. Facilities, resources, fan support all combine to make this an excellent job.”

Barnes said the new coach will command a salary that will be “top of the Pac-12.” Sounds big-time, but I think the current standard would be Boise State’s Spencer Danielson, who is on a five-year, $11-million deal. That’s not much more than Bray was making.

• A former Beaver player whom I respect had this to say about the qualities necessary from the next head coach:

“We need a guy who has a passion about two things: Game-planning the hell out of opponents, and somebody who teaches the game of football well.”

That makes sense to me.

• It’s not likely there will be a mass exodus of players from Oregon State’s roster via the transfer portal for the rest of the season. Barnes said the portal doesn’t open until five days after OSU names a new head coach.

“Then there is a 15-day window,” he said. “If we were in the hunt for a new coach, (the portal would open) on Jan. 2. We have plenty of time to put our wheels in motion and plan in place.”

• The last time Oregon State started 0-7 was Jerry Pettibone’s first season in 1990. That team carried an 0-10 record into the season finale before knocking off Oregon 14-3 at Autzen Stadium, after which Beaver underclassmen carried the seniors off the field. The players had practiced it all through the week leading up to the Civil War game.

Akey, of course, hopes there will be no deja vu, that there will be a Beaver victory or more before the Nov. 29 season wind-up in the Palouse.

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