Vandals ready to run with Rebels
In the summer of 2009, Robb Akey and Bobby Hauck were part of a coaches' goodwill mission to visit the U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
With Hauck still at Montana at the time, little did they know they would hook up again just over a year later, when UNLV (0-2), now coached by Hauck, in his first year there after seven years with the Grizzlies, travels to Idaho (1-1) on Saturday night at the Kibbie Dome.
But it's not like Akey, 44, and Hauck, 46, haven't crossed paths before in their careers.
"I've put up with him for a long time," Akey said with a laugh earlier this week. "He was playing at Montana when I was playing at Weber State. When I was at Weber (State) he was coaching at (Northern Arizona), and then I ended up going down to NAU and he had just left, but when I went to Washington State he had gone to Washington, and we coached against each other there.
"So we've known each other for a lot of years, and we also went on that trip to Afghanistan together last July. We talked about a whole lot of things ... we talked a lot about football. So did David Bailiff (Rice coach) and Mickey Matthews (James Madison coach), who just had a big 'ol win against Virginia Tech. We all got along very very well, and had as good a time as you can have visiting a war, I guess."
Notes: Akey said he had no special motivation going against UNLV, as his name was mentioned as a possible replacement to Mike Sanford, who was fired as Rebels coach following last season. "That was all speculation in the media, and didn't go any further than that," he said. ... Slot receiver Marsel Posey is out for the year after suffering a torn ACL vs. Nebraska. Akey said he expects the others who were banged up last week - including right guard Tevita Halaholo, and receivers Preston Davis and Justin Veltung - to be able to play this week. ... UNLV is the first of back-to-back opponents from the Mountain West Conference for the Vandals, who travel to Colorado State on Sept. 25. While some think the Mountain West is a slight upgrade from the Western Athletic Conference, Akey doesn't. "Believe it or not, I think the Mountain West Conference is a similar conference (to the WAC)," he said.