Tom Akers grew up following in the footsteps of his older brother Steve from his days as a high school athlete to his first college choice. For the past 15 years as the head track and field coach at Eastern Illinois, he has established some pretty big footsteps of his own for others to follow.
Akers was a three-sport athlete at Ankeny High School, located just six miles north of Des Moines, Iowa; he always seemed to be in the shadow of his older brother. It was not until his latter years in high school that his focus became narrowed and his future career path emerged.
“Growing up I always seemed to follow in Steve's footsteps. He was a three-sport athlete and I always loved competing against him,” said Akers. “During my junior year I had some success as a track athlete and then as a senior I started to realize that it was a natural move to try and compete in track at the collegiate level.”
He again followed his older brother in his choice of college as Akers enrolled at Iowa State. He would place in the then Big Eight Conference Championships as a freshman, one of only three freshmen to earn that honor. However success on the track at Iowa State was not exactly the satisfaction the young hurdler was looking for.
“I was only receiving books as a freshman at Iowa State so after my success as a freshman I went in to ask the coaching staff if I would be receiving any more aid,” Akers said. “At the time they were going through a coaching change and that coupled with my brother transferring to Kansas mid-year allowed me to look at making a change.”
Realizing that Iowa State may not have been the right fit for him based on the size of the school, Akers transferred to Northern Iowa where he was an eight-time National Qualifier, earning NCAA Division II All-American honors. At that point in time Akers stepped out of his brother's foot steps and began to blaze a trail of his own. His older brother Steve is now a stock broker.
“I actually followed my dad for my career path, as he was a teacher and a coach,” Akers said. “I was always drawn to athletics and had a desire to coach.”
Akers first arrived at Eastern Illinois as an assistant coach on Neil Moore's staff in 1983. He would work under the successful coach for eight seasons before exploring other opportunities in Arizona. It was not until 1995 that Akers would return full-time to EIU as the head men's track and field coach.
“I really enjoyed my time at EIU as an assistant coach. I learned a great deal from Coach Moore but he was always working his time as head coach like a politician,” added Akers. “With each incoming class, he would tell me 'this is the last class I'm going to see through to graduation.' Then we would have a good year and he would say four-more years. I don't blame him for doing that. He and his wife Shirley were an integral part of the community and university for many years.”
Following five years in Arizona, where he worked as a teacher at the University of Arizona and a coach at two area high schools, Akers again felt the need to look at expanding his career.
“When I took the job at Arizona it was strictly a teaching job. I couldn't turn down a 45 percent increase as we were just starting a family and deep down I thought I could volunteer my way into a coaching position at the university,” said Akers. “That didn't happen and after coaching high school for a couple of years, I really decided I wanted to get back into college coaching.”
That was when the phone call came from the Eastern Illinois athletic administration asking Akers to come back as the head coach for the men's program, as coach Moore was stepping down due to health issues. Since that season EIU track has continued to prosper, winning 23 men's track titles since the Panthers joined the Ohio Valley Conference in 1997. Two years ago, Akers also took over coaching the women's program, helping that team also win four straight conference titles.
“Our goal is to keep it rolling with our track programs,” Akers said. “It seems we are expected to win the track title every season and I think our kids expect to compete for a championship every season. Every year you have a group of seniors who are leaving who have been big point-getters for your team, and then you look to see who is going to step up and replace them the next year. It really goes in cycles for what areas we are strong in.”
This past year was a prime example of both a team and individuals stepping up after two assistant coaches departed mid-season to explore other opportunities. Instead of worrying about what was going to happen next, the team overcame adversity and stepped up to sweep both the men's and women's indoor and outdoor titles. The culmination of the season took place on June 10 when senior Kandace Arnold became the first EIU woman to compete at the NCAA National Championships.
“Our kids took the responsibility of this past season on themselves and responded,” said Akers. “We had some extraordinary help from Mary Wallace, Brenton Emanuel and several interns to help get us through the season. Jessica Sommerfeld has been working extremely hard and it will be nice to have a full-time staff back together in the fall.”
