Ontario Harper learned exactly the kind of man Richard Akins was the day after Harper showed up late to practice. Harper’s teammates at Mississippi State University told him Richard Akins, his strength coach, would just run him for 30 minutes as punishment for being late to practice. 
Well, an hour and a half after he started running, Harper’s legs had locked up, and Akins had to help him up the steps. 
He endured Akins’s taunts, being told he should go back to church league over and over. Laying on a table in the ice room, the freshman Harper thought, “This wasn’t the same guy I met when I came to visit.” 
But then a trainer started yelling at Harper to get off the table and questioning why he was in there. Before the freshman could respond, Akins entered the room and defended his player, yelling at the trainer and putting him back in his place. Harper said that’s when he and Akins bonded.
“He ran the mess out of me, and then he came in there and defended me. We’ve been cool ever since then. That’s why I still keep up with him,” Harper said.
These two sides of Akins have been staples of his ever since he came to work at MSU 32 years ago. 
While he may be the loudest on the court, using choice words often, once he steps off the court, he takes on a new role and becomes a mentor for his players. Akins said he makes it a point to keep up with as many of his players as possible, and it makes him proud to see his players succeed later in life.
“I keep up with a lot of them. They always come by to see me if they’re in town,” Akins said. “That is the really, really important part of the whole thing. It keeps me young. I come to work everyday just to see them and work with them.”
Following his graduation from MSU, Akins continued his career as a competitive power-lifter and then coached high school football for a few years before returning to Starkville as the strength coach for every Bulldog sports team. He coached renowned Bulldogs Rafael Palmeiro, Erick Dampier, Jonathan Papelbon and Derrick Zimmerman. Akins was also the strength coach for some current MSU employees. Akins coached baseball head coach John Cohen, tennis head coach Per Nilsson, track and field head coach Steve Dudley and track and field assistant coach Houston Franks. In addition, Akins coached State’s current women’s athletic director, Ann Carr. In an email, Carr said when she played basketball at MSU from 1986-1990, the experience in the weight room was eye-opening.
“I think most people don’t know how to take him until you really get to know him,” Carr said. “When you first meet him, you say to yourself ‘humph.’  Then he starts talking and you really say to yourself ‘humph.’ You just don’t know what is going to happen. You are scared and nervous because his voice is loud and tells you all this stuff about lifting. You’re thinking to yourself, ‘This isn’t going to be fun.’ But once you get to know him, you love him.”
A few years later, Akins retired from coaching in the midst of both his strength coaching career and Harper’s basketball career. But the retirement did not last long. 
Two years later, Akins came back because he missed the guys, and Harper said all the players wanted Akins to return.
“We were all saying we needed him back,” Harper said. “I looked at him as a father figure, and the other guys did, too.”
Although Akins has coached every sport at MSU, he currently serves as the strength coach for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Recently, Akins has taken a smaller group of freshmen and turned them into stronger guys who understand what it takes to compete in the SEC. 
Sophomore Gavin Ware, who actually lost 30 pounds between his freshman and sophomore year, said Akins is straightforward and determined.
“My philosophy of him is like a box of chocolates. The chocolates are different personalities all in one box. When you have all of that, that’s what you get,” Ware said as he stopped by on his day off to visit Akins. “He always wants us to do our best. That’s why he pushes us so hard.”
In order to create a tighter connection with his players, Akins nicknames each player. He said with some of them, he struggles to remember their actual names. 
The signed posters and pictures hanging throughout Akins’s office portray this bond and love between Akins and his players.
Akins said his concern for the players goes beyond their time at MSU, so he talks to them about what’s going on in their lives rather than about basketball. He said he focuses on teaching the players a work ethic that will impact their entire lives, not just benefit their athletic success.
“My philosophy in coaching is you must have a relationship with the kids before you can coach them. If your only discussion with them is what they do on the floor or in the weight room, then you’re not going to be able to reach them. I think kids today, they’ve got to understand you care about them past their sport as an individual,” Akins said. “I’m very honest with them. Sometimes they don’t like it, and that’s OK. I’m not here to treat you like a little kid because someone in their lives needs to be honest with them everyday.”
Akins has served in the MSU athletic department the second-longest of all the active employees. 
While this has allowed him to witness countless memorable moments and multiple turnovers of coaches and facilities, the one constant in his career has been his love for his players — his kids. 
Though he has two children of his own, Akins considers each player he coaches as his own kid. 
The man with the scowl in the weight room may intimidate players, but he said as long as the players do things the right way, he’s the biggest kid in the bunch.
“They’re my kids. I tell them all the time, ‘When you’re in Starkville, I’m your daddy, so you better act right.’ I just enjoy coming to work every day. Few people can say that. I’m a happy guy,” Akins said. “It’s been a great ride, and I’m going to stay as long as they let me stay.”