Ranking the 10 college football head coaching vacancies
Oct 15, 2015; Denton, TX, USA; North Texas Mean Green quarterback DaMarcus Smith (10) runs down field after throwing a 46-yard touchdown as time expired in the first half during a game against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at Apogee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports
North Texas head coach Dan McCarney was fired after an 0-5 start this season with the final straw being an absolutely horrific 66-7 loss to FCS opponent Portland State (who also beat Washington State this season, by the way). In fact, McCarney was fired immediately after the game.
Highly respected in the coaching community, McCarney was in his 17th season as a head coach (he was also been the head man at Iowa State from 1995 to 2006) and in his fifth season in charge of the Mean Green. McCarney posted a 22-32 record in Denton before being let go, including a 9-4 season in 2013 in which UNT played in the Heart of Dallas Bowl – the only bowl game for the program since 2004 and only the seventh in school history.
There was a time in the early 2000s when North Texas was the beast of the Sun Belt Conference under Darrell Dickey, including four consecutive conference titles and bowl games. However, Dickey was fired after back-to-back nine-loss seasons in 2005 and 2006. In a surprise move, North Texas hired Texas high school coaching legend Todd Dodge, but Dodge posted a 8-40 record in four seasons and was shown the door after the 2010 campaign having done more harm than good for the program.
Now a member of Conference USA, and located within a large but ultra competitive recruiting base, North Texas is far from a destination job but could be a nice stepping stone for a young coach on the rise. The league itself is in a state of transition because of recent realignment, the addition of Old Dominion and Charlotte and the loss (and later addition) of UAB, so there is plenty of opportunity to move up the pecking order with the right coach in place.
North Texas isn’t TCU or Boise State, but there’s not reason the Mean Green can’t experience bursts of great success similar to what we’ve seen from Marshall and Louisiana Tech in the past or Memphis, Houston and Temple this season.
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