Search the Community

North Texas Walk-Ons Continue Making The Most Of Their Opportunities Inside the North Texas football offices, the hallways are decorated with pictures of big hits, big plays and special players. Zach Orr, Brandin Byrd, Derek Thompson and other highly-decorated players and highly-sought recruits. When you wind your way around the hallway before heading out, there is a wall with 18 mug shots in a line. This group of 18 players isn't your usual lineup. It's guys who were told out of high school they were not good enough to play FBS football. It's the 18 players that have earned scholarships at North Texas since Dan McCarney has been the head coach, and it's a source of immense pride for McCarney and for every player that has earned their way onto the roster the hard way. You're Too Slow Rivals.com is the clearinghouse for recruiting gurus and fans alike. If you looked up Darnell Smith in 2009, all you would have seen was a name and a hometown. He received little or no interest from FBS schools, so he went the junior college route, thinking it would boost his stock for the following years. However, that didn't go as planned at his first stop, Trinity Valley. "You're too slow," Smith said of what he heard from his coach at Trinity Valley in his freshman year. A year later, Smith and a friend decided to head to Iowa, with no promise of a scholarship. Smith tried out and walked on at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa. He made the team, ending the year with 34 catches and 507 yards. Through another friend, Smith got in contact with North Texas offensive line coach Mike Simmonds. The rest is walk-on history. "It's been an exciting journey, and I feel like I have a lot more to do to prove myself to people," Smith said. "I want to do my part and help this team, because this team is my family." Despite not making a start in 2012, he made a significant impact last season and enters 2013 as the Mean Green's leading returning receiver with 28 catches and 379 yards. Read more and watch videos: http://www.meangreensports.com/provingthemwrong.html

UNT’s players and coaches will be available to the media again tomorrow, so I should have some more info (video, a story and a blog or two) late tomorrow, but until then, here are a couple of interesting tidbits of note I have been holding to fill the dead day. I am working on a series of stories for our annual football magazine and asked about one senior who will be featured. Dan McCarney went on to mention two other seniors who have impressed so far in camp — cornerback Hilbert Jackson and defensive end Aaron Bellazin. Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/08/wednesday-night-notes-2.html/

Thanks coach for all you have done and continue to do for the North Texas Mean Green Football Program!! Happy Birthday!!! Go Mean Green!! https://www.facebook.com/dan.mccarney.3 This post has been promoted to an article

After wrapping up a couple of stories for both newspapers and editing a little video, I’m back with some thoughts from Conference USA media day. Before we get to them, the video above features a few thoughts on UNT’s move to Conference USA and the upcoming season from Dan McCarney and linebacker Zach Orr. We went over the news tidbits of the day earlier, but here were the highlights (it wasn’t a huge news day from the UNT end of things): – Defensive tackle Richard Abbe is back on the roster and could be back in the lineup by the season-opener after working his way back into the good graces of UNT’s coaches after his brush wit the law a few months ago. UNT really needs Abbe, one of the few defensive tackles with size on the roster, to play and play well. – The quarterback pecking order of Derek Thompson, Andrew McNulty and then Brock Berglund hasn’t changed since the end of spring practice. With only two major scrimmages in the fall, it seems unlikely that anyone other than Thompson starts the season-opener against Idaho. – Defensive end Quenton Brown and running back Konockus Sashington are the only two players who will not be ready for the start of two-a-days. read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/07/conference-usa-media-day-wrap-up.html/

Dan McCarney - "This league is loaded with real talented head coaches. Real successful guys, you look at the resumes and their pedigree and they're really a great lineup of coaches...We're [uNT] just lucky to be there because we know there's lot of teams that would rather be in our shoes... We just hope we can be a factor in the race. We're in the process of trying to restore some dignity, some respect to North Texas football that's been missing for a long time. Bill Blankenship on who Tulsa is looking for in a player - "We're looking for the same player that the service academies are looking for but we don't require the same 4 year commitment after they graduate. They're not all Eagle scouts but we think leadership is important. And then they have to have the athletic ability to be able to play at a high level. We have 23 players out of the last 3 recruiting classes who turned down scholarships from the Big 12, Big 10 SEC etc. We're at a place we've identified that if you and your family value a great education in a smaller size student body where everyone can put a face to a name we can offer you that." C-USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky on the sabre rattling from the BCS institutions for NCAA changes: "I think the issue is how do you deal with the issues of the day - together. There's issues around how you deal with the student athletes financial package, there's issues with the safety of the game and players health which should be of the highest priority, we have financial sustainability issues in the long run and in the short we have issues of too much commercialization. It seems to me that we addressed conference realignment and now the [NCAA] system needs realignment now. read more:

As a North Texas fan suffering through a 4-win 2012 season it was pretty easy to lay the blame on #7. Derek Thompson (DT), in his junior year had his struggles throwing as many interceptions as he did touchdown passes (14 TD's-14 INT's). He also made some bad decisions at key points in key game like throwing an ill advised interception at the start of the 4th quarter against Western Kentucky when UNT was winning the game 24-10. Of course WKU came back to win that game and a big upset win on the road to end the season slipped through Dan McCarney's fingers like sand. Since then, UNT fans have seen the dream of future star quarterback recruit Brock Berglund taking the reins fade. Berglund came highly regarded as a three star transfer from Kansas. A pulled hamstring in the beginning of spring training limited his snaps and put him way behind Thompson heading into this season. It's not that Berglund doesn't have the skills - he does - but he has yet to put them all together and a turnover conscious McCartney isn't likely to roll the dice on him, at least early on in the season. Mac needs wins and he despises turnovers. With all the upside athleticism Berglund possesses he is basically a new quarterback to this system - and the FBS game itself. He will make some mistakes on the field as he earns his stripes. read more:

I received this from a member here on the GoMeanGreen.com site earlier today and with his permission am able to share it with everyone: I just had to share what a good man Coach Mac is. My 15 year old son has been having some health problems, not life threatening but serious none the less. To lift his spirits, my wife & I offered to remodel his bedroom and let him pick out the colors, flooring, decorations,etc. He wanted his room painted Mean Green Green & White! I thought that maybe I could get an autographed football of this years team & make it the centerpiece of his room. I figured that I would just start at the top so I emailed Coach Mac and asked about the possibility of getting a ball signed. Imagine my surprise when none other than Coach Mac himself called me last Friday morning. He genuinely seemed concerned about my son and stated that not only could we get a ball signed but that we could come in and get a tour of the athletic facility and attend practice when camp starts. Mac said that whatever the Mean Green could do to make my son feel better, he would make sure it gets done! My wife's eyes filled with tears when I told her about the call later Friday evening. I don't like to put out a lot of personal information on the forum but I just had to share this. Coaches take a lot of flak and criticism, that's part of the job, but a lot of the good things that they do often go unnoticed. Coach Mac=Good Man!

Tulsa was a unanimous pick to win the West Division, while East Carolina was picked to win the East Division. We know that we have our work cut out for us heading into a new league, and we have a lot to prove against some great teams that are in our division and our league, UNT head coach Dan McCarney said in a statement. The last time UNT did not have a player named to a preseason all-conference team was in 2009, when the Mean Green played in the Sun Belt Conference. UNT left that league after last season to join C-USA. McCarney and UNTs players have spoken about the importance of playing well in their first season in a new conference throughout the offseason. They are not going to shut the program down if we dont win, but this is a big year for us, UNT quarterback Derek Thompson said. There are a lot of guys who are ready to help turn things and have a really successful year. We are prepared for it. Read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20130717-football-coaches-pick-unt-fifth-in-c-usa-west.ece

UNT head football coach Dan McCarney said that now a lot of recruits are starting their collegiate careers much sooner than they did in previous years. “As a player, I came in the fall of 1971 to the University of Iowa and we didn’t start until August,” McCarney said. “And for years and years and years, that’s all we ever knew. That’s dramatically changed through the years now, as young men are reporting much sooner.” Now, it’s common for recruits to enroll at their respective schools during the summer, where they cannot only start their coursework but begin their strength and conditioning programs before football season officially begins. McCarney — who remains neutral in letting his kids play in games — and Coker both cited the early enrollment of players has a reason higher-caliber recruits at college football’s highest level are foregoing a chance to play with their high-school counterparts for a final time. With both the Oil Bowl and the THSCA game, kids show up at the sites of the two games a few days prior to the contest. The athletes will train with their coaches, build friendships with some and disdain for others. While the Oil Bowl was in the middle of June, the THSCA game is historically played during the last week in July. Whitesboro head coach Eddie Gill said the main reason top players are no longer playing in the games is because of restrictions by universities. “The main reason is that the universities are telling them, ‘Hey, we don’t want you to play in these games,’” Gill said. “The universities are investing a lot of time and money into these kids. They want to try and get them in there early in the summer and make sure they’re doing what they want them to do, and that sort of thing.” read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/high-schools/high-schools-headlines/20130713-football-all-star-games-lacking-in-star-power.ece

There were times earlier in Dan McCarney’s coaching career when he had to wait and wonder right up until the last minute how his freshmen would look heading into fall practice. Coaches would sign their players in February during his tenure as a head coach at Iowa State and as an assistant at Iowa and Wisconsin and then hope that they arrived right before the start of two-a-days in late July in shape. McCarney won’t have to worry about his newcomers heading into his third season at North Texas. All of UNT’s freshmen reported on time for summer school and went through their first session of summer conditioning on Monday afternoon. McCarney said he does not anticipate any late problems with NCAA qualifying standards that would prevent any of UNT’s incoming freshmen from being eligible this season. The question for UNT now is whether or not any of the team’s freshmen and late-arriving junior college players can help the team right away. Having all of them on campus is a good start. “We have to see how well they will learn the system, but I sure like this class,” McCarney said. “It helps a lot to have them here. When camp starts, conditioning won’t be an issue.” Read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20130708-football-mccarney-has-no-worries-with-newcomers.ece

#11 - The Mean Greens improvement under the former longtime Iowa State head man has been solid yet unspectacular. Theyll give C-USA opponents a fight but are projected for a season similar to last years 4-8 campaign. Read more: http://www.lostlettermen.com/ranking-c-usas-head-fb-coaches/

Some points in another thread got me thinking about this. We've all heard that Dickey clashed with Helwig and RV over quite a few things, and the discussion about tough OOC schedules made me wonder about the HC/AD relationships. So, since I don't know exactly what they did and didn't like about each other's style or opinion of how things should be scheduled, let's look at a couple of possibilities that led me to this thought. Let's say Helwig wanted to keep putting up UT, OU, Nebraska, LSU, etc. as OOC foes and Dickey disagreed. Well, RV comes along and they're already on the schedule for a couple of years or so. Is it reasonable, prudent, or even done as a matter of business-as-usual, if a new AD agrees with the HC, to look at trying to get out of those games and replace them with ones he feels are better suited to the program in its current state? My big reason for asking is that if you are pretty much going to stay married to the OOC schedule planned years ahead regardless of coaching or AD changes, doesn't that add just another reason to our usual "well, we have to wait and see because of what he inherited" tact? And in that sense, even if coaching hires don't work out and you make a change in the AD position...wouldn't that give the AD twice as long as the HC? I mean, just for giggles, let's say this year was disastrous in both FB and BB, both coaches and RV were sent packing (okay, maybe not everybody would be giggling but you know what I mean). The new AD would inherit a football schedule that's pretty much set for about 6 years. That's the big one...so even if they got a bad hire and replaced him as HC after Mac, the FB schedule could basically cover the tenure of two 3-season coaches. As much as the "bare cupboard" argument is made, couldn't an AD make that same one for at least twice as long if they were pretty well stuck with over half a decade of someone else's scheduling? If so, and people accept the "bare cupboard" notion, wouldn't an AD's grace period be about 6 years before they could say they were "rebuilding properly"? Or could they say, "Hey, if I'm going to come in here and take over this mess, you have to let me scrap half of this schedule and do something better with it"? Obviously if that was part of their terms of hiring, the administration would choose whether or not to hire them...but would that be a reasonable demand if you thought you had a great AD hire and that's what they wanted to do?

Phil Steele came out with his annual list of the percentage of total offense each team in the country has returning today. UNT came in at No. 42 nationally with players returning who accounted for 79.2 percent of its offensive yards. And that brings us to question No. 7 in our post-spring blog series — Did UNT fill a few key holes adequately? I have been accused over the years of over estimating the value of returning players and underestimating the potential of newcomers to dramatically impact the prospects of a team immediately. That’s a fair point. I do value experienced players over newcomers. UNT doesn’t have a ton of guys to replace when it comes to next season (there are eight players coming back on both offense and defense), but it does have some key players to replace. How the Mean Green fares in doing just that will have a big impact on how UNT’s season goes. K.C. Obi was not one of the elite defensive linemen in the Sun Belt last season, but he played pretty well for UNT, leading the team in sacks (5.5) and tackles for loss (10.5). Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/06/post-spring-questions-series-no-7-did-unt-fill-some-key-holes-adequately.html/

We are on the verge of the most glorious time of the year. Spring football is over, the magazine deadlines have passed and the spring sports season is wrapping up. That’s right — it’s almost the college sports off-season. I’m headed out of town tomorrow for a little R&R with the wife. I might jump on the blog a little here and there, but before I bail, I thought this would be the perfect night to start the annual post-spring key questions blog series. Every team in the country has questions and concerns heading into the off-season, including UNT. Over the next few weeks, we’ll ponder some of them when we are not addressing the news of the day or some other point of interest. So here goes, No. 1 — Is Dan McCarney going to be OK? Being the head football coach at UNT roughly equates to being employed on the bomb squad or repairing power lines. It’s been proven to be a dangerous line of work when it comes to your health. And that doesn’t even take into account the fact that historically UNT has been a place where it is darn near impossible to win. UNT has posted three winning seasons since 1995, all in a row during a run of success under Darrell Dickey from 2001-04. Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/05/post-spring-questions-series-no-1-is-mac-still-the-same-old-mac.html/

Everything was going great down at the North Texas football complex. The spring game was over, so now coach Dan McCarney could focus on the school’s first season-opening home game in more than a decade. “You promote, you market, and you do everything you can to get everybody to come back to games all throughout the spring and summer, and then for 12 years in a row, North Texas gets on a plane to open the season at someone else’s stadium,” said McCarney, who has been the Mean Green coach the past two seasons. And those who wondered a few weeks ago if the former Iowa State head coach and Iowa assistant would be on the sidelines for that Aug. 31 game against Idaho don’t know this Irish-blooded Iowan very well. “I can’t tell you once when I got knocked down and didn’t get back up,” said McCarney, who proved that by returning to his office just a week following heart bypass surgery. Read more: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20130503/SPORTS020602/305030077/1017/SPORTS06/Ex-Cyclone-coach-McCarney-doesn-t-take-long-recover-from-heart-surgery This post has been promoted to an article

UNT announced this morning that Dan McCarney returned to the office today after undergoing heart bypass surgery. Here is the official statement: North Texas head football coach Dan McCarney returned to the office on Friday, seven days after undergoing a surgical procedure at a local hospital. Doctors recommended McCarney undergo the surgery following a routine office visit earlier in the week. The successful surgery took place last Friday. “The medical staff was outstanding,” McCarney said. “I put my future in their hands and everything went great. I have already begun the road to recovery and am excited to be back in the office working toward making the Mean Green football program better.” Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/04/details-on-mccarneys-hospital-stay.html/

This has not been the easiest last year or so for North Texas head football coach Dan McCarney. The man deserves a break. He suffered a stroke last year, and now recently was in the hospital for another surgery. North Texas said that McCarney had successful surgery last Friday, and is OK. A source said this procedure has nothing to do with the stroke and that McCarney, 59, is fine and back to work. McCarney does not want to be specific about the procedure. Read more: http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.com/mac-engel/2013/04/good-news-for-north-texas-football-coach.html Read more here: http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.com/mac-engel/2013/04/good-news-for-north-texas-football-coach.html#storylink=cpy

DENTON, Texas – North Texas head football coach Dan McCarney returned to the office on Friday, seven days after undergoing a surgical procedure at a local hospital. Doctors recommended McCarney undergo the surgery following a routine office visit earlier in the week. The successful surgery took place last Friday. “The medical staff was outstanding,” McCarney said. “I put my future in their hands and everything went great. I have already begun the road to recovery and am excited to be back in the office working toward making the Mean Green football program better.” McCarney will begin his third year at North Texas this fall. No coach since Rod Rust in 1967-68 has won more games in their first two seasons at North Texas than McCarney.

DENTON, Texas — North Texas coach Dan McCarney is back at work in his office a week after undergoing a heart procedure. While the coach wasn’t specific about his medical treatment, McCarney said Friday in a statement from the school that the medical staff was outstanding and he had already “begun the road to recovery.” McCarney, who turns 60 in July, says he’s excited to be back in the office to continue preparing for his third season with the Mean Green. Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-coach-dan-mccarney-back-in-office-week-after-heart-procedure/2013/04/26/16f69400-aea3-11e2-b240-9ef3a72c67cc_story.html

North Texas coach Dan McCarney underwent heart bypass surgery last Friday, sources told ESPN. McCarney, 59, acknowledged in a statement that he had a medical procedure but wasn't specific. He returned to the office Friday, a week after the surgery. Doctors recommended McCarney undergo the surgery following a routine office visit earlier in the week. "The medical staff was outstanding," McCarney said in a statement released through North Texas. "I put my future in their hands and everything went great. I have already begun the road to recovery and am excited to be back in the office working toward making the Mean Green football program better." Read more: http://espn.go.com/dallas/college-football/story/_/id/9215047/dan-mccarney-north-texas-mean-green-undergoes-bypass-surgery-sources-say

North Texas’ football team will wrap up spring practice with its annual spring game at 2 p.m. Saturday at Apogee Stadium. The game ends an evaluation period of players in a football program trying to shed the stink of a culture shaped by a dismal recent past. With 142 days until the season opener at home against Idaho, coach Dan McCarney on Tuesday gave his approval of the progress his team is building from the ground up, though, of course, “we’re not where we want to be.” That’s hardly a mark of disappointment for McCarney, who took over a program in 2011 that went 3-33 in the previous three seasons. “I see a personality on this team: more confidence, more competition,” McCarney said. “More guys tired of getting their tails kicked between their shoulder blades. “I got a good, strong feeling about this fall. It’s going to be a lot of fun. ... This is going to be a team that’s fun to watch.” So caps a spring in which nearly every position was up for grabs, including receiver, where last season’s corps lacked the capacity to make plays, especially on third down. McCarney spent a few minutes extolling an unselfish unit that has repositioned itself to help the Mean Green continue its development and perhaps be a competitor in its new league, Conference USA, beginning this fall. Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/04/09/4762174/encouraging-spring-helps-unt-look.html Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/04/09/4762174/encouraging-spring-helps-unt-look.html#storylink=cpy

UNT coach Dan McCarney said that he has been pleased with the Mean Green’s progress in spring practice during his spring wrap-up press conference Tuesday. UNT will hold its annual spring game at 2 p.m. Saturday at Apogee Stadium. “If you really get good at fundamentals and learn the system so that you can play with confidence and then master things that take no talent whatsoever — that is effort, that is toughness and that is the ability to communicate with your coaches and teammates — that is a really good start for 2013,” McCarney said. “We have done a good job of that. I really like where we are at right now.” While McCarney was pleased with UNT’s progress in general, he did single out a few players who performed particularly well, including defensive end Chad Polk and cornerback Kenny Buyers. Read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20130410-notebook-hardwick-wont-return-for-mean-green.ece