North Texas' McCarney ready for business trip to Iowa City

[Harry]

Dan McCarney doesn’t plan to sneak off for a pizza at Pagliai’s or grab a burger down the block at the Hamburg Inn when he returns to his hometown this week.

This will strictly be a business trip for the Iowa City native, whose North Texas football team visits unbeaten Iowa on Saturday.

“I have great memories of growing up in Iowa City and of Kinnick Stadium as a player and a coach. I’m proud of my Iowa City roots, proud to be an Iowan,” McCarney said Monday before quickly adding, “but this week we’re working to give our players a chance to create a special memory of their own.”

With Iowa City native Andrew McNulty starting at quarterback, the Mean Green will take the field for the 2:30 p.m. game looking for their first win of the season following double-digit losses to SMU and Rice.

The oddsmakers list Iowa as a 26.5-point favorite this week.

McCarney rates the task as “daunting challenge,” but that is not totally foreign territory for the 62-year-old coach who has made a career out of overcoming the odds.

From forging ahead as the head of North Texas’ program after suffering a stroke in 2012 and undergoing open heart surgery a year later, to being a part of unexpected successes on the field, first as a player and assistant at Iowa and later as a head coach at Iowa State, McCarney repeatedly has found a way.

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