Morris Announces Defensive Staff Hires

Mean Green Newz · December 20

Mean Green add four coaches to defensive staff room

For more information: Doug Waters, doug.waters@unt.edu, (936) 240-6780

DENTON – UNT head football coach Eric Morris has announced the hiring of four coaches to the staff on the defensive side of the football.

The Mean Green have added Reggie Johnson (Inside Linebackers), Greg Richmond (Defensive Ends), Julian Wilson (Defensive Backs) and Ike Eguae (Defensive Tackles) to the staff.

“We are extremely excited to add these guys to our defensive staff,” head coach Eric Morris said. “They bring a ton of knowledge, experience and passion to our coaching room. I can’t wait to work all of them as we look to continue to compete for championships here at North Texas.”

All four coaches join the UNT staff after spending the 2024 season at Sam Houston working under new defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity.

In addition, current Interim Defensive Coordinator Brian Odom will return for a second season. He will now coach outside linebackers and nickels.

A 25-year veteran, Johnson joins the UNT staff after coaching linebackers at Sam Houston in 2024, helping the Bearkats finish the season 19th in FBS in total defense. Johnson’s resume includes coaching in 11 bowl games, including trips to the 2005 Gator Bowl, the 2006 Orange Bowl, the 2010 Sugar Bowl and the 2011 Cotton Bowl.

Prior to his time at Sam Houston, Johnson spent four seasons coaching linebackers at Missouri State, helping the Bears to the 2021 MVFC Championship and their first appearance in the NCAA FCS Playoffs in 30 years.

Richmond also comes to UNT with a wealth of experience with nearly 15 years of collegiate coaching experience. At Sam Houston in 2024, Richmond helped the Bearkats finish 16th in FBS in fumbles forced and second in Conference USA in sacks.

Prior to his time at Sam Houston, Richmond was the defensive line coach at Oklahoma State from 2018-22, producing a pair of First Team All-Big 12 defensive linemen and helping OSU rank among the national leaders in tackles for loss three straight seasons.

Wilson joins the staff as the defensive backs coach after serving in the same role with the Bearkats in 2024. Under his watch, Sam Houston finished the regular season ranked as the No. 10 passing defense in FBS and led C-USA with 12 interceptions on the year.

Wilson was the defensive backs coach at Abilene Christian in 2022-23 and served as a graduate assistant at Texas Tech from 2020-21. Wilson was also a dynamic defensive back himself, spending three seasons (2015-17) in the NFL with the Chiefs, Ravens and Vikings after a stellar collegiate playing career at Oklahoma from 2011-14.

Eguae has been the defensive line coach for Sam Houston each of the last two seasons and will coach defensive tackles for the Mean Green. He has helped the Bearkats finish second in C-USA in rushing defense each of the past two seasons.

An 18-year coaching veteran, Eguae also had prior stops at Stephen F. Austin, Fort Hays State, Pittsburg State and Coffeyville CC. In his one year at SFA, Eguae coached a pair of FCS All-Americans on the defensive line and helped the Lumberjacks earn a spot in the FCS Playoffs for the first time since 2013.

-- GMG --

97and03 · December 21

So which coaching staff is coaching in our bowl game?

jtm0097 · December 21

2 minutes ago, 97and03 said:

So which coaching staff is coaching in our bowl game?

Caponi holdovers

97and03 · December 21

56 minutes ago, jtm0097 said:

Caponi holdovers

So no motivation to win. Got it. Hell of an AD we have.

so much for a four man front as our base defense i guess?. No need for an outside linebacker coach in a 4-2-5. Or they just have to make up positions to keep him?

Glory to the Green · December 21

12 minutes ago, 97and03 said:

So no motivation to win. Got it. Hell of an AD we have.

so much for a four man front as our base defense i guess?. No need for an outside linebacker coach in a 4-2-5. Or they just have to make up positions to keep him?

It’s a little surprising that he was retained and promoted, but I’m sure there’s a reason. He’s supposed to be a good recruiter. He developed Jaylen Smith into an all conference player, he oversaw the emergence of Chavez Brown, too.

Would he also serving as an in house mentor? With so much riding on this season for EM, I’m willing to give them a chance.

We need some impact transfers, though.

NT93 · December 21

48 minutes ago, 97and03 said:

So no motivation to win. Got it. Hell of an AD we have.

so much for a four man front as our base defense i guess?. No need for an outside linebacker coach in a 4-2-5. Or they just have to make up positions to keep him?

No kidding. We should have had the new staff here getting to know the players and installing a new scheme in two weeks.

GMG24 · December 22

2 minutes ago, NT93 said:

No kidding. We should have had the new staff here getting to know the players and installing a new scheme in two weeks.

If you think they could install a new defensive scheme in 2 weeks, I'd love some of whatever you are on. That is an entire off season, spring ball, and summer / fall camp and it still wont be 100% installed. If we are lucky enough to add 6/7 SHSU defensive transfers that process MIGHT speed up a bit. The best bet is leave previous staff as is, coach the bowl game and pray the same defense that showed up against Temple shows up against TX State.

rcade · December 22

1 hour ago, 97and03 said:

So no motivation to win. Got it. Hell of an AD we have.

You think our new hires should coach the defense in the bowl game?

NT93 · December 22

41 minutes ago, GMG24 said:

If you think they could install a new defensive scheme in 2 weeks, I'd love some of whatever you are on. That is an entire off season, spring ball, and summer / fall camp and it still wont be 100% installed. If we are lucky enough to add 6/7 SHSU defensive transfers that process MIGHT speed up a bit. The best bet is leave previous staff as is, coach the bowl game and pray the same defense that showed up against Temple shows up against TX State.

My post was sarcasm. Not only would they have to install a new system, but as I said, they would have get to know the players as well. It’s ridiculous to think it should be done or even could be done.

Edited December 22 by NT93

GMG24 · December 22

19 minutes ago, NT93 said:

My post was sarcasm. Not only would they have to install a new system, but as I said, they would have get to know the players as well. It’s ridiculous to think it should be done or even could be done.

I am DEAD! You win today.

GMG_Dallas · December 22

3 hours ago, 97and03 said:

so much for a four man front as our base defense i guess?. No need for an outside linebacker coach in a 4-2-5. Or they just have to make up positions to keep him?

From what I've gathered in other threads, the "4th" is a Jack linebacker (DE/linebacker hybrid). I've been contesting it's not a true 4 man front but have been ridiculed by some. From what it seems, the "4-2" our new DC runs is just a 3-3 with a bigger Jack LB and we'll call it a 4 man front. At the end of the day, we'll again be undersized with no true 4 man line and outnumbered with only 6 instead of a front 7. Pretty great.

NT80 · December 22

I bet the new coaches aren't even vetted by the University and officially hired until after the holidays.

97and03 · December 22

10 hours ago, NT93 said:

No kidding. We should have had the new staff here getting to know the players and installing a new scheme in two weeks.

Yes I know that isn’t possible but player evaluation would have been possible. Maybe they will at least get to observe a few practices before the game.

El Paso Eagle · December 22

4 hours ago, 97and03 said:

Yes I know that isn’t possible but player evaluation would have been possible. Maybe they will at least get to observe a few practices before the game.

You do realize Cassity has been in town working with the team and just went back to coach the bowl game.

Tom McKrackin · December 22

54 minutes ago, El Paso Eagle said:

You do realize Cassity has been in town working with the team and just went back to coach the bowl game.

I would rather them be recruiting better talent than coaching for a meaningless bowl game.

97and03 · December 22

1 hour ago, El Paso Eagle said:

You do realize Cassity has been in town working with the team and just went back to coach the bowl game.

And how would we know that? Glad to hear but first I have heard of this.

El Paso Eagle · December 22

52 minutes ago, Tom McKrackin said:

I would rather them be recruiting better talent than coaching for a meaningless bowl game.

Perhaps this comes as a surprise to you but coaches have been preparing for bowl games and recruiting for many years. Personally have no problem with the defensive staff at Sam Houston staying for the school's first bowl game even though many of them knew they were already coming here.

El Paso Eagle · December 22

46 minutes ago, 97and03 said:

And how would we know that? Glad to hear but first I have heard of this.

I think I saw him start posting recruiting for North Texas a week or so ago on X

meaniegreenie · December 22

2 hours ago, 97and03 said:

And how would we know that? Glad to hear but first I have heard of this.

Maybe this is something Vito could be reporting on. To be fair, I don't subscribe to DRC and I hadn't thought of following him on Twitter. I just checked and he has made some recent posts regarding recruiting (including the latest one below), so maybe he has posted something about this too.

MeanGreen22 · December 22

2 hours ago, 97and03 said:

And how would we know that? Glad to hear but first I have heard of this.

Well it’s not actually the leading story on the 6 o’clock news but if you’ve been paying attention, you can infer Cassity has been around campus a lot.