UNT's McCarney no stranger to level of SEC competition

Harry · September 16, 2013

“His team will be well-prepared and you’ll be able to see a great product because he’s going to put a good product on the field, a team that will compete and compete at a high level,” said Louisville coach Charlie Strong, who was defensive coordinator for Florida for two of the seasons McCarney was on staff. “Dan’s been around football a long time. He understands where he’s walking into. He knows he’s going to see an SEC opponent.”

North Texas is 3-33 all-time against SEC teams.

A North Texas team coached by Hayden Fry beat Tennessee 21-14 in 1975. McCarney was on Fry’s staff later at Iowa in 1979 and then worked under Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin.

Those building jobs along with his time at Iowa State prepared him for North Texas, which is 2-1 for the first time since 1994.

The Mean Green showed fight in coming back from a 20-3 deficit to beat Ball State 34-27 on Saturday at home.

“When you have that experience as an assistant, as a coordinator as a head coach, it’s always inside you, a fire burning inside you that it would be fun to do it again,” he said. “We got a chance to go to the top of the mountain as an assistant at Florida with Urban [Meyer] and win a national championship, memories I’ll cherish forever.”

Getting bowl eligible is a big goal for a program at a school with an enrollment of 36,206 that hasn’t gone to the postseason since the 2004 New Orleans Bowl.

“There’s been so many bad years,” McCarney said. “We’re just trying to give our fans hope, make it relevant again, make it exciting, make it fun. We’ve got to put a good product on the field for people to come back and support us. There’s 12 Division I schools in the state of Texas. This university has been a great choice academically all over the state of Texas. It’s been a last resort place to come to in football for a number of years. … Slowly, but surely we’re taking some positive steps.”

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