DENTON -- North Texas offensive coordinator Graham Harrell stepped into a difficult situation two years ago. The Mean Green were fresh off a 1-win season, and averaged a paltry 15.2 points per game.

Things changed quickly at Apogee Stadium. Harrell helped lead UNT to a program-best 9 wins last season. The offense exploded to 35.5 points per game in 2017, and star quarterback Mason Fine grew into one of the best in college football.

Harrell sat down for an exclusive interview with Dave Campbell’s Texas Football to dish on Fine, dealing with heightened expectations in Denton and more.

Two years ago, North Texas lost 66-7 to an FCS team. Now, the program is considered a top conference title contender. What changed?

Graham Harrell: “The culture, I think, more than anything. Coach Littrell has as much to do with that as anyone. He came in and set a standard and if you don’t meet it, there’ll be consequences. You have to act right on the field, act the right way in the classroom, act the right way in the community. If you don’t, you’re not going to be around, or there’ll be consequences. The kids bought into his message and the entire culture changed.

We also got fortunate and signed a lot of really good people. That’s one thing Coach Littrell said is we’re going to have to change the culture, but the best way to do that is recruit kids who fit your culture. So guys like Mason [Fine] and a lot of the guys that we signed bought into the message, but also came in with the right message. We needed people who wanted to work hard and wanted to be held to a high standard. When they didn’t meet the standard, they wanted consequences. As Coach Littrell held people accountable, the culture slowly began to change and the guys bought in.

It’s not like we’re the most talented team in the world but our guys do things right, and that’s kind of what we believe. Xs and Os are only going to take you so far, but as long as you’re sound, it has a lot more to do with doing things right than it does with your scheme. So that’s what we’ve preached to our guys is that character is going to change things more than anything else.”

You learned offense under Mike Leach at Texas Tech. What did you learn from Leach and what have you added to your system on top of his air raid concepts?

GH: “Well we run the ball a little more than Coach Leach did. Coach Leach is one of a kind. He’s a great coach and does a lot of great things. So we’ve added a little running game. The passing game is almost exclusively what Leach taught us and we’ve added sets to do it out of just to give a couple different looks.”

What makes quarterback Mason Fine so good in this offense?

GH: “Mason Fine would be good in any offense. Just the way he carries himself, the way he works everyday, the way he approaches practice every day, the way he approaches life every day. He wants to be held to a high standard because he knows that how he’s going to be the best he can.

I can coach him hard and he responds to it. His attention to detail, his drive to be the best he can be, he’s a special person and he’s going to be successful at whatever he does because of the way he carries himself every single day. “

For the first time in years at UNT, there’s outside expectations. How is the coaching staff dealing with that?

GH: “We try to block out the outside noise. It’s hard to do, especially with social media and everything. That’s what we try to tell our guys; two years ago the guys who told you you’re gonna win a million games told you that you’re not gonna win any. If you listen to them, we’re all going to be in trouble.

We try to block it out but it’s hard to. Mason and I had a conversation just the other day about, for the first time ever, there’s outside expectations on this team. That’s a lot of pressure, but we gotta carry ourselves the same way that we did when there were no expectations on us and hold ourselves to a high standard and not play tight. That’s the biggest thing is that people will start tightening up and playing with pressure and it’ll steal the joy from the game.

I talked about that with Mason the other day, we can’t let outside pressure or expectations take the fun out of the game. We play because it’s fun, and when it’s fun you’re going to be better. Don’t let outside expectations take the fun out of football. Do what we’ve done the last two years and the wins, the losses and the results will take care of themselves.”

Your father, Sam, was forced to retire after dealing with multiple sclerosis. Now, he’s back on the field at Ennis after receiving an experimental treatment. How special is it to see him back doing what he loves?

GH: “That’s a special deal and it’s been a miracle for him and for our whole family. He went through some tough times...To see the miracle that’s happened in his life and that he’s back in coaching and especially that he’s back in Ennis, it’s probably a dream come true for him and it’s awesome for all of us.”