North Texas moved on from Seth Littrell in 2022 despite reaching the Conference USA championship game because the Mean Green wanted a higher ceiling. They were provided glimpses of it in 2017 and 2018 when they won nine games in consecutive seasons with Mason Fine at quarterback. Littrell could never return the program to those heights, and he was axed after failing to finish over .500 in four straight seasons. 

It was a bold proclamation in Denton. Those two nine-win seasons by Littrell represented half of the nine-win seasons experienced by the Mean Green since Hayden Fry roamed the sideline in 1978. They won nine in 2003 under Darrell Dickey and nine 2013 under Dan McCarney. But the level could never be sustained. They won two games two years after the 2003 success and one game two years after the 2013 season. 

Maybe North Texas could climb the mountain. The program showed no confidence that it could remain there. 

It is often said that college football is only as fun as it is miserable for your rival. As North Texas failed to maintain success from early in the Littrell tenure, rival UTSA was thriving. Jeff Traylor was hired in 2020 and the Roadrunners won CUSA championships in 2021 and 2022. The loss to UTSA in the 2022 CUSA championship game was the final contest in which Littrell was in charge. The Mean Green saw what UTSA was doing and wanted in. So, they went and hired Eric Morris. 

Morris transformed Incarnate Word from FCS doormat and one of the toughest jobs in Texas into a non-FBS power and a hotbed for coaching talent. He recruited Cam Ward to the Cardinals and then headed to Washington State, with Ward in tow, as the offensive coordinator before landing his first head coaching job at the FBS level when North Texas called after the 2022 season. Success wasn’t instant, however. His offenses were great. The Mean Green defense was atrocious. And that resulted in an 11-14 record through two years. 

Morris, who admits that stubbornness is one of the traits he shares with his mentor Mike Leach, didn’t make a change at defensive coordinator after Year 1 despite the unit finishing 131st out of 133 teams in scoring defense. That lack of a decision cost him, as the Mean Green were only marginally better in 2024, finishing 119th nationally. 

Morris might be stubborn, but he isn’t stupid. Fool him once, shame on you. Fool him twice…he can’t be fooled again. Morris rose through the ranks as a young, hot-shot offensive coaching star with beginnings in Lubbock. He found the defensive version of that in Skyler Cassity, who quickly rose through the ranks in the FCS and helped Sam Houston win 10 games last year. 

The early returns were good as the Mean Green started the season 2-0 with wins over Lamar and Western Michigan. The Week 3 home game against Washington State was circled on the calendar all offseason as the true litmus test for Morris’ North Texas. Win this game and Denton, America wakes up. At halftime, they were up 42-3. The final score was 59-10. 

The comeback victory on the road last week against Western Michigan showed a new side of the Mean Green program. It was the type of game that North Texas typically lost in the previous few years. The blowout win over Washington State suggests this can be the new normal. That the ceiling might be raised. That UTSA is no longer the Lone Star State team with a claim as the sole American Conference contender. North Texas is on that plane, too.