How UNT’s Seth Littrell nearly didn’t get the job over a TCU assistant who is now at Kansas

All of these great moments currently being collected at North Texas exist because the school narrowly did not choose a coach who would be pushed out at TCU and is now at Kansas.

In the fall of 2015, the North Texas coaching position was vacant, again, and the preference of the athletic director to fill the job was then-TCU co-offensive coordinator Doug Meacham. The UNT President wanted Seth Littrell of North Carolina.

“I’m not going to throw (former UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal) under the bus on this because he wasn’t opposed to it,” UNT President Neal Smatresk said in a phone interview. “TCU was on fire then, and still is. I don’t think that would have been a bad decision, but I do think this was a better decision. This was a decision that arose after a conversation and a consensus pick. Did I push it? Yes. I did.”

We are in mid September 2018, and college football’s It Boy is UNT’s Seth Littrell. We are in mid September and the only undefeated major college football team in Texas is not Texas but North Texas.

We all saw this coming.

UNT is 3-0 after its 44-17 win at Arkansas, which included the greatest punt return in the history of football (BTW: ESPN is reporting that the NCAA is considering changing the rules that make such a brilliantly executed fake punt return illegal).

The last time UNT defeated an SEC team was 1975. And the last time UNT began a season 3-0 was 1989.

Exactly none of this may have happened had Smatresk not stepped in and “convinced” his athletic director to go with Littrell.

The Mean Green are enjoying the type of national attention, love and affection the school desired when it committed to athletics and invested serious cash when it spent $78 million to build Apogee Stadium.

Villarreal has been gone for two years from UNT, but his hope and vision he wanted for the place are happening.

“Finally,” Smatresk said. “It exceeds all expectations because you don’t realize the feelings of relief you have when a plan comes together. I mean, literally. What’s one of the greatest challenges for college presidents: How is enrollment, are donors happy, and how are your athletic teams doing?”

Villarreal, who worked for TCU in the ‘90s, wanted to model his department, and path, taken by TCU. He wanted a young coach who would build a program that could rise up and knock off a Power 5 team, and become a threat to win a league title, and be taken seriously nationwide.

The ultimate goal, as shared by so many schools not in a Power 5 league, was to be invited to one. The same thing is going on at the University of Houston, SMU, Memphis, etc.

During the ‘15 season, the plan was still stuck and Villarreal fired coach Dan McCarney.

After an extensive search, Villarreal narrowed his choices down to Meacham and Littrell.

Villarreal preferred Meacham, whose offenses had been wildly successful at TCU with quarterback Trevone Boykin and receiver Josh Doctson.

Smatresk preferred Littrell, who had been an offensive coordinator at North Carolina for two years under Larry Fedora.

Smatresk won out, and the school named Littrell its new head coach on Dec. 5, 2015.

In the last two years, Littrell’s name has become the most attractive among non Power 5 jobs. UNT is 12-5 since the start of last season, and is now actually receiving votes in the AP Top 25 poll.

“You hire a head coach and you hold your breath,” Smatresk said. “How lucky are we that we got Seth Littrell? We thought we did the right thing when we hired him, but he’s proved it every day. This is what you build for. You wait to get this moment, and we are rising academically and athletically. I couldn’t ask for a better time to be president of the university.”

What of Meacham? His relationship as co-offensive coordinator under Gary Patterson at TCU soured, and he left after the ‘16 season. He became the offensive coordinator at Kansas.

Villarreal, who had been with the school for 16 years but had grown to be the focus of intense criticism among high ranking boosters and administrators, resigned in May 2016.

Now Smatresk’s goal is to do everything he can to keep Littrell from leaving just yet.

When Tom Herman was college football’s calendar model at Houston in 2016, the school offered him everything possible to remain. What it could not offer was that it wasn’t the University of Texas, or another Power 5 job.

The hot coach in the non Power 5 league will always be the subject of speculation; seldom do they never leave to pursue their ambitions.

“It’s a good problem to have so you hope for the best but plan for the worst, realistically,” Smatresk said. “We have done a lot and we will continue to do well. We want to make (Littrell) happy enough that it will take his dream job (to leave).”

Littrell will one day leave. But, as of this moment, both he, Samtresk and anyone associated with North Texas are finally livin’ the dream.

This story was originally published September 18, 2018 at 10:23 AM.