North Texas is the best and worst of college football’s new ‘system’
They knew it was coming, and the sun did rise, but there is something very wrong about what is going on at the University of North Texas.
It shouldn’t be like this.
North Texas is both everything that makes college football so irresistibly fun and appealing, while also serving as the worst example of the current model.
The Mean Green’s best football season ever wasn’t even over before the major figures from that team left, or announced their intentions to bounce ASAP; when the season did end, moments after UNT defeated San Diego State to win the New Mexico Bowl, is when the great Denton flood began.
The head coach. The general manager. The quarterback. The running back. The wide receiver. The offensive line. The other receiver. More than 10 recruits. Name the player from UNT’s 12-2 team that contended for a playoff spot, and he likely put his name in the transfer portal with the intention of never coming back.
Wouldn’t be surprised if a few cheerleaders and equipment guys are looking to leave, too.
Five games into the season, UNT knew that former walk-on quarterback Drew Mestemaker would be gone by January; still stings to see the passer that no one else wanted bail to sign a reported two-year $7.5 million contract with Oklahoma State. Who can blame him?
At last count, it was 30 players from UNT who are looking to “move up.” The transfer portal, which opened Jan. 2, closes Jan. 16.
It leaves North Texas athletic director Jared Mosley and the rest of his staff in a position of rebuilding a football team almost like it’s a startup.
“We are in a developmental situation; if there was a time and day when we can regulate [player] movement and not just have unregulated free agency every year, we’d jump for joy,” Mosley told the Star-Telegram. “This isn’t just happening to us. It’s not a problem that is our solely to bear.”
He’s correct. It’s everywhere. Thousands of kids are in the transfer portal looking for greener grass, either in cash, playing time or a sexier stage.
“This model that exists cannot go on forever,” he said. “This is the lone sports organization in the world that is operating without any guardrails around player compensation or player movement.”
When you put it like that, it sounds almost worse than it currently is, which is terrible.
“There has to be change; one thing I appreciate about [Texas Tech booster] Cody Campbell is that he’s trying to make this better for everybody. If he wanted to, he could just do what he’s doing just for Texas Tech,” Mosley said. “Hopefully the NCAA, or federal legislation, can provide some guidelines.”
In 2026, “Guidelines” and “Guardrails” are atop every NCAA member institution’s prayer list.
Without them, it will put every team from Group of Five, as well as some ACC and Big 12 schools, in the position of potentially having to remake the bulk of the top of their depth chart every January. It is possible, and probably sustainable, but a terrible way to do business.
Just weeks after the fun ended, Mosley must convince boosters, donors and fans that 2025 doesn’t have to be a one-off.
“This past season, we had 68 new players. I remind fans and donors that this time last year, no one had heard of [UNT running back] Caleb Hawkins. No one had heard of Drew Mestemaker,” Mosley said. “[Wide receiver] Wyatt Young had done nothing to indicate he was going to do what he did this season.
“A lot of this is trusting talent evaluation, and our coaches, that we can do it again.”
James Madison is doing it.
In 2022 and ‘23, JMU finished a combined 19-5 under coach Curt Cignetti. Those were the program’s first years as a member of the NCAA’s FBS division.
After the ‘23 season, Cignetti accepted the head coaching job at Indiana University, and, because of the then-new lax transfer policy, took more than a dozen of his JMU players with him to Bloomington.
JMU’s football program did not die a quick death. Under coach Bob Chesney in 2024, James Madison finished 9-4. In ‘25, the Dukes finished 12-2 and reached the playoffs.
Chesney is now the head coach at UCLA, and he has recruited JMU’s top running back, Wayne Knight, to follow him to L.A.
Tulane, under coaches Willie Fritz and Jon Sumrall, has followed a similar pattern.
It can be done.
“You’d rather lose people to better opportunities, and you have to try to remain optimistic,” Mosley said. “What drew us to [new football coach] Neal Brown in this coaching cycle is that you have to have people who are adaptive leaders. People who can build a culture and a roster quickly.
“You better be organized. There is no time to waste.”
There is nothing anybody at UNT can do about the way NCAA football currently operates; they can only follow “the rules,” but there is something wrong about this.
This story was originally published January 9, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
