Mac Engel talked with UNT President Smastresk about the hire. The juicy bit was this part:
“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.”
It sheds a bit of light on the 2015 coaching search drama that transpired with the Fort Worth Star Telegram’s Mendez and the DRC’s Vito citing different sources, and having conflicting reports.
Doug Meacham has helped a struggling Kansas program slowly play their way out of the cellar, while Littrell has been everything North Texas fans could have wanted.
The other interesting thing is remembering the names that were apparently considered or offered: Lincoln Riley (who apparently approached North Texas??), Kendall Briles, and Mike Norvell. All three have had success in the interim time. Riley famously at Oklahoma, Briles with FAU and now back at Houston, and Norvell with Memphis.
