North Texas fired head coach Dan McCarney on Saturday night. The news was first reported by Brett Vito of the Denton Record-Chronicle.
The firing came immediately after the Mean Green were trounced 66-7 by Portland State on Saturday evening, the largest margin of victory ever posted by an FCS program over an FBS opponent. That it came on Homecoming did not help matters for McCarney.
North Texas stands at 0-5 on the season with Conference USA favorite Western Kentucky coming to town Thursday night.
McCarney, a 12-year head coach at Iowa State from 1995-06, provided a much-needed level of legitimacy following the failed Todd Dodge regime, but he was never able to move the program forward after Dodge's recruits left the program. He guided the Mean Green to a 9-4 mark with a Heart of Dallas Bowl victory in 2013, but won only four of 16 games after that.
USA Today's salary database showed Mac's salary as $720,000. Brett Vito reports that the buyout might wind up costing UNT close to $3 million. From the info we could review, it appears the number will be closer to $2 million; but regardless, that's a big number for UNT.
North Texas joins Illinois among the first FBS programs to officially move on a coaching change for the 2015-16 cycle.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.