UNT will never be the same after a transformative school year, but will it be better?

UNT was fresh off a year that saw its men’s basketball team win the Conference USA West Division title. A move to the American Athletic Conference loomed following one last trip through UNT’s conference home for the last decade.

That final school year in C-USA came to an end just a few days ago when KeAyla Dove earned second-team All-America honors in the shot put at the national outdoor track meet.

What transpired between that promising beginning and memorable end was one of the wilder school years in UNT history.

UNT lost its athletic director when Wren Baker left for West Virginia; fired Seth Littrell after he led the school’s football team to a sixth bowl game in seven years; won the National Invitation Tournament; and then lost Grant McCasland, the coach who led the Mean Green basketball team to the title, to Texas Tech.

And that’s just for starters when it comes to the consequential moves that reshaped the program.

None were bigger than UNT turning to Jared Mosley to run its program. Baker’s longtime right-hand man immediately cast a hopeful tone while also being realistic about the challenges the program faces when he was introduced as UNT’s new athletic director halfway through the year.

“Our transition to the American Athletic Conference is exciting,” Mosley said during his introductory press conference. “The platform we will have to continue to build our brand nationally and create a championship culture will be our greatest focus.”

UNT took strides toward that goal by reaching a series of competitive milestones. Mosley and his staff also made a series of difficult decisions they believe will better position the school’s programs to succeed in the future.

UNT parted ways with women’s basketball coach Jalie Mitchell, tennis coach Sujay Lama and men’s golf coach Brad Stracke. Mosley has since hired Jason Burton to guide UNT’s women’s basketball team, Luke Calcatera to coach its men’s golf team and Amanda Stone as its new tennis coach.

There is one certainty: UNT athletics is going to look a whole lot different when the school kicks off 2023-24 than it did a year ago.

Whether or not UNT will be better is a question that will linger for the next few weeks as the Mean Green prepare for the beginning of the fall sports season.

Morris was around for the last half of the school year after being hired in December and was optimistic following spring practice.

“Everyone bought in,” Morris said. “I’m happy with our coaches. The culture is getting better day in and day out. It’s exciting to see the guys buy in.”

UNT will find out this fall if what transpired in the spring will translate to building on its run of bowl game appearances and taking the next step of winning one or a conference title.

The last two games of the season were heartbreakers that prevented UNT from reaching that goal.

The Mean Green lost to rival UTSA 48-27 in the C-USA title game and then fell to Boise State 35-32 in the Frisco Bowl. Phil Bennett served as the Mean Green’s interim coach in the bowl game after Littrell was fired.

The sting of its loss to the Broncos that left UNT still looking for its first bowl win since the 2013 season faded a few weeks later after the highlight of the year. The Mean Green fell to UAB in the C-USA men’s basketball tournament and landed in the NIT. UNT quickly regrouped and ran off five straight wins in the event, including a 68-61 win over UAB in the final.

Beating the Blazers in the rematch was particularly sweet for UNT.

The Mean Green also won their third straight C-USA title in women’s golf.

The excitement those titles provided was offset to an extent by the number of key players UNT lost to transfer who helped make them possible.

Tylor Perry transferred to Kansas State after being named C-USA’s Player of the Year and the Most Outstanding Player of the NIT.

A host of players who filled key roles for the UNT football team on its way to the C-USA title game and a bowl berth also transferred, including tight ends Jake Roberts and Var’Keyes Gumms as well as wide receiver Jyaire Shorter and linebacker Larry Nixon III.

If there were any questions as to how talented those players are, where they landed answered them. Shorter and Nixon ended up at Auburn, Gumms is headed to Arkansas and Roberts joined Baylor. Defensive end Cam Robertson transferred to rival SMU, which was a particularly painful twist for UNT.

Quincy Noble, the top player from the UNT women’s basketball team, transferred to Oklahoma State.

The big question for UNT coming out of the school year is how the school’s programs are positioned for next season after switching coaches or losing key players. Several of UNT’s teams are facing both obstacles following a time of change for the school’s athletics program.

UNT’s men’s basketball team is positioned better than most due to its history of success and the return of a few key players.

The Mean Green rolled off six straight winning seasons under McCasland, including a memorable finale that included their NIT title. Aaron Scott and Rubin Jones both played key roles last season, are set to return and will play for Ross Hodge, who was promoted to replace McCasland.

UNT’s NIT run was the pinnacle of a memorable year for the Mean Green in 2022-23. It started with high hopes, included the departures of a few long-time coaches and ended with Dove’s 10th-place finish in the national track meet.

The way it all unfolded gave UNT’s athletes, coaches and administrators hope for the future.

“You have to believe that you can be a champion before you are actually a champion,” Hodge said when he was introduced as UNT’s new men’s basketball coach. “That is the blessing with this group that we are returning.

“We are not going to have to convince them that they can be champions. They are champions.”

Their milestone moment in the NIT gives UNT momentum, and something to shoot for, now that another year in Mean Green athletics has wrapped up.