North Texas Daily

Two days after losing the season finale to Alabama-Birmingham, North Texas head coach Seth Littrell made the decision to fire first-year offensive coordinator Bodie Reeder and defensive coordinator Troy Reffett, according to reports from The Athletic. The Mean Green finished this season in fifth place in the Conference USA West Division, fourth in total offense and eleventh in total defense.

“It is difficult any time we don’t meet our own expectations as coaches and this was one of those years,” head coach Seth Littrell said.  “I have a lot of respect for [Reffett] and [Reeder] and I’m grateful for their passion for this program and their leadership of our student-athletes. Sometimes a different perspective is needed for the growth of a program, and I feel like this is one of those times.”

Before arriving in the offseason, Reeder had helped helm one of FBS’ more prolific offenses during his stint with Eastern Washington before being hired away. He was tasked with filling a significant role after former offensive coordinator Graham Harrell accepted the same position with Southern California.

North Texas entered its final year with senior quarterback Mason Fine after coming off a 9-4 season where they were the No. 20 ranked scoring offense in the nation. The Mean Green saw that ranking drop to No. 56 this season after producing 5,023 yards of offense under Reeder. They also saw a decrease in stats such as points per game (34.8 to 30.6), total points (452 to 367), touchdowns (57 to 46) and yards per game (460.5 to 418.6).

As for the defense, Reffett joined Littrell’s staff as the co-defensive coordinator in 2016 before he was promoted to defensive coordinator for the 2017-18 season. Last year, he helped establish a defense that was ranked No. 41 in the nation in total defense and fifth in interceptions (18). Similarly to their offensive numbers, their defensive stats dropped this season in yards allowed per game (410.9/374.6), touchdowns allowed (45/38) and offensive yards allowed (4931/4870).

Now that the Fine era has run its course, Littrell looks towards the offseason to replace two hefty coaching positions on top of determining North Texas’ new starting signal-caller.

“The coaches are good people and I understand the fans’ frustration,” said Wren Baker, vice president and athletic director, in an interview with the Daily. “I get to see how hard everybody in this program works every day. There’s a lot that goes into a lot of the sacrifices that coaches make but at the end of the day, there also are expectations and accountability. I think [Seth] Littrell sat down and evaluated things and arrived at the conclusion that we just didn’t perform at the level that we should. He’s a loyal man, he loves his coaches. But he understands that his responsibility is to do what’s best for the program and I think he made some personnel decisions that he thinks will allow us to take a step forward, and that’s part of life.”

Featured Image: UNT football coach Seth Littrell holds up an eagle “claw” following a loss against UAB on Nov. 30, 2019. Photo by Zach Thomas