North Texas Mean Green (formerly North Texas Eagles) represents the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

(UNT) in intercollegiate athletics. The teams compete in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA). North Texas competed in the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

and

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

before joining the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

on July 1, 2023. UNT's official school colors are Green and White. North Texas' mascot is an Eagle named Scrappy.

Nickname

The name "Mean Green" was adopted by fans and media in 1966 for a North Texas football defensive squad that finished the season second in the nation against the rush. That school year,

Joe Greene Charles Edward Greene (born September 24, 1946), better known as "Mean" Joe Greene, is an American former professional football defensive tackle who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1969 to 1981. A ...

, then a sophomore at North Texas, played left

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

on the football team and competed in

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

(

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

). There are conflicting accounts for the origin of the nickname. Two possible origins are two separate cheers that supposedly developed during North Texas' 1966 game against

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the University of Texas Syste ...

. One cheer was by Sidney Sue Graham, wife of the North Texas sports information director. In response to a tackle by Greene, she blurted out, "That’s the way, Mean Greene!" However,

Bill Mercer William A. Mercer (February 13, 1926 – March 22, 2025) was an American sportscaster, educator and author. Mercer, a native of Muskogee, Oklahoma, was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2002. He was best known for covering shows f ...

, former North Texas play-by-play announcer, states Graham's thought behind the nickname was the Mean Green defense. Her husband began including the nickname for the team in press releases and it caught on with the media. Meanwhile, in the student section, North Texas basketball players Willie Davis and Ira Daniels, unsatisfied with the unenthusiastic crowd, began to chant "Mean Green, you look so good to me." The rest of the crowd soon followed. "After that we did it every game," Davis says. "A lot of people later on started associating it with Joe because his last name was Greene, but it actually started with that simple chant that Saturday night at

Fouts Field Fouts Field was a stadium at the University of North Texas, located in Denton, Texas. Its primary use from its opening in 1952 until 2010 was as the home field for North Texas Mean Green football. Over its 59-year history, Fouts Field was the c ...

. And that's the truth." By 1968, "Mean Green" was on the back of shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, and the cover of the North Texas football brochure. Even the band became identified as the "Mean Green Marching Machine."

Conference affiliations

NCAA

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the South Central states, with schools in Texas ...

(1931–1949) *

Gulf Coast Conference The Gulf Coast Conference (GCC) was a short-lived National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA college athletic conference composed of universities in the U.S. state of Texas from 1949 until 1957. The charter members of the conference were the U ...

(1949–1957) *

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

(1957–1975) *

Southland Conference The Southland Conference (SLC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it participates in ...

(1982–1996) *

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

(1996–2000) *

(2000–2013) *

(2013–2023) *

(2023–present)

Sports sponsored

A member of the

, North Texas sponsors teams in six men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports.

Baseball

In 1984, the university fielded a varsity baseball team until it was discontinued after the 1988 season because of the newly enacted Title IX requiring an equal number of female players to male players. The team competed as a member of the

. After starting the program's inaugural season with a 0–19 record, the Eagles won their first game against the

Emporia State Hornets The Emporia State Hornets are the athletic teams that represent Emporia State University (ESU). The women's basketball and softball teams use the name Lady Hornets. The university's athletic program fields 15 varsity teams in 11 sports all of ...

, 4–1. The team played their home games at Mack Park in Denton. The university had planned to revive the program and build an on-campus ballpark. The ballpark would have been home field of both the Mean Green, and Denton Outlaws. The program's revival failed to happen and the Denton Outlaws disbanded after the 2007 season. The 2014 UNT fiscal budget included $600,000 in start up costs for reviving the Mean Green baseball program. The university plans to construct a new on campus ballpark within the Mean Green Village. Decade-long accounting errors by the UNT System have led to the baseball program to be placed on hold indefinitely. The earliest the program could have been revived was in time for the 2016 season, dependent on the facilities' construction beginning in early 2015, but that has yet to happen.

Season-by-season results

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Football

Founded in 1913, the Mean Green has won eight

championships, five

championships, two

championships and most recently, four consecutive Sun Belt Conference championships. The team has also appeared in eight

bowl games In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

, winning three, most recently the 2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl. From 1952 until the 2010 season, home football games were played at

. A new 30,850-seat stadium,

DATCU Stadium DATCU Stadium (formerly Apogee Stadium) is a college football stadium located at the north junction of Interstate 35E and Interstate 35W in Denton, Texas. Opened in 2011, it is home to the University of North Texas (UNT) Mean Green football ...

opened for the 2011 season.

Basketball

Since 1973, the school's teams for men's and women's basketball have played their home games in the

Super Pit The UNT Coliseum is a 9,797-seat multi-purpose arena located in Denton, Texas, United States, built in 1973. While the arena's formal name is the UNT Coliseum, the building is more commonly referred to as the Super Pit, a nickname derived fro ...

. For most of its history, the Mean Green have had patches of success, starting in the 1970s when the team received its first ever top-20 ranking under head coach

Bill Blakeley Billy Buie Blakeley (June 13, 1934 – October 27, 2010) was an American basketball coach. He coached at the high school, college, and professional levels. Coaching career High school (1957–1966) Blakeley served as the head basketball coach ...

. Blakeley coached three consecutive 20-win seasons: 1975–76 (22–4); 1976–77 (21–6); 1977–78 (22–6) From 2001 to 2012, the men's team experienced relative success under head coach Johnny Jones. During the 2006–2007 season, North Texas won its first Sun Belt Conference title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1988. North Texas won the Sun Belt Conference title again during the 2009–2010 season to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in four years. Jones left the team for his alma mater

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

in 2012, and his replacement

Tony Benford Tony L. Benford (born March 22, 1964) is an American basketball coach who is an assistant coach of the TCU Horned Frogs men's basketball team. Biography A native of Hobbs, New Mexico — and 1982 graduate of Hobbs High School — Benford playe ...

has struggled to maintain Jones' success in Denton. In 2013, North Texas joined

Men's golf

The men's golf team has won four NCAA Championships in 1949, 1950, 1951, and 1952.

School spirit

The school's colors are Green and White. The music for the ''alma mater'', "

Glory to the Green and White The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

", (originally titled "Our College") was composed by Julia Smith in 1919 and adopted by the school in 1922. The lyrics were written by Charles Langford, then a third-year letterman on the football team. The school's fight song, Fight, North Texas, composed by Francis Stroup, was adopted in 1939. The school mascot is a green and white eagle named Scrappy. The 400-member

Green Brigade Marching Band The Green Brigade Marching Band is the marching band of the University of North Texas in Denton, home of the North Texas Mean Green. The band is open to all university students, but is curricular and integral for music education majors. The Gr ...

performs at every home game, both pregame and halftime, for the crowd.

Facilities

Many of the school's athletic facilities are located at the Mean Green Village, which opened for the 2006–07 athletic season. The athletic village area includes: *

(Football) *

The Super Pit The UNT Coliseum is a 9,797-seat multi-purpose arena located in Denton, Texas, United States, built in 1973. While the arena's formal name is the UNT Coliseum, the building is more commonly referred to as the Super Pit, a nickname derived fro ...

(Men's, women's basketball) * Mean Green Soccer and Track & Field Stadium (Women's Soccer, Track & Field) * Waranch Tennis Complex (Women's Tennis) * Lovelace Stadium (Softball) * North Texas Volleyball Center (Volleyball)

Alumni

Golf
The era of collegiate prominence in Texas golf began with North Texas winning four consecutive NCAA Division I Championships from 1949 to 1952. Intercollegiate golf had until then been dominated by the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

, which—since 1897 when intercollegiate golf began—had won 36 national titles. North Texas students

Don January Donald Ray January (November 20, 1929 – May 7, 2023) was an American professional golfer, best known for winning the 1967 PGA Championship. Early life Born in Plainview, Texas, January graduated from Sunset High School in Dallas. He was a ...

, who later won the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. The PGA is one of the four men's major golf champi ...

, the 1951

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

champion

Billy Maxwell Billy Joe Maxwell (July 23, 1929 – September 20, 2021) was an American professional golfer. Maxwell was born in Abilene, Texas. He played college golf at North Texas State College and helped them win four consecutive NCAA Division I team c ...

, and

Joe Conrad Joseph William Conrad (March 14, 1930 – December 12, 2018) was an American professional golfer. He had a successful amateur career, playing in the 1955 Walker Cup and winning the 1955 Amateur Championship. He turned professional at the end of ...

who was the winner of the 1955

British Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

, the 1953

Trans-Mississippi Amateur The Trans-Mississippi Amateur or Trans-Miss Amateur is an annual amateur golf tournament. It is organized by the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association and was first played in 1901. It is played at a different course each year that is located near or w ...

winner, was the 1953 and 1954

Southern Amateur The Southern Amateur is an amateur golf tournament. It has been played since 1902 and is organized by the Southern Golf Association. From 1902 to 1963, it was played at match play. Since 1964, it has been played at stroke play. In December 2021, t ...

winner, was the 1951 Texas Amateur winner, was the 1950 Mexican Amateur winner, was a member of the 1955

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland featuring players from the United Kingdom and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup ...

U.S. team, was a member of the victorious

Americas Cup (golf) The Americas Cup was a biennial men's team golf tournament between teams of amateurs golfers from the United States, Canada and Mexico. It was held nine times between 1952 and 1967. The United States won all the matches except in 1965 when Canada w ...

team in 1954 and 1956, and is a member of the Texas Golf Hall Of Fame, were all members of the North Texas golf team when they won the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships. Fred Cobb (1899–1954), the coach, launched the team in 1945. years since winning its fourth consecutive

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

, only one other team in the nation— the Houston Cougars—has surpassed four consecutive titles. In the -year history of intercollegiate golf, North Texas is one of only nine with more than one national title. Football
On September 1, 1956,

Abner Haynes Abner Haynes (September 19, 1937 – July 18, 2024) was an American professional football player who was a halfback and return specialist in the American Football League (AFL). He played college football for the North Texas State Eagles and w ...

and his high school classmate Leon A. King (born 1938), became the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

students to participate on the North Texas football team. In the larger picture, Haynes and King were the first to break the color barrier for intercollegiate sports in Texas—seven years before anyone was authorized to break it at a

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

school. Haynes quickly became an offensive and defensive star on the team. Despite his athletic leadership and fan popularity, Haynes experienced painful encounters with

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...

—including not being allowed to live on campus. Perhaps the worst was when

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

, and

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

discontinued scheduling North Texas after 1956, citing state laws. Haynes went on to play with the

Dallas Texans Dallas Texans may refer to: American football *Dallas Texans (NFL), 1952 team in the National Football League *Dallas Texans (AFL), 1960–1962 team that is now the Kansas City Chiefs *Dallas Texans (arena football) The Dallas Texans were an ...

(1960–1963), earning the American Football League MVP in 1961, and continued playing when the team became the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

(1963–1964). Then he played for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

(1965–1966), the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

(1967), and the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

. Haynes is in the Halls of Fame o
North Texas
(1986),

(1991), and Texas Sports (2007). Haynes, who now lives in Denton, is one of a few athletes who was able to play high school, college, and professional football in North Texas.

Mean Joe Greene Charles Edward Greene (born September 24, 1946), better known as "Mean" Joe Greene, is an American former professional football defensive tackle who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1969 to 1981. A ...

, in 1968, was selected as a College Football Consensus All American, the only alumnus in the -year history of football at North Texas to win the honor. He went on to the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

where he anchored the Steel Curtain defense that led Pittsburgh to four

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

titles. In 1976, North Texas inducted Greene as a Distinguished Alumnus, an honor bestowed only to twenty-nine others during the then ten-year history of the award. On August 1, 1983, Governor Mark White appointed Greene to the Board of Regents of North Texas, making him the first African American to serve as a regent of any Texas state university. In 1987, Greene was inducted into the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional football (gridiron), professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, 1963, the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of profes ...

, the only alumnus ever to become a member. In 1988, he was named to the North Texas Hall of Fame.

Championship history

National titles

Golf

* NCAA Division I men's golf: 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952

Men's basketball

College Basketball Invitational The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI sel ...

: 2018 *

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

: 2023

Conference titles

Football

: 1932, 1935*, 1936, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1946, 1947 *

: 1950, 1951, 1952, 1955 *

: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 *

West Division: 2017

Men's basketball

* Southland Tournament: 1988 * Sun Belt Tournament: 2007, 2010 * Sun Belt West Division: 2009–10 *

: 2020 * Conference USA Tournament: 2021 *

West Division: 2022

Women's soccer

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...

: 2001, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012 * Sun Belt Tournament: 2004, 2005, 2012 *

: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 * Conference USA Tournament: 2015, 2018, 2019

Others

: Men's outdoor track and field (18) :

Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (TIAA) was a college sports association that operated from 1909 to 1932. All of its members were located in the US state of Texas. History Founded in 1909 by Southwestern University, Austin Colle ...

:* 1923 :

:* 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1949 :

:* 1967, 1970, 1973, 1974 :

:* 2000, 2002 : Men's cross country (10) :

:* 1932, 1934 :

:* 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1994 :

:* 2000 :

:* 2014, 2018 : Men's golf (30) :

:* 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949 :

:* 1950, 1956 :

:* 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975 :

:* 1984, 1993, 1996 :

:* 1999 :

:* 2003, 2012, 2013 :

:* 2015 : Women's indoor track and field (1) :

:* 2005 : Women's outdoor track and field (3) :

:* 2003, 2012, 2013http://www.meangreensports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=1800&ATCLID=207642361&SPID=572&SPSID=9307 : Women's cross country (1) :

:* 1989 : Women's tennis (4) :

:* 1990 :

:* 2010, 2012, 2013 : Women's golf (3) :

:* 2021, 2022, 2023 : Volleyball (1) :

:* 1995 :

West Division :* 2010*, 2012 :

:* 2017 : Softball (3) :

:* 2019*, 2021, : Conference USA Tournament :*2022

Football postseason

Optimist Bowl The Optimist Bowl was a postseason college football bowl game played in 1946. It was held at Public School Stadium (later known as Robertson Stadium), in Houston. Origins The game was sponsored by the Houston Optimist Club, through agreement rea ...

: 1946 *

Salad Bowl A salad bowl is a bowl-shaped serving dish used to serve salads, especially tossed salads. Materials Salad bowls may be made of any of the usual materials used for tableware, including ceramics, metal, plastic, glass, or wood. Salad bowls ca ...

: 1948 *

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. ...

: 1959 *

New Orleans Bowl The New Orleans Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 2001. It is normally held at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans; when the Superdome and the rest of the city suffered damage due t ...

: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2017 * Heart of Dallas Bowl: 2014, 2016 *

New Mexico Bowl The New Mexico Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 2006 at University Stadium (Albuquerque), University Stadium, on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New M ...

: 2018 * Myrtle Beach Bowl: 2020 * Frisco Football Classic: 2021 *

Frisco Bowl The Frisco Bowl is an annual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctioned post-season Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football bowl game played in Frisco, Texas, since December 2017. The bowl has a tie-in with t ...

: 2022 * First Responders Bowl: 2025

References

External links

* {{authority control