Denton County Magazine • Mar 23 • MEAN GREEN LEADERS

North Texas president Neal Smatresk punctuated his comments with a one-liner on one of the most unusual days in the history of the school’s athletics program.

On that day late last year, Smatresk introduced not just one but two men moving into new positions in UNT’s athletics department. Jared Mosley bumped up a spot to become the school’s athletic director. Before he officially took over, Mosley helped guide UNT’s search for a football coach that led to Eric Morris.

Smatresk set the stage for Mosley first that day, when UNT folded two introductory press conferences into one extravaganza for Mean Green sports, complete with fans, fanfare and a whole lot of laughs.

“Without question, the tallest AD in Division I,” Smatresk said as he introduced a towering 6-foot-8 Mosley, causing a few chuckles in the Lovelace & McNatt Families Practice Facility.

“Jared knew he is now the tallest AD in the country,” said Morris, who is 5-foot-8. “[He thought] his football head coach has to be the shortest in Division I.

The school has invested millions into its athletics program in the past 15 years, from Apogee Stadium, which opened in 2011, to its indoor practice venue that came online in 2019.

Smatresk, UNT fans, boosters and everyone with an interest in the Mean Green are hoping Mosley and Morris, a couple of Texas natives, can move the school’s programs to new heights.

The chance to run a major college program in Texas was exactly what Morris was looking for in his next stop after a successful run at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio and a year as the offensive coordinator at Washington State University in Pullman.

“A couple of things that were on my checklist were pretty simple,” Morris said. “How close is it to Texas where I want to be and my family wants to be, [and] where we can put roots down and call it home?”

UNT is perfect because it checks those boxes and a few others, including what Morris thinks it takes to build a winning program.

Reaching that goal in Texas would be special for Morris. He grew up in Shallowater, 12 miles northwest of Lubbock, and is the son of a high school basketball coach who taught him the value of hard work.

“He instilled toughness, discipline and accountability,” Morris said. “That is something I appreciate.”

Morris went on to play at Texas Tech for legendary coach Mike Leach, a man he credits with launching his career as a player and coach. Morris was sitting at Leach’s old desk on the Washington State campus when Mosley called to talk to him about the UNT job.

Mosley and Morris have a lot in common. Mosley grew up in Lockney, a town 60 miles north of Lubbock, where his father ran a farm.

Mosley helped tend to the cotton and corn that were the lifeblood of the family business.

“Farming is not for the faint of heart,” Mosley said. “You have to have a little bit of luck with Mother Nature, but what you pull out of the ground is a result of what you put in.”

That lesson carried over to Mosley’s career in sports. He was a standout basketball player in high school and passed on the chance to play at the Division I level to sign with Abilene Christian. Mosley’s father was briefly a student at the school, which competed on the Division II level at the time.

Mosley returned to Abilene Christian after a short career playing overseas, got into the administrative side of athletics at the school, and helped guide it through the transition to Division I. He left college sports to run the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in Waco in 2014.

Former UNT Athletic Director Wren Baker, one of Mosley’s longtime friends, brought Mosley back into college athletics at the school in 2016.

A little more than six years later, Mosley was introduced along with Morris to UNT fans and talked about his big dreams for Mean Green athletics.

“We have an opportunity to continue to elevate our brand as an institution,” Mosley said. “Given all the positives we have as far as location and resources, there is a path for us to compete for championships.”

UNT will move from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference this summer and is counting on Mosley and Morris to help it reach that dream in its new league. Mosley said UNT has some work to do, including expanding its athletic center and investing in other facilities. If UNT does that, Mosley believes there is no limit to what the school can accomplish.

“I feel strongly that we can get it done,” he said. “If we can tackle a handful of things in the next couple of years, we will be positioned in a really strong place for a long time.”