North Texas is hiring Neal Brown as its head coach, multiple outlets reported Tuesday.
ESPN's Pete Thamel reported Brown will get a 5-year contract to take over the Mean Green. AD Jared Mosley emphasized head coaching experience throughout his search, as North Texas will work to maintain its momentum while its roster fields considerable interest from the transfer portal.
Brown inherits a program in the midst of its best season in school history. The 11-1 Mean Green, ranked No. 20 in both polls, visit CFP No. 24 Tulane on Friday for the American Athletic Conference championship with a presumptive Playoff bid on the line. Outgoing head coach Eric Morris will remain with the team through the end of its pursuit of a conference and national championship.
Brown spent the 2025 season as a special assistant to head coach Steve Sarkisian at Texas after a 6-year run as the head coach at West Virginia. He went 37-35 in Morgantown, peaking with a 9-4 season in 2023.
While at Troy from 2015-18, Brown went 35-16, including a 31-8 run with a conference and division championship and three consecutive bowl wins.
Brown is the third consecutive Mean Green head coach with ties to Texas Tech. Seth Littrell was the Red Raiders' running backs coach from 2005-08, Morris played wide receiver for the program over that same period and served as offensive coordinator wide receivers coach from 2013-17, and Brown was Tech's offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach under Tommy Tuberville from 2010-12. He is the first Mean Green head coach with prior head coaching experience since Dan McCarney, who went 22-32 from 2011-15 after an earlier 12-year run at Iowa State.