UNT softball advances to C

Dec 30, 2023

This is part two of a five part series. If you missed part 1, click here before reading.

When did it go awry for Seth Littrell at North Texas?

It is a question many UNT fans ask themselves and think they can place, but never can pinpoint an exact time. Littrell's Mean Green teams didn't have particularly deep lows like his predecessor Dan McCarney's. Littrell led teams to highs — which were never the highest — and lows, which were never the lowest.

His final record at the helm of UNT reflects that. 44-44 — not terrible, not great, not good, just, even.

Littrell's legacy at North Texas is difficult to judge. The Oklahoman will not be remembered for what he did with the Mean Green, rather what he did not, which makes for a gray area in the team's final years of Conference USA football.

A Fine beginning

At a glance, Littrell's debut season in 2016 was dismissible. A 5-8 record didn't leave much to write home about. Sure, four more wins than 2015 is a start, but nothing too significant.

To truly understand the significance of what could be written off as an average debut to the Littrell era, you must look at the quarterback position. A young man who was ranked a two-star quarterback by 247Sports started nine games on the season for North Texas.

In the small town of Locust Grove, Oklahoma (population 1,375), Mason Fine won back-to-back Gatorade State Player of the Year honors to finish his high school career. What he got for that was zero scholarship offers due to being deemed undersized.

That is until Littrell, a fellow Oklahoman by way of Muskogee, threw the 5-11, 173 pound quarterback a bone. UNT was Fine's only scholarship offer, and he took it.

Fine was the Mean Green's predominant starter in Littrell's debut season. One could say UNT's offense was rush-first, but it did not pass or rush the ball effectively. The adjective stagnant is much more appropriate.

An appearance in the Heart of Dallas Bowl based on academic prowess resulted in a 38-31 overtime loss to Army. Fine finished the season with six passing touchdowns (two rushing) and five interceptions.

No one truly could have predicted what would occur next. From an undersized high school recruit in 2016, Fine would take his first steps to becoming the most prolific quarterback in North Texas program history the next three seasons.

Raising the expectations

The quickest way to endear yourself to a fanbase is winning. In year two of his tenure, Littrell, with the help of offensive coordinator Graham Harrell unleashed a stellar offense.

Led by Fine, the Mean Green passing attack came into its own in 2017. A rocky 1-2 start led to a ferocious 8-1 finish. North Texas was second in C-USA in passing, averaging 291 passing yards-a-game.

On Oct. 14, 2017, Fine moved from rising star to instant program legend. Down 26-22 against UTSA, Fine took the field at the UNT two. After getting to the 20 with two quick passes, Fine unleashed a 49-yard pass as he rolled to his left to Michael Lawrence, who caught the ball in the red zone with 32 seconds remaining.

On a quick slant with 10 seconds remaining, Fine found Rico Bussey Jr, while taking a massive hit. As Bussey streaked to the endzone, Fine looked to make sure his receiver scored, then fell to his stomach in pain.

The legendary moment was forever enshrined as "the drive" to the Mean Green faithful.

While 2017 ended with a C-USA title game loss to Lane Kiffin-led FAU and Troy in the R+L Carrier Bowl, Fine won C-USA Offensive Player of the Year. The sophomore broke the record for touchdowns in a single season with 31 (broken in 2022), passing yards with 4,052 and passing completions with 324.

2018 was a lot like 2017, but without the C-USA title berth. Fine wasn't as great as he was the prior season, but still fantastic. The highlight of the season was an SEC win over Arkansas in which Keegan Brewer faked a fair catch before running a punt back for a touchdown.

Brewer's deke went down as an iconic college football moment and is the most recognizable play from the Littrell era. As for the season, UNT once again won nine games, but fell short in the New Mexico Bowl against Utah State.

An injured Fine missed most of the game as the Mean Green were blown out 52-13, giving Littrell an 0-3 bowl record. The 2019 season was Fine's final in college.

It was not exactly the last hurrah he or Littrell would have hoped for.

A Fin(e)al goodbye

By his senior season, Fine was already the best quarterback in North Texas history.

Another solid season saw the now-fourth year quarterback throw 29 touchdowns for 3,088 yards, finalizing a program record 12,505 passing yards in a career to go along with 93 touchdowns.

Fine and the UNT offense were solid, the defense was abysmal. It is hard to win ball games when the offense averages 30 points a game and the defense surrenders 32.

Limping to a 4-8 record, Fine's career ended in a 26-21 loss to UAB at home on Nov. 30, 2019. As the Fine era ended at North Texas, the world as a whole was about to change drastically.

The COVID-19 year

Many experts doubted whether a football season would be possible or safe in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In what was being slated "the new normal," the Mean Green opened against Houston Christian (formerly Houston Baptist).

Things were different on and off the field. Harrell left for USC after 2019, leaving Mike Bloesch and Tommy Mainord to hold offensive coordinator duties. Fine was also gone, which left two quarterbacks, Austin Aune and Jason Bean, competing for the starting spot. Defensive coordinator Troy Reffett was fired, replaced by Clint Bowen.

In the brief 10-game campaign, Aune nor Bean really got the opportunity to truly shine. Both finished with similar stats, with an identical passing percentage of 54 percent. Aune edged out Bean in passing yards, but Bean beat Aune with 14 passing touchdowns to Aune's 13.

After finishing 4-6, North Texas made the Myrtle Beach Bowl, losing 56-28 to Appalachian State. The bright spot on the team, wide receiver Jaelon Darden finished up his career following the season, entering the NFL Draft.

Looking to advance his career, Bean transferred to Kansas, leaving Aune as the best option at quarterback for the next season. 2021 was not looking promising for the Mean Green.

2021 and crumbling of C-USA

Jace Ruder, a former four-star quarterback from North Carolina, transferred to UNT in the offseason, beat out Aune in fall camp and earned the starting job. Additionally, North Texas fired Bowen and brought in veteran defensive coordinator Phil Bennett, who switched the defense to a 4-2-5.

Unfortunately for the Mean Green, Ruder did not play to expectation. A 1-1 start to the season led to a conference opener in week three at home against UAB. Things came to an impasse for Ruder as he went 6-13 passing with a particularly bad interception.

Ruder was pulled for some of the game for Aune, a precursor to the next game. In that same contest versus the Blazers, defensive lineman Grayson Murphy faked an injury after not getting off the field in time, creating a viral clip for the wrong reasons.

Things appeared to be falling apart for Littrell. The team seemingly lacked discipline, and did not have a true leader.

A bad first quarter in week four at Louisiana Tech led to Ruder being pulled for good in favor of Aune. Two more losses put the Mean Green at 1-5. Right before the team's sixth loss in a row, the American Athletic Conference announced the addition of UNT and five other C-USA schools to the conference in 2023.

After the announcement, North Texas traveled to Rice, won a thrilling overtime game to end the streak, then went on a streak the other direction. Winning four-straight games, the Mean Green set up a matchup with UTSA in the final regular season game of 2021.

Similar to the success Littrell had early, UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor had his Roadrunners rolling in his second season. Coming into Denton 11-0 and ranked No. 22, quarterback Frank Harris and UTSA were stunned by UNT.

Never particularly close, North Texas ran away with a 45-23 win to become bowl eligible and likely save Littrell's job. As had been too familiar to Littrell, however, the Mean Green lost the first — and only — Frisco Football Classic 27-14 to Miami (Ohio).

For Littrell it was once again close, but no cigar.

C-USA, Aune and Littrell's 2022 swan song

Throughout his tenure at quarterback, Aune suffered through heavy scrutiny. Whether his critics were correct or not is up for debate, but what isn't is his 2022 numbers.

For all the talk this story has done about Fine, Aune deserves his day in the sun as well. In his age 29 season, the former minor league baseball player showed he belonged in the conversation of top five quarterbacks in program history.

Aune broke Fine's record of single season passing touchdowns with 33, passed for 3,547 yards and earned third team C-USA honors. For the times Aune was criticized for being inconsistent, it was not his inconsistency which cost the Mean Green.

The team as a whole had an up and down 2022. North Texas was never particularly bad — albeit against SMU and UNLV in weeks one and three — but it did not do more than it needed to. A close revenge loss to UTSA at the Alamodome on Oct. 22 led to a 40-13 drubbing of WKU.

A win over FIU at home, followed by a meaningless loss to UAB set up a possible C-USA title berth clincher against Rice at home. Clinch the Mean Green did, defeating the Owls 21-17 and sealing the deal with KD Davis’ only career interception.

The writing was on the wall for Littrell. Prior to the C-USA title game, athletic director Wren Baker departed to West Virginia — change was coming. It seemed obvious that Littrell had to win the C-USA title for any chance to take his team into a new conference.

He did not.

A valiant effort by Aune and North Texas saw the Roadrunners pull away in the fourth quarter, picking up their second straight and final C-USA title. As for Littrell, he said "I should have been better" after the game. Those words would resonate as the final statement of the Littrell era. He was fired the following day.

Bennett served as the interim for the Frisco Bowl against Boise State. With zero opt outs, a full Mean Green team played the final game of the Littrell and C-USA era. In a tight contest, the Broncos edged out North Texas to win 35-32 on a cold December night.

2022 would be a microcosm of the era as the Mean Green finished 7-7 with a bowl and C-USA title game loss.

Final thoughts

It's interesting to wonder how different UNT would have been under Littrell had it been able to win a bowl or conference title under him. Missed chances defined North Texas football's time in C-USA, and unfortunately for Littrell, he was the man to lead the team in a majority of those years.

The Mean Green's final record as members of C-USA rounded out to be 58-67 overall and 41-38 in conference play. North Texas won a single bowl in seven tries in C-USA, and lost the title game twice in two appearances.

UNT football's time in the conference will be seen as a what could have been era. More often than not, it was almost, but never quite there for the Mean Green.

As the program moves to The American under head coach Eric Morris, it will hope to do what it could not in C-USA — finish the job.