University of North Texas Athletics
McCarney Adds Three More to Staff
12/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
DENTON, Texas - University of North Texas head football coach Dan McCarney has added three more assistants to his football staff, he announced today. Kent Riddle will coordinate special teams as well as coach tight ends while Justin Frye will coach the offensive line and Mike Nelson has been retained as defensive line coach.
Riddle has been a successful special teams coach for over 10 years at three different schools. He spent the last five years at Colorado, where several of his special teams units ranked in the top 25 nationally. In 2007, Colorado was one of just six teams in the nation to rank in the top half of all five special teams categories. Riddle spent five years as an assistant at Boise State where he made his mark as a developer of outstanding special teams. In each of his last three years with the Broncos, his kickoff and punt return teams ranked in the top 25 nationally. Riddle is credited with designing the fake punt play that Boise State used to lead the Broncos in a game-winning, fourth-quarter touchdown drive against TCU in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl. He was also an assistant at Army from 1995-2000, including the last two as a special teams coach.
"I have known Kent for 30 years and he is a high-character, classy recruiter and coach," McCarney said. "His special teams units have always been outstanding and he will lead all phases of our kick game at North Texas. We will dedicate a great deal of attention to special teams and it must make a difference for us to be successful. Kent will help us accomplish those goals."
Frye worked with McCarney for two seasons at Florida, serving as an offensive line graduate assistant. His 2009 offensive line led the Southeastern Conference in rushing and total offense and was second in scoring offense. He helped tutor Maurkice Pouncey in 2009 when Pouncey won the Rimington Award - which is given annually to college football's most outstanding center. Frye was also a graduate assistant at Indiana for two seasons before joining the Florida staff. He was a 2006 team captain as an offensive lineman at Indiana, where he holds the school record for consecutive starts with 45.
"I had over 100 applicants for the offensive line job at North Texas and Justin was my top choice," McCarney said. "He made a major contribution on a daily basis to the Florida offensive line and he will bring a tough, tenacious attitude to North Texas."
Nelson has been on the North Texas staff for two years as the Mean Green defensive line coach. He was with McCarney at Iowa State from 1997-2006, helping turn that program from the bottom of the Big 12 Conference to a perennial bowl team. His front four helped North Texas rank third in Sun Belt Conference games in rushing defense this season.
"Mike spent several years with me at Iowa State where we turned a bottom 10 defense into a top 25 defense," McCarney said. "We expect our defensive line to be physical and be playmakers and Nellie will get them there with fundamentals, technique and effort."
