Rick Villarreal has been dreaming of this day ever since he took over as the University of North Texas’ athletic director in 2001.

The goal seemed far off at the time, but Villarreal could see a day when a program just a few years removed from playing in Division I-AA with little to work with in the way of facilities and a crumbling stadium in Fouts Field would have all it needed to be a regional power.

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This architectural rendering shows the University of North Texas’ planned stadium. The public is invited to today’s 11 a.m. groundbreaking ceremony. For more information, visit www.unt.edu/stadium.

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He saw a day when the school would have a new football stadium and a reason to expect that better days are on the way.

In Villarreal’s estimation and those of just about everyone else involved with the program, that day will arrive at 11 a.m. today when the school breaks ground on a new football stadium.

The ceremony that will involve UNT officials and former players will take place in the field adjacent to the Mean Green Athletic Center.

UNT is expected to move into the $78 million venue in time for the beginning of the 2011 season.

“A stadium will not guarantee wins,” Villarreal said. “There are programs out there with great stadiums that don’t win. What I am sure of is that it will help attract a larger number of student athletes. The stadium gives us all the pieces we need to get to be a regional power.”

UNT’s new stadium will replace Fouts Field, which opened in 1952 as a 20,000-seat facility. The venue has deteriorated over the years and put the school’s team at a decided disadvantage when it comes to attracting the type of student athletes who can turn around its struggling program.

UNT won the Sun Belt Conference title and played in the New Orleans Bowl in each season from 2001 to 2004, but hasn’t won more than three games in a season since.

“The facilities that we have now have done wonders for us, but we have lacked in being able to compete as far as the game-day stadium,” UNT head coach Todd Dodge said. “That is really important to players. They want to see where they are going to play and they want it to have a great atmosphere, and I don’t blame them. That’s what we want as coaches as well. This will help us tremendously.”

Southern Methodist University opened Ford Stadium in the fall of 2000, while three-time defending Sun Belt champion Troy University completed an $18 million expansion of Movie Gallery Stadium in 2003.

“That tower has helped us a lot from a recruiting perspective,” Troy coach Larry Blakeney said. “It has helped us more than what we have done on the field sometimes.”

UNT will soon be on par when it comes to what it has to work with when compared to its rivals in the Sun Belt and the Dallas area, and in a lot of cases will have even more to sell to recruits.

UNT President Gretchen Bataille said the new stadium would bolster the program.

“There’s hope now; before, no one would believe it,” Bataille said. “Now we’re moving through the steps and we’re on schedule for completion.”

The process was time-consuming, because the student and community support was needed, she said.

But the vision of the future of UNT football won over and $5 million in private donations has already been raised, she said.

“It’s important and it does restore faith for alums, and it’s going to allow the university to attract players for a Division I athletics program,” Bataille said. “It will unite the university.”

The Mean Green’s coaches and players believe beginning construction of a new stadium will help the program improve quickly.

“There is no doubt that the new stadium will help us in recruiting,” said UNT quarterback Riley Dodge, one of the highest-rated recruits to sign with the Mean Green in recent years. “I remember when I was being recruited. Stadiums are a big part of what guys look for.”

UNT has gradually added to what its football program has to work with under Villarreal, from the addition of the Mean Green Athletic Center and the Darrell R. Dickey Practice Facility to the addition of support staff.

The next, most important piece of the puzzle is the stadium, by far the largest project the UNT athletic department has undertaken.

“We are committed,” Villar­real said. “You don’t build the facilities we have already built and you don’t go and build the kind of facilities we are getting ready to build to be an average or non-winning football team. I have talked with our president [Bataille] and we are committed to building programs across the board that are highly competitive, and football is no different.”

The road to get to that point has been a trying one at times for Villarreal and everyone involved in the project.

UNT asked its student body to approve an athletic fee of $10 per semester credit hour and had to wait through a contentious campaign before students voted 2,829-2,038 in favor of the measure.

The cost of the stadium also rose throughout the process.

“There were very few days I didn’t go to sleep or wake up worrying about where this project was,” Villarreal said. “Last October, it became a little clearer when the students stepped forward for us. I can’t say enough about how pivotal they were in making this project a reality, but there were still a lot of obstacles to overcome. It’s a big sigh of relief to get to this point, but there is still a lot in front of us.”

UNT officials believe the stadium will change not only the fortunes of the football program, but also the perception of the university to the outside world by serving as a physical gateway to the campus and a conduit to other university programs.

“This was the missing piece to our university,” Bataille said. “It’s already a great university … but people have to know what we’re doing, and the stadium is just a piece of the picture.”

Staff writer Candace Carlisle contributed to this report.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.