North Texas announced on Thursday that Jai Steadman is no longer an assistant coach with the men’s basketball team and incoming recruit Curtis Muse has not met NCAA eligibility requirements to play for the Mean Green next season.

Steadman spent just one season at UNT.

“I am appreciative of the time that coach Steadman has spent with the program, and I wish him well with his future endeavors,” UNT coach Johnny Jones said in a prepared statement.

Jones declined to comment further when reached on Thursday. Steadman could not be reached.

Steadman came to UNT from McNeese State and also coached at TCU from 2000-01. Steadman chose to resign from TCU after the school reported he was involved in two NCAA rules violations.

One involved providing improper travel to a player. The other involved adding content to an academic paper that a player never turned in for a grade, a charge that was later dropped.

“I am not aware of any issues,” UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal said. “When there is a change in coaching in any of my sports I tell the head coach to make sure that we are following proper procedures.”

Steadman recently interviewed for McNeese State’s opening for a head coach. McNeese later hired Dave Simmons, an assistant at Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La.

Steadman had served as UNT’s recruiting coordinator the past several months and helped the Mean Green land one of their best classes in recent years that included Muse.

The 6-10 forward averaged 7.6 points and 4.8 rebounds a game as a sophomore at Mineral Area (Mo.) Community College.

Muse and his Mineral Area teammate Jonathan Jackson signed with the Mean Green at the same time. Jones said that Jackson is still expected to play for the Mean Green.

“We took a chance on Curtis, hoping that he would be able to meet all of the NCAA requirements to play here,” Jones said. “We were fortunate to win the recruiting battle for him, but were unfortunate in that he won’t be able to be on the floor.”

UNT is expected to be deep in the frontcourt, despite the loss of Muse. Keith Wooden, a 6-9 transfer from Arizona State, is expected to play a significant role along with sophomore Harold Stewart, junior Quincy Williams and sophomore Justin Howerton.

“Fortunately one of the areas we have more depth is in the post position,” Jones said. “With Keith Wooden becoming eligible we shouldn’t lose any production.”

Steadman is the second UNT assistant to leave the staff since the end of last season. Fred Rike departed to become the head coach at Division II Angelo State. Charlie Leonard is entering his sixth year at UNT while Bill Foy is entering his first after replacing Rike.

Jones said he expected to fill Steadman’s position in the next few days.

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