North Texas athletic director Rick Villarreal expressed confidence Thursday in the direction of the school’s football program that is stuck in the middle of a historic slide under second-year head coach Todd Dodge.

Rick Villarreal

UNT is 0-4 on the season and 2-14 under Dodge heading into its Sun Belt Conference opener on Saturday at home against Florida International. The Mean Green is in its midst of its longest stretch in school history with just two wins under a single head coach, and took another blow Wednesday when its second-leading receiver, Sam Dibrell, quit the team.

Dodge took over a team that finished 5-18 in its final two seasons under former head coach Darrell Dickey before the 2007 campaign.

“The hole that we are in today wasn’t created last week or last year,” Villarreal said. “We knew the depth of the hole when we hired coach Dodge. Did we expect that we would be this far in a spiral? No. But on the other hand, did we think that there were going to have to be a lot of things done and changed to get to where we need to go? Yes.”

UNT hit what it hopes is bottom last week when it lost to Rice 77-20 in a rare showdown with a Texas rival. The game was only the Mean Green’s 12th against an in-state opponent in the last nine years.

The 77 points UNT allowed was the second highest total in school history and extended the team’s struggles defensively. The Mean Green ranks last nationally in scoring defense with an average of 54.8 points a game and narrowly avoided surpassing the school record for points allowed in a game set in a 79-10 loss to Oklahoma in the team’s first game under Dodge last season.

Todd Dodge

Dodge said he told his players following the loss to Rice not to come to a meeting Tuesday morning unless they were ready to buy into the direction he is trying to take the program.

Dodge said his team responded to the challenge by arriving ready to try and turn the program around.

“It was a start for them to show up,” Dodge said. “We will see when we get out on the practice field and get into some adversity again if they are buying in.”

Dibrell quit the team later in the day due to a lack of desire to continue playing college football at UNT, according to Dodge.

UNT has lost several recruits that have signed during both the tenures of Dickey and Dodge over the last few months. Wide receiver Marcus King and defensive back Greg Garden quit the team during fall practice. Wide receiver Evan Fentriss left the team due to injury, while linebacker Justin Padron left due to complications of diabetes, although he later walked on at SMU.

Quarterback Giovanni Vizza, a high school teammate of Dibrell, dispelled rumors that he was considering transferring Thursday, saying that he is committed to the program long-term.

“Young people make decisions for whatever reason,” Villarreal said. “I don’t think that is an indictment of our team and our coaching staff. You have to go the full length to fix all the problems and not go halfway if you are going to get to where you need to be over the long haul. We don’t need to fix it this month and then have to worry about fixing it again next month.”

UNT officials believe they are on track to fix those issues and become more competitive on a national level. The school has announced plans to build a new stadium to replace Fouts Field, and Villarreal has said he believes he has the right head coach in place.

“We are going to take a positive outlook,” Villarreal said. “We are in no way happy with what has happened in the first four games, but I knew there were going to be bumps and bruises when we made the [coaching] change. It’s one of those things that I have to help coach Dodge work through.”

Villarreal pointed out that several top programs nationally have gone through down cycles in the last several years, including Notre Dame. He was part of one down year with TCU in 1997 when the Horned Frogs finished 1-10.

UNT has a particularly young team this season that the coaching staff is hoping will develop over time.

“When I was at TCU, we were 1-10 and won the last game of the year against SMU,” Villarreal said. “The reason we won that game is that we hung together. Some of the players on that team ended up playing in bowl games.”

UNT is hoping its game against FIU on Saturday will be the beginning of a similar turnaround.

“I have been around teams that are 1-10 and it is not fun,” Villarreal said. “It’s not fun for players or coaches. Everyone wants to start pointing fingers. I don’t see that happening at all on our football team. They are looking for that one thing that gives them confidence, the one thing that will help move them down the road.”

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