Denton, Texas – The University of North Texas System Board of Regents today formally approved the selection of V. Lane Rawlins as the 15th president of its flagship institution, UNT. Rawlins was named the sole finalist for the position by the board on Nov. 12.
Rawlins, the former president of Washington State University and the University of Memphis, has been serving a one-year appointment as UNT’s president since May.
In addition, the regents approved the hiring of Dan McCarney as UNT’s 18th head football coach. McCarney, 57, has more than 30 years of college coaching experience, including 12 years as a head coach at Iowa State University. He comes to UNT after serving as the assistant head coach at the University of Florida, where he has been since 2008.
 
Background on V. Lane Rawlins
During the past year, Rawlins has worked to streamline UNT administratively, developing methods to improve shared decision-making and university community participation as well as creating a planning committee to combine the university’s overall and research strategic plans into a single consolidated strategic plan to serve as a roadmap for the university’s future.
UNT’s aspirations are similar to those of Washington State during Rawlins’ 2000-2007 presidency, where he guided strategic planning that resulted in WSU’s substantial progress in education and research. Rawlins’ administration advanced the critical connection between outstanding undergraduate education and world-class research, and strengthened WSU's image and reputation as one of the nation's leading public research universities.
Following his retirement from the WSU presidency, Rawlins served from 2007 to 2009 as the interim director of the William D. Ruckelshaus Center for Conflict Resolution, a regional program of WSU and the University of Washington. Rawlins served as president of the University of Memphis from 1991 to 2000. He also served as the University of Alabama System's vice chancellor for academic affairs, and WSU's vice provost and department chair in economics.
 
Background on Dan McCarney
McCarney began his coaching career at the University of Iowa, where he was an assistant for 11 years under legendary former UNT head coach Hayden Fry. He continued his career as the defensive coordinator at the University of Wisconsin under Barry Alvarez, who will join Fry in the College Football Hall of Fame later this year.
McCarney has a long history of helping to rebuild programs and brings a highly-respected reputation as an engineer of top-ranked defenses. In his 11 years at Iowa, the Hawkeyes went to eight bowl games. At Wisconsin, McCarney helped turn a team that had won 10 games in five years into a Big 10 Conference champion.
After taking over as head coach at Iowa State in 1995, McCarney led Iowa State to five bowl games from 2000-05 and was named the Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year in 2004 when his team earned a Big 12 North co-championship.
Since 2008, McCarney helped guide the University of Florida to two Southeastern Conference Championship games and three bowl appearances. His 2008 Florida team finished with a 13-1 record and won the BCS National Championship behind a defense that ranked fourth in the nation in scoring defense and ninth nationally in total defense.