Patrick Daniel McCarney (born July 28, 1953) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

from 1995 to 2006 and the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School, ...

from 2011 to 2015, compiling a career college football coaching record of 78–117.

Playing career

McCarney played football at

Iowa City High School Iowa City High School is a public high school in Iowa City, Iowa and is part of the Iowa City Community School District. The present high school was completed as part of the Public Works Projects started by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to pro ...

, and was an offensive lineman at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

from 1972 to 1974 and was named team captain in 1974.

Coaching career

Iowa

McCarney returned to Iowa as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respo ...

from 1977 to 1978 under

Bob Commings Bob Commings (December 24, 1932 – February 20, 1992) was a college football player and coach at the University of Iowa. He was also a high school football coach for 24 years in the state of Ohio. Early life and playing career Commings was born ...

. When

Hayden Fry John Hayden Fry (February 28, 1929 – December 17, 2019) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 1962 to 1972, North Texas State University—now known ...

arrived at Iowa in 1979, he named McCarney as defensive line coach, a post he held for 10 years—during which Iowa made two appearances in the Rose Bowl.

Wisconsin

McCarney served as the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

under

Barry Alvarez Barry Lee Alvarez (born December 30, 1946) is a former American football coach and athletic director at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He served as the head football coach at Wisconsin for 16 seasons, from 1990 to 2005, compiling a caree ...

from 1990 to 1994.

Iowa State

McCarney served as head coach at

from 1995 to 2006. During that span, McCarney led the Cyclones to five

bowl games In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Division I Fo ...

, tied with Matt Campbell for the most in Iowa State history. The Cyclones had been to only three bowl games in their entire history before his arrival. In their first bowl appearance under McCarney, the 2000 Insight.com Bowl, the Cyclones notched their first bowl win in school history. His 56 wins and 85 losses are both school records. At the time of his resignation in November 2006, he was the longest tenured head football coach in the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

South Florida

In February 2007, McCarney accepted a position as the defensive line coach and assistant head coach at the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

Florida

The next year, McCarney accepted the same position at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

. He coached the defensive line at Florida for two years. During his tenure, the Gators produced NFL draft picks

Carlos Dunlap Carlos Dunlap (born February 28, 1989) is an American football defensive end for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida where he won a National Championship in 2009. He was drafted by ...

and Jermaine Cunningham.

North Texas

In November 2010, McCarney was offered and accepted the position of head coach at the

. At North Texas, McCarney inherited a team that had endured six consecutive losing seasons, and had not won more than three games in any of those seasons. He won five games his first season, and four the next season; then, in 2013, led the Mean Green to their first winning season since 2004. In 2013, McCarney led the Mean Green to its third bowl win, posting a 36–14 win over

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...

in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. McCarney was unable to duplicate his 2013 success in 2014, as the North Texas football team posted a 4-8 record. In October 2015, following a loss to

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decad ...

, McCarney was fired. The loss had dropped the Mean Green to an 0-5 record to open the 2015 season. Despite having an overall losing record at North Texas, McCarney managed some highlights in addition to the school's third of three all-time bowl wins. In 2011, he led the Mean Green to its first win over a

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

opponent with a 24–21 victory against

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. The win was also the school's first at their new stadium,

Apogee Stadium Apogee Stadium is a college football stadium located at the junction of Interstate 35 East and West in Denton, Texas. Opened in 2011, it is home to the University of North Texas (UNT) Mean Green football team, which competes in Conference US ...

, which had opened that year. The 2011 team set a record for home attendance, drawing 113,186 fans to six games. His 2013 bowl winning team's nine wins were the most since 2004. To that point, it was only the fifth nine-win season in North Texas football history. The other nine win seasons occurred in 2004, 1978, 1977, and 1959. As North Texas State University, the Eagles had their only 10 win season in 1947. In 2014, McCarney led North Texas to the most lopsided win in the school's history versus Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex rival SMU, 43–6. To that point, the win was only the fifth by North Texas versus SMU against 28 losses and a tie. On October 10, 2015, McCarney was fired following a 66–7 loss to

Portland State Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...

of the

NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

(FCS). The 59-point margin is the biggest win by an FCS over an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) team since

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

football was divided into subdivisions in 1978.

Head coaching record

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarney, Dan 1953 births Living people Florida Gators football coaches Iowa Hawkeyes football coaches Iowa Hawkeyes football players Iowa State Cyclones football coaches North Texas Mean Green football coaches South Florida Bulls football coaches Wisconsin Badgers football coaches Sportspeople from Iowa City, Iowa Players of American football from Iowa