North Texas is set to hire Sam Houston's Skyler Cassity as its next defensive coordinator, sources tell Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. Mean Green head coach Eric Morris fired former defensive coordinator Matt Caponi after the defense ranked 125th in scoring at the FBS level allowing 36.1 points per game. Sam Houston was 21st while allowing 20 points per game in Cassity’s first season as an FBS defensive coordinator. 

Cassity, 30, was the youngest defensive coordinator in the FBS ranks while he held the title at Sam Houston. He helped the Bearkats transform from a 3-9 team in 2023 to a 9-3 team in 2024. His unit was the ninth-best passing defense in the country and in the Top 60 in rush defense. North Texas fielded one of the worst run in America during Morris’ first two seasons on the job. 

Cassity began his coaching career as a grad assistant at Texas State in 2017 and then Texas Tech, where he crossed paths with Morris, for two years after that. He first became a defensive coordinator in 2022 at Abilene Christian before joining the FBS ranks in Huntsville ahead of last season. His father, Mike, was a defensive coordinator at the college level for 22 years. 

North Texas finished the regular 6-6 after a Week 14 victory against Temple. The program started 5-1 in Year 2 of the Morris era before sneaking into the postseason. The hope in Denton is that a competent defense paired with an already explosive offense shoots the Mean Green into AAC contention in 2025.