The name "Mean Green" was adopted by fans and media in 1966 for a North Texas football defensive squad that finished the season second in the nation against the rush.

[2] That school year, Joe Greene,[citation needed] then a sophomore at North Texas, played left defensive tackle on the football team and competed in track and field (shot put).

"[3] However, Bill Mercer, former North Texas play-by-play announcer, states Graham's thought behind the nickname was the Mean Green defense.

Meanwhile, in the student section, North Texas basketball players Willie Davis and Ira Daniels, unsatisfied with the unenthusiastic crowd, began to chant "Mean Green, you look so good to me.

"[3] By 1968, "Mean Green" was on the back of shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, and the cover of the North Texas football brochure.

A member of the American Athletic Conference, North Texas sponsors teams in six men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports.

[8] After starting the program's inaugural season with a 0–19 record, the Eagles won their first game against the Emporia State Hornets, 4–1.

The earliest the program could have been revived was in time for the 2016 season, dependent on the facilities' construction beginning in early 2015,[10] but that has yet to happen.

For most of its history, the Mean Green have had patches of success, starting in the 1970s when the team received its first ever top-20 ranking under head coach Bill Blakeley.

During the 2006–2007 season, North Texas won its first Sun Belt Conference title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1988.

North Texas won the Sun Belt Conference title again during the 2009–2010 season to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in four years.

The music for the alma mater, "Glory to the Green and White", (originally titled "Our College")[14] was composed by Julia Smith in 1919 and adopted by the school in 1922.

Despite his athletic leadership and fan popularity, Haynes experienced painful encounters with Jim Crow—including not being allowed to live on campus.

Haynes, who now lives in Denton, is one of a few athletes who was able to play high school, college, and professional football in North Texas.

In 1976, North Texas inducted Greene as a Distinguished Alumnus, an honor bestowed only to twenty-nine others during the then ten-year history of the award.