North Texas AD Rick Villarreal stepping down after 16 years

May 23, 2016 - 6:36 PM DENTON, Texas (AP) North Texas athletic director Rick Villarreal is stepping down after 16 years on the job.

Villarreal said Monday the resignation was a ''mutual agreement'' with school President Neal Smatresk, who plans to name an interim athletic director before deciding how to proceed with a search for a permanent replacement.

The tenure under Villarreal included a decision that backfired when he hired football coach Todd Dodge straight out of high school for the 2007 season. It was the first such move at an upper-division school since Notre Dame with Gerry Faust in 1981. Dodge went 6-37 in 3 1/2 seasons.

North Texas built a new football stadium on Villarreal's watch. He hired men's basketball coach Johnny Jones, who stayed 11 seasons through 2012 and went to the NCAA Tournament twice.