With North Texas coming off of the program’s most successful season this century, new head coach Neal Brown is working to assemble a staff that gives the Mean Green a chance to sustain that winning trajectory.

Brown is set to bring multiple members of the Texas Longhorns staff with him to Denton, Texas, after serving as a special assistant to head coach Steve Sarkisian for the past year following Brown’s exit from West Virginia.

He’s also set to reunite with one of his former understudies with the Mountaineers.

Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that Brown is targeting Notre Dame assistant defensive line coach Jevaughn Codlin to join the Mean Green’s defensive staff.

Codlin has versatility coaching on the defensive side of the ball; he’s worked with the secondary and the line along his career journey. At North Texas, sources tell FootballScoop Codlin will coach safeties. 

An “30-under-30” selection by the Our Coaching Network earlier this year, Codlin launched his collegiate coaching career at NCAA Division II program Emporia State just four short seasons ago.

He logged two years with the Mountaineers at West Virginia following that debut campaign and then helped a Notre Dame defense that transitioned from Al Golden in 2024 to Chris Ash as defensive coordinator in 2025.

The Fighting Irish got off to a sluggish start defensively in consecutive losses to Miami and Texas A&M but regrouped the remainder of the campaign. Notre Dame finished 12rd nationally in total defense with less than 313 yards per game allowed; 13th nationally in scoring defense at 17.58 points per game and 11th nationally in run defense at less than 100 ypg.

Notre Dame, with vaunted secondary coach Mike Mickens, also finished tied for tops in the nation with 21 interceptions on the season.

North Texas hired Brown earlier this month to replace the departed Eric Morris, who was hired away by Big 12 Conference resident Oklahoma State.

Morris brought uptempo, highly entertaining offenses to the Mean Green program, culminating in this year’s 11-win regular season and berth in the American Conference Championship game opposite Tulane.

Brown also rose through the ranks as a noted offensive mind. He was offensive coordinator at Troy, Texas Tech and Kentucky before he landed his first head coaching job at the Troy Trojans program.

He then coached atop the West Virginia program for six seasons, winning 15 games across his final two years but the administration parted with him after the 2024 regular season ended at 6-6.