Dan McCarney has been fired as North Texas coach, the school announced an hour after a disappointing, blowout loss to an FCS program that continued a spiraling season.

The Mean Green lost their homecoming game to Portland State 66-7 on Saturday, falling to 0-5.

"This is a really tough decision, but after a complete evaluation of the University of North Texas football program, we have decided to make a change at head coach," athletic director Rick Villarreal said in a statement. "I will always cherish my relationship with coach McCarney and he's done nothing but great things for us in his time here, but we felt like this was the best thing we needed to do for the program moving forward."

Offensive coordinator Mike Canales and defensive coordinator Chris Cosh will be co-interim head coaches, a source told ESPN's Brett McMurphy.

Dan McCarney is 78-117 in his coaching career at Iowa State and North Texas. Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports

McCarney was 22-32 with North Texas. His best year with the Mean Green came in 2013, when they went 9-4 and won the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

He was head coach at Iowa State for 12 seasons, leading the Cyclones to five bowl appearances. He was let go after the 2006 season and spent three seasons as an assistant for Urban Meyer at Florida from 2008 to 2010.

"The people here at North Texas are great, we couldn't be have been embraced or supported any better during my time here," McCarney said in a statement.

Portland State's victory was its second over an FBS program this season. The Vikings opened the year with a 24-17 win over Washington State. No FCS team had won two games against FBS competition since 2001.

The Associated Press and ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.