Willie Fritz

Willie Fritz is the head football coach at the University of Houston. Fritz has earned respect every step of the way while working his way through the head coaching ranks. He orchestrated a major turnaround as the head coach at Tulane from 2016-2023. The Green Wave had two bowl wins under Fritz's watch, but took things to another level in 2022, winning the American Athlete Conference. They finished 12-2 overall with a win over USC and a final ranking of #9. Fritz won the first of back-to-back AAC Coach of the Year awards and several national Coach of the Year Awards. Tulane also had an 11-win regular season in 2023 and earned a spot in the AAC title game.

Before arriving in New Orleans, Fritz previously was the head man at Georgia Southern for two seasons. Each year, he won at least eight games and was the 2014 Sun Belt Coach of the Year. Prior to getting the chance in Division 1 football, Fritz was the head coach at Sam Houston State for four seasons. He led the Bearkats to the FCS playoffs on three occasions and to two championships games. Fritz had his longest stay as a head coachat the Division II level with Central MIssouri. In 13 seasons, his teams had just two losing records. Fritz originally proved himself as a head coach at Blinn Junior College, where he won two NJCAA National Championships. He went 39-5-1 during his time at Blinn and is a member of the NJCAA Hall of Fame. Fritz began his coaching career in 1982 as a student assistant at his alma mater, Pittsburg State. He then coached on the high school level and had stints as an assistant at Sam Houston State and Coffeyville Community College.