Willie Fritz brings "Field of Dreams" approach toward future in Houston
Houston might not be near the top end of the Big 12 Conference for the 2024 football season, but they're taking steps in the right direction. First-year head coach Willie Fritz has loftier expectations for the Cougars with a "Field of Dreams" approach.
Fritz, who joined ESPNU's live broadcast from Big 12 media days in Las Vegas last week and gave a message of the Cougars’ long-term prospects while emphasizing the urgency needed in his first season at the helm and the team’s second year in a power conference.
"We need to get it going quickly," Fritz said. "I told our guys we don't have three years to build culture, we've gotta do it now. They've gotta trust me, I've gotta trust them. They all started with a clean slate when I came in there, and I've gotta do a good job of putting the guys in the right spots and having them do things that they're capable of doing."
Houston's recent football history has been challenging. The Cougars' 4-8 campaign in 2023 marked their second consecutive four-win season under former head coach Dana Holgorsen, who was fired last November. This also marked their third losing season in five years. Despite these struggles, the Cougars’ 12-2 finish in 2021 is a testament to the program's high potential. With significant facility upgrades on the horizon, Fritz—who has a record of winning national titles at the JUCO level, along with other successful stops in his career.
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The $130 million Memorial Hermann Football Operations Center will be operational next year, which Fritz claims will be "the top facilities for a football program in the state of Texas." He expressed his excitement about the new facilities, emphasizing their importance in recruiting and developing talent.
"I can talk all day on this," Fritz said. "We talk about recruit, retain, develop. Recruit bona fide Division I student-athletes with character. Our president has done an unbelievable job with our school academically. We're a Tier 1 academic institution, we have 48,000 students—and now we have 8,000 students on campus. ... That I think is very unique.
"We have unbelievable facilities. We're finishing a brand-new football operations center, which will be the top facilities for a football program in the state of Texas. It really will be, and we'll have everything right there. We have a great indoor, we have a great outdoor practice facility, a great stadium, so the sky's the limit."
The abundance of football talent in Texas is another advantage for the Cougars. Texas produced 187 NFL players on last year's opening weekend rosters, the most of any state, with Houston contributing the third-most NFL players of any city, according to Josh Criswell. Fritz plans to capitalize on this rich talent pool, having gone heavy on the transfer portal this offseason to reshape the roster. However, he intends to focus more on high school recruiting in the future.
Fritz’s ambitious vision for the Cougars reflects his commitment to building a strong, sustainable program that can compete at the highest levels of college football.