Willie Fritz: The Sky is the Limit at Houston | CFB | Houston Cougars

3 2 1 Houston football coach Willie Fritz with us 365 Sports in Vegas Big 12 media days let's start with life the city of Houston was hammered and continues to have a lot of problems with the hurricane that that blew through you guys were there during that time uh it seemed like there's still a lot of work to be done yeah it was a lot uh more devastating than we thought it was going to be at least me I I lived in New Orleans the last eight years and we had something like that pop up about every four months it seemed like but uh you know the work crews are out they've done a great job of restoring power I think we're you know I've got four different houses with my kids and my wife and I I think we longest anybody was out of power was maybe 20 hours so they've done a great job of of getting after it glad you're here glad you made it you bet coach uh here you are Las Vegas Big 12 media days it's been I mean you you've coached for a long time what is this stage like you know it's a little different in My First Media day at uh the library at uh Nao Community College of course can seriously was when you made when you said that I started thinking where was the first place that I had a media day it was at cors the Nao Library Central location for everybody but yeah it's been really neat I think uh it was a great idea by the conference commissioner to have it here I'm sure none of you are complaining about it no and uh it's there's a lot of things to do here uh in town I went to the Mob Museum yesterday oh it was awesome did you go okay we love it we went last night just to the Speak Easy cuz we were here in February and the Speak Easy except last night has a bartender that will like make you old fashioned drinks and give you a history lesson about it it we love the it's great you know that was it was a lot of fun and uh I wanted to walk around but it a little too hot to walk around but uh yeah I I think the the conference commissioner did a great job of having it here and we got a lot of of attention throughout the country I just talked to somebody from Miami Florida you know which is not prime Big 12 territory so uh this is a great event great conference I I just I think the sky's the limit at the University of Houston I think the same thing for the uh Big 12 who are uh maybe the coaches in the league that uh you have the best relationships with do you have a history with with many of the guys you know I I I know all of them a little bit but not not too many of them uh you know you know I've kind of had a different path I guess with with you know being a head coach for so long and division 2 and you know onea and those kind of things but you know it's a really a great group of guys you know we we had meetings back in uh May out in h Arizona I got to know some of the guys a little bit better and I've just been very impressed with you know how they conduct themselves and fun guys to be around and I've been in some different conferences and that's not always the case you uh when you took over the job at Houston if you would have had a we need to get this done to-do list how much of that have you been able to get done you know the everything's different every job that you take over and really there's a a drastic difference between tane and University of Houston you know tane had 7,000 students we've got 48,000 students New Orleans is really not that big of a city you know we're we're in a metropolitan area of about 7.3 million people there at Houston I had to go Nationwide to recruit because of our academic standards uh so I i' I've really used my my my past my experience uh with with getting my support staff you know going how I want them to do things uh you know academically you know I've I enrolled ADV VI scheduled student athletes for many years you know and I got a way of doing things academically I I taped ankles for a few years I had a way of doing things with a athletic trainers and a strength coach for 14 years and got a way of doing things there so just getting everybody on board with how I like to do things and I'm not a big- time micromanager but there are some things that are non-negotiable in all those different areas so I think you just got to adapt to the school that you're at Houston's a lot different than tane tane was a lot different than than Georgia Southern you know Georgia Southern much different than same Houston State so you just got to adapt to your surroundings thank you you uh you have a quarterback that's a veteran and Donovan Smith coming back that's a big thing especially in in a first year at a program to step into somebody who's played a lot now obviously you know everybody can get better he's he's had a bit of problems with turnovers in the past but he's a Dynamic Athlete that if he ever like you know fixes that 15% of his game that's wrong is is going to surprise some people how have you seen him grow over just a couple months that you've been I've been very very impressed with him uh you know he was not able to go through Spring football he had laum surgery and uh early January so he was standing back there but with me while the offense was going and I'd look at the script and he was utilizing the sideline to helmet communication and we we kind of talk through every single play and just his intelligence and uh his leadership and you're right he's he's one of those rare athletes who's a true dual threat you know here's guys do one thing better than the other right they either run better pass better whatever but uh he he's uh he's 6'5 66 he's 235 he's good speed good movement uh I think he throws an excellent ball I call it a one ball two ball three ball he can do all three of them which a lot of a lot of quarterbacks can't do and he's really intelligent he he's a football guy his dad's a the running back coach for the Indianapolis Colts right and uh he his dad was coaching here at UNLV he went to Gorman High School here in town so I I'm very excited about watching him this this season and and uh in the offense that we're going to be running with him when you take over a program which you've done a lot of that how much of it is you learning the players and the players learning you at least the first six months or so it's very very important uh you know I told the guys I I didn't watch any tape from the University of Houston for about three or four months I didn't want to skew my my vision of what the guy could or couldn't do and I I told him I'm going to treat you the way you show me I should treat you you're a good kid I'm going to think you're a good kid I'm not I'm not going to worry about what happened in the past you know you're doing things wrong it it tells me you do things wrong you know so I've had very few problems and issues they they've embraced change uh you know it's uh it's you know I've done this a few times and it's just being open and honest you know everybody respects that certainly the players do you you mentioned the uh the helmet communication we were talking about Donovan a second ago how much of a game changer is that or do we overvalue that uh where do you see that well I you know I I think we ought to just switch all the rules and go to NFL if that's what we're trying to do I don't know you know but uh you know I think it's interesting I I don't know how uh you know like defensively you're going to have one guy out there with with the helmet on and we experimented with this all spring and we're doing it now you know with with with football ball school or the offense is doing it separately from the defense obviously but uh you know you still got to get everybody lined up you're still going to have to have signaling from the sideline you know this guy you know hopefully we're playing at home in front of 45,000 people it's real loud this guy's going to have a hard time communicating to the left corner and also to the right corner you know so defensively I I think it's it's going to help that guy maybe for quick adjustments that you need to make with the they get into a certain formation or splits and kind of gives you a key as to what's going on offensively I think it's going to be excellent with the uh you know the coach from the sideline talking to the quarterback up until you know 15 seconds remain on on the play clock and giving him some tips and some re but you know that's one thing the defense does an old defensive coach we're going to move around a little bit you know I think I think people are going to move around a little bit later than they did in the past you know and uh maybe give a look a little bit later while so this coach is giving him this information and and then all of a sudden it's not really what it the information that he gave him after 15 you know when there's 15 seconds left it's oh crap you I told him the wrong thing you know so it it'll be interesting the quarterback still needs to be in charge and understands fronts and coverages and and and Blitz uh patterns and all those different things you're you mentioned the the size of the city of Houston or at least that area um and it's probably the most the best recruiting area in in the country I mean Miami in that area Dall you get everything you get every every position um but you can still find what you need elsewhere but what's it like to have that in your backyard oh it's awesome I I did not get on a plane during December and January you know I just drove every place I I needed to go to recruit and uh you know we're going to recruit some in Louisiana as well uh you know cuz I I was there for eight years and know a lot of people in the State uh but it I think the kids seem to have less problems seem to be a little happier when they're fairly close to home you know the parents are able to come watch and play eily you can go home and like what happened with us just the last couple days you know I told kids on Sunday stay home you know don't don't don't come back you know and they're all close we didn't have guys flying all over the place to to go home so uh I think it's a huge Advantage for us and and then uh you know my first my first day on the job I went out and recruited a couple high schools that were in the state playoffs and you know it's good to be back home there's there's nothing like Texas high school football will Fritz head coach at Houston with us on 365 Sports so if your high school recruiting doesn't have to go that far then the transfer portals can just kind of fall where it may be because you know you guys might need a linebacker a wide receiver or what ever then at that point when they're trying to find a place where they can play it it maybe doesn't matter as much where they're from right that part probably doesn't but you know you know something that helped us at at two lane was I had a lot of kids from New Orleans who thought the grass was greener someplace else and found out it was green they came back home to New Orleans and played for us I mean some big schools uh you know they wanted quite a few of them lived at home you know and they just came back so I think we're going to have that happen as well with Houston kids and maybe go someplace else and want to come back home I it happened in New Orleans I I I'm sure it'll happen in Houston as well I was just think you got the best of both worlds you got obviously Houston arguably the the best concentration the Louisiana I mean for a long time probably slept on in terms of the talent but I I think people are well aware of like per capita it might be the best state in the country when it comes to overall you know was pretty close to number one with per cap NFL producing NFL players uh you know one of the things too is the the difference between the states is uh you know is the uh uh the coaching you know they don't have you'll go to a a School in Louisiana they might have three coaches for The Varsity you know you you'll go to school in Houston and they might have three DB coaches right right absolutely so that that part is is a lot different and uh and and that's good and bad in some some regards go ahead the the Big 12 um obviously you're you're focused on your team but I'm sure you're also looking ahead um what are your thoughts on this league what do you see what stands out stylistically that's maybe unique or just more of U kind of the flavor in this league he's a very well- coached League you know I'm not just saying it because I'm on the radio I I just have always admired the coaches I've gone against some of them in different Neil Brown he was at Troy when I was at Georgia Southern uh who else I used to go over Coach Randa and visit uh LSU uh uh quite frequently uh uh coach oron's son coached for me at two Lan so I I'd go over there a bunch and watch them and just a lot of you know I think tough hard-nosed uh football probably a little more running I haven't done a study on it but I think they might run the ball a little bit more in this conference and maybe some of the others you guys would probably know better than it used to be the opposite that would used to be known for just free you know like throw it out they don't play defense they just throw it around 60 times a game yeah it's kind of reverted back a little bit oh you're right uh great League though you uh Chris pezman is no longer the ad and there's that spine of Couture and then Chris and then of course you were hired by that and and there's a change in the administration he hired you I I know what the entire Administration did is that any kind of a wobble at all for you no I got a lot of respect for Chris and uh uh you know and he he did a you know a great job at University of Houston uh but our president has a a vision of what University of Houston can be and she's really built this School up I've been in and around the city of Houston you know for decades and and uh you know I didn't realize it until I took the job you know University of Houston's a a tier one academic institution she's done a great job of changing the profile of the institution academically we've got 8,000 kids living on campus you know 30 years ago Houston might have had 500 kids living on campus so uh you know we feel like the sky's limit and uh and I'm sure she'll find somebody that's uh going to help us with this transition in the Big 12 how do you I guess approach this season in terms of outside expectations or outside expectations you know media polls where you guys are picked you guys are picked towards the bottom um just in terms of your players and what you want to see this year what's kind of the the messaging as far as year one and Houston football and and Willie Fritz taking over and what that's going to look like well you know I I want to win them all I mean and I want players who want to win them win them all too but you know it really doesn't matter where they they have you picked before the season I this is going to be my 33rd year as a head football coach and I've been picked last and finished first I've been picked first and finished third you know stuff like that so it doesn't it doesn't matter it just matters you know where you're at at the end of the year I feel like we've got some ability I really do I was you know we got some size we I thought we did you know there was only I think five high school kids that were committed when I took the job and signing day was like 10 days away I had to jump in the portal I thought we got some good kids from the portal so uh you know I've had the slogan you know since I was a blend we talking a a lot about one and0 now everybody says one and0 right but I tell our guys I was saying it back back in the 90s all right but uh you know it's it's just how you want to be consistent every single day in what you're doing and uh you know and being being the best version of yourself every single day and you know the teams that are cons assist are the ones who win a bunch of ball games I uh I love the fact you brought up noo and then blind cuz I I covered Tyler for the longest of time Tyler junr College Delton right or yeah Delton right initially yeah and boy that was a hell of a league it changed a lot because it just the way things have changed but boy there were some really yes unbelievable football teams uh during that time thanks for your time good luck appreciate it Willie willly head football coach at Houston with us Big 12 media days in Vegas on 65 Sports