Willie Fritz
Willie Fritz went 228–128 as a head coach, 1997–2026, at Central Missouri, Sam Houston State, Georgia Southern, Tulane and Houston. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 5–1); by them his record is 227–128. Share
17 seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 1997–2009 at Central Missouri; 2010–13 at Sam Houston State (on file under another coach). They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 228–128 career
- Seasons
- 30
- Schools
- 5
- Final AP top 10
- 1 season
- Born
- Apr 2, 1960
- Best season
- 2022 12–2, No. 9
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Central Missouri * | 5–6 | 6th | |||
| 1998 | Central Missouri * | 8–3 | T–3rd | |||
| 1999 | Central Missouri * | 7–4 | 4th | |||
| 2000 | Central Missouri * | 7–4 | T–4th | |||
| 2001 | Central Missouri * | 10–2 | 2nd | Mineral Water W | 20 | |
| 2002 | Central Missouri * | 10–2 | 2nd | NCAA Division II First Round L | 8 | |
| 2003 | Central Missouri * | 9–2 | T–1st | 15 | ||
| 2004 | Central Missouri * | 7–4 | 4th | |||
| 2005 | Central Missouri * | 7–3 | 5th | |||
| 2006 | Central Missouri * | 5–6 | T–6th | |||
| 2007 | Central Missouri * | 7–4 | T–3rd | |||
| 2008 | Central Missouri * | 7–4 | T–4th | |||
| 2009 | Central Missouri * | 8–3 | T–2nd | |||
| 2010 | Sam Houston State * | 6–5 | T–3rd | |||
| 2011 | Sam Houston State * | 14–1 | 1st | NCAA Division I Championship L | 2 | |
| 2012 | Sam Houston State * | 11–4 | T–1st | NCAA Division I Championship L | 2 | |
| 2013 | Sam Houston State * | 9–5 | T–3rd | NCAA Division I Second Round L | 13 | |
| 2014 | Georgia Southern | 9–3 | 1st | |||
| 2015 | Georgia Southern | 8–4 | 3rd | GoDaddy (not coached) | ||
| 2016 | Tulane | 4–8 | 6th (West) | |||
| 2017 | Tulane | 5–7 | 5th (West) | |||
| 2018 | Tulane | 7–6 | T–1st (West) | Cure Bowl W | ||
| 2019 | Tulane | 7–6 | 4th (West) | Armed Forces Bowl W | ||
| 2020 | Tulane | 6–6 | T–7th | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl L | ||
| 2021 | Tulane | 2–10 | T–9th | |||
| 2022 | Tulane | 12–2 | 1st | Cotton Bowl W | 9 | |
| 2023 | Tulane | 11–2 | T–1st | Military (not coached) | ||
| 2024 | Houston | 4–8 | T–11th | |||
| 2025 | Houston | 10–3 | T–4th | Texas Bowl W | 22 | |
| 2026 | Houston | 6–1 (Wikipedia: 5–1) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table. * A season our game records don’t credit to him; its record is the article’s.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 25 | 6–19 | 24% |
| Against top-10 teams | 6 | 1–5 | 17% |
| Against rivals | 17 | 8–9 | 47% |
| Conference games | 102 | 57–45 | 56% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 5 | 4–1 | 80% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 59 | 30–29 | 51% |
| At home | 78 | 52–26 | 67% |
| On the road | 73 | 35–38 | 48% |
| At neutral sites | 6 | 4–2 | 67% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 82 | 69–13 | 84% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 75 | 22–53 | 29% |
His own 157 games on file, 2014–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philip Montgomery 2016–2022 | 4–3 | Tulsa | 7 | |
| Ken Niumatalolo 2014–2020 | 1–5 | Navy | 6 | |
| Sonny Dykes 2018–2025 | 1–5 | SMU, TCU | 6 | |
| Dana Holgorsen 2015–2022 | 2–3 | West Virginia, Houston | 5 | |
| Mike Houston 2020–2023 | 3–1 | East Carolina | 4 | |
| Ryan Silverfield 2020–2023 | 3–1 | Memphis | 4 | |
| Mike Norvell 2016–2019 | 1–3 | Memphis | 4 | |
| Luke Fickell 2017–2022 | 1–3 | Cincinnati | 4 | |
| Gus Malzahn 2019–2022 | 1–3 | Auburn, UCF | 4 | |
| Jeff Monken 2017–2020 | 3–0 | Army | 3 |
Willie Fritz’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Tulsaseries | 8 | 5–3 |
| Memphisseries | 8 | 4–4 |
| UCFseries | 8 | 3–5 |
| SMUseries | 8 | 1–7 |
| Houstonseries | 7 | 3–4 |
| East Carolinaseries | 6 | 5–1 |
| Navyseries | 6 | 1–5 |
| Cincinnatiseries | 5 | 1–4 |
National coaching awards
The awards- 2022 Tulane: Bobby Dodd Award
How he was hired
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Pittsburg State | Graduate assistant | |
| 1983 | Shawnee Mission NW HS (KS) high school | Assistant coach | |
| 1984–85 | Sam Houston State | Graduate assistant | |
| 1986 | Willis HS (TX) high school | Assistant coach | |
| 1987–90 | Coffeyville | Defensive coordinator | |
| 1991–92 | Sam Houston State | Defensive backs and special teams coach | |
| 1993–96 | Blinn | Head coach | |
| 1997–2009 | Central Missouri | Head coach | |
| 2010–13 | Sam Houston State | Head coach | |
| 2014–15 | Georgia Southern | Head coach | |
| 2016–23 | Tulane | Head coach | |
| 2024–present | Houston | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Assistants who became head coaches
- Charlie StubbsNicholls
- Bob DeBesseTexas State
- Scott StokerNorthwestern State
- Chad LunsfordGeorgia Southern, Florida Atlantic
- Dell McGeeGeorgia Southern, Georgia State
- Slade NagleTulane
- Will HallSouthern Miss, Tulane, West Alabama, West Georgia
- Jim SvobodaNebraska Wesleyan, Central Missouri
Coached under him, later head coaches (8)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlie Stubbs | Central Missouri, 2008–09: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Nicholls | |
| Bob DeBesse | Sam Houston, 2010–11: offensive coordinator | Texas State | |
| Scott Stoker | Sam Houston, 2010–12: defensive coordinator | Northwestern State | |
| Chad Lunsford | Georgia Southern, 2014–15: tight ends coach | Georgia Southern, Florida Atlantic | |
| Dell McGee | Georgia Southern, 2014: running backs coach; 2015: assistant head coach and running backs coach | Georgia Southern, Georgia State | |
| Slade Nagle | Tulane, 2016–21: tight ends coach; 2022: tight ends coach and assistant head coach; 2023: offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and assistant head coach; Houston, 2025–26: offensive coordinator | Tulane | |
| Will Hall | Tulane, 2019–20: offensive coordinator | Southern Miss, Tulane, West Alabama, West Georgia | |
| Jim Svoboda | Tulane, 2022: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Nebraska Wesleyan, Central Missouri |
Other assistants under him (16)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Todd Ivicic | Blinn, 1993–94: assistant special teams and defensive line coach | |
| Matt Merkens | Sam Houston, 2013: student assistant | |
| Alex Atkins | Georgia Southern, 2014–15: offensive line coach; Tulane, 2016–17: assistant head coach and offensive line coach; 2018: assistant head coach, running game coordinator and offensive line coach | |
| Brandon Bailey | Georgia Southern, 2014–15: student assistant; Tulane, 2016: graduate assistant | |
| Doug Ruse | Georgia Southern, 2014–15: offensive coordinator; Tulane, 2016–18: offensive coordinator | |
| Jack Curtis | Georgia Southern, 2014–15: defensive coordinator; Tulane, 2016–20: defensive coordinator | |
| Chris Hampton | Tulane, 2016–19: defensive backs coach; 2021–22: defensive coordinator | |
| Lionel Washington | Tulane, 2016–17: co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| Mark Criner | Tulane, 2019: analyst | |
| Chip Long | Tulane, 2021: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Eman Naghavi | Tulane, 2022: offensive line coach; Houston, 2024–26: offensive line coach | |
| Dan Roushar | Tulane, 2023: offensive line coach | |
| Shiel Wood | Tulane, 2023: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; Houston, 2024: defensive coordinator | |
| Kevin Barbay | Houston, 2024: offensive coordinator and tight ends coach | |
| Shawn Bell | Houston, 2024: interim offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2024–26: quarterbacks coach | |
| Austin Armstrong | Houston, 2025–26: defensive coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Georgia Southern | head coachbonuses up to $287,500; $35,000 in bonuses paid | $500,000 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Georgia Southern | head coachbonuses up to $42,500 | $400,000 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Fritz’s teams went for it on 29% of fourth downs and on 49% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 38% of plays and took 27.0 seconds a play, 2014–2026.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 12 g | Georgia Southern | 16 of 69 23% | 31% | 20% | 28.5 | +0.22 | |
| 2015 13 g | Georgia Southern | 30 of 93 32% | 45% | 17% | 28.7 | +0.09 | |
| 2016 12 g | Tulane | 36 of 125 29% | 46% | 33% | 27.1 | −0.09 | |
| 2017 11 g | Tulane | 21 of 80 26% | 35% | 33% | 28.3 | +0.08 | |
| 2018 12 g | Tulane | 26 of 104 25% | 47% | 39% | 27.3 | −0.02 | |
| 2019 13 g | Tulane | 34 of 102 33% | 53% | 38% | 24.5 | +0.12 | |
| 2020 12 g | Tulane | 22 of 93 24% | 51% | 42% | 24.7 | +0.07 | |
| 2021 11 g | Tulane | 35 of 94 37% | 59% | 51% | 24.4 | +0.03 | |
| 2022 13 g | Tulane | 23 of 89 26% | 51% | 45% | 26.2 | +0.16 | |
| 2023 14 g | Tulane | 33 of 106 31% | 55% | 45% | 28.2 | +0.02 | |
| 2024 12 g | Houston | 29 of 99 29% | 54% | 44% | 29.7 | −0.17 | |
| 2025 13 g | Houston | 32 of 111 29% | 56% | 43% | 26.1 | +0.06 | |
| 2026 7 g | Houston | 10 of 33 30% | 47% | 43% | 27.8 | +0.28 | |
| All 155 g | 347 of 1198 29% | 49% | 38% | 27.0 | +0.06 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.