Fritz begins first power school job at Houston, which reloaded with transfers to back QB Smith

Willie Fritz has won at every stop in a coaching career spanning more than three decades.

Now at Houston, the 64-year-old Fritz faces his biggest challenge yet in his first job at a power conference school. Outside expectations are low for the Cougars, who are entering their second season in the Big 12 and were picked to finish 15th out of 16 teams in a preseason media poll.

Fritz, who won 23 games combined the last two seasons at Tulane, isn’t worried about what anyone outside of the program thinks about his new team.

“Well, we’ve got high expectations… we want to win every one of these ball games that we play this season,” he said.

That would be a tall task for any team, much less one that lost scores of players to the transfer portal after coach Dana Holgorsen was fired . The team went 4-8 and 2-7 in league play in his fifth year at the school.

Fritz replenished his roster with a bevy of Texas-born players, taking advantage of the depth of the state’s talent pool. He was thrilled to have easy access to recruiting in Texas in his return to the state after spending two years at Georgia Southern and the last eight at Tulane, where he won the second-most games in the school’s 130-season history

Fritz began his head coaching career in Texas at Blinn Junior College and was the coach at Sam Houston State from 2010-13.

“We’re at the epicenter of football in the world, Houston, Texas,” he said. “I love the fact I didn’t have to get on a plane to go recruit. I just stayed in my car the whole time when I went out recruiting, and there’s plenty of great players throughout the state of Texas.”

While many of Houston’s starters from last season transferred, the Cougars do return veteran quarterback Donovan Smith.

Smith threw for a career-high 2,801 yards with 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions last year in his first season in Houston after spending two years at Texas Tech. He added 428 yards rushing with six scores.

He missed spring practice after surgery to repair a torn labrum but is healthy now and ready to build on his work last season. Fritz raved about the leadership and skills of the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Smith.

“He’s a true dual-threat quarterback, which usually you hear that and they do one or the other much better,” Fritz said. “He does an excellent job throwing the ball, one ball, two ball, three ball I kind of call it, and his football IQ is just off the charts.”

Smith will be throwing to a mostly new group of receivers after his top targets from last season transferred. Samuel Brown, who led the team with 815 yards receiving last year, left for Miami and Matthew Golden, who had 404 yards, is now at Texas.

Joseph Manjack, whose 577 yards ranked second on the team, remains to lead the group.

Defensive back A.J. Haulcy is the top returner on a Cougars’ defense that is looking for a big turnaround. Houston allowed 31.5 points and 424 yards, including 169 yards rushing a game last year.

Haulcy had a team-high 98 tackles and four pass breakups in 2023. Defensive lineman Keith Cooper Jr. followed Fritz from Tulane and will have a chance to make an impact. In three seasons with the Green Wave, Cooper had 69 tackles, including 16 tackles for losses and 10 ½ sacks.

The Cougars open the season Aug. 31 at home against UNLV before a big test with a trip to No. 16 Oklahoma Sept. 7. A brutal stretch of four straight games against ranked opponents begins Oct. 19 at No. 22 Kansas. Houston will then host No. 12 Utah on Oct. 26 and No. 18 Kansas State on Nov. 2. A bye week comes next before a trip Nov. 15 to face No. 21 Arizona.