Willie Fritz Introduced as Head Coach

HOUSTON – Willie Fritz was officially introduced as the University of Houston Football's newest head coach on Monday afternoon inside TDECU Stadium's Cougar Club.

Fritz was joined on stage by UH Board of Regents Chairman Tilman Fertitta, UH President Renu Khator and UH Vice President for Athletics Chris Pezman. A full video and transcribed quotes are available below.

Fritz Introductory Press Conference Transcript

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS TILMAN FERTITTA
"Renu [Khator] and I have done a lot of press conferences and have done a lot of these over the past few years, but I don't like it when we have them in this building here, because when we have them in this building here, something didn't go right. Hopefully, at least through our term for many years to come, there will not be another one in this building. I really don't see that happening.

"When we made the decision to make a change, we had a list and we had one person that was on the top of our list. We got on this immediately, and we talked about it as if we were going to have a press conference on Monday morning if Chris Pezman was the coach and then we really would have been in trouble.

"What we realized even before we decided to make a change is that to coach football at the University of Houston was different than it was two, three, five years ago. This was a job that was highly sought after by a lot of coaches, so we didn't need to settle. I use that term a lot in business, "we're not going to settle." We did our list of 10 names. We took it to five names after talking to a lot of different people, and we didn't settle. We got the person that we wanted and that is this gentleman right here.

"We talked to a lot of other exceptional, exceptional candidates that we feel like could have done a great job here at the University of Houston. What we kept coming back to is he is a family man. He's the adult in the room and a great mentor to these young kids. Wherever he went, he has won and that's something that I continue to look at.

"With anything and anywhere with Chris [Pezman] and Renu [Khator] and everyone that was involved in the search was the fact that everywhere he went, he won. As we all know, it's not easy to continually win wherever you go. I know everybody thinks, "oh my gosh. You have the golden touch, everything you touch is successful." That is not true. I have been unsuccessful and made a lot of bad decisions. We think this is the guy to win here at the University of Houston for many years to come."

PRESIDENT AND CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM RENU KHATOR
"Thank you, Chairman [Tilman] Fertitta. What you may not know is how many hours and how much effort Chairman Fertitta has put into this. His devotion, his passion for where this university is headed, where the university is and his love for the students is just unparalleled.

"Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for coming here because none of this would be possible without the support of our fans, and we are so very grateful. Welcome Coach Fritz. We are super delighted, happy and excited to have you and your family here with us. We are happy that you are joining the Cougar Nation, the land of the red, the best land on this earth. For the past 16 years during my presidency, we have been chasing a dream. A dream to have a national platform for our student-athletes, a dream to give a sense of pride, encouragement and engagement to all 47,000+ students and a dream to reclaim what is rightfully ours: to be a powerhouse athletic program right here, which was robbed from us 28 years ago. We needed it back. For the last 16 years, Coach Fritz, you will be the sixth head coach during my presidency. I just want to say that all other head coaches have helped us pull along in this journey to be where we are today. In their own ways, they have all helped us grow, mature and be here so we are thankful for all of them.

"However, you have the opportunities like no other else has so far. First, we already have a national platform. We are in a Power Five conference; we are in the Big 12. Secondly, we are already an elite academic institution. We are ranked among the top 75 public universities and headed toward the top 50 public universities in the nation. We understand here the integration of academics and athletics very well. Both are equally important to us. This entire university believes in that integration of. Everybody [from my cabinet] is here. Our goal is to be in the top 50 and the ultimate result is when our student-athletes and students are being successful.

"The goal of being excellent in both academics and athletics is not just possible, it is the only goal we seek. We want to be great in academics and we want to be great in athletics. Let me tell you, out of the top 12 teams ranked in the CFP this year, which just finished yesterday, if you look at it all 12 of them are public universities. Eight of the 12 are in the top 50. So yes, it is possible, not only possible but desirable to build both extremely strong right here. If it's not possible at other places, I believe it is possible in Houston. We won't just stop at anything less than what is absolutely the best for our city, our region and our state. I believe very strongly that our strength in both academics and athletics is important. Coach, you are joining this family. You are now a partner on this transformation journey. We are not done yet actually; our best days are ahead of us.

"We are so happy and I am so grateful that you have chosen to be here. When I met you the first time, my sense was that you had the integrity, the character and the values that were very consistent with what we need here and what we have here. We have a great determination not seen at most places. We are not an entitled bunch, but we are people who are hungry, who have a fire in their belly, dreams in their eyes and passion in their heart. Welcome to the Cougar Nation.

"We are happy to have you here. We wish you all the success in the world. I will be there on the field, right there next to you making sure you win and I will be right there traveling with you making sure that we win. As important as winning is, I want to make sure our student-athletes are very, very successful in their lives and we have engagement for all these 47,000 students and our 300,000 alumni who live so far away and so near as well. They just need a reason to be here. Thank you, and good luck to you.

VICE PRESIDENT OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS CHRIS PEZMAN
"Let me first start, there's a lot of people that we need to recognize and thank. I won't make this too long, but this is a process and there's a lot of people who have become invested in this process because of the importance of a hire like this and the prestige and value of the hire. Not just to the athletic department and football program but also to the institution.

"First and foremost, if we have any of our current student-athletes in here can you raise your hand? Let's give those kids a round of applause. Those young people are the lifeblood of our program and obviously during changes like this, we try to keep them engaged and these kids were wonderful last week. The primary focus we gave them was to focus on academics, let us worry about the search and we'll bring you back a great head coach. I think you guys will see that as soon as Coach [Willie] Fritz gets up here.

"Second part, are there any current or former regents in this room? If you would raise your hand. Normally, we have a lot, so we caught a break there. Any of our head coaches? I saw a few of those, Coach [Todd] Whitting and others raise your hand. Coach [Carl] Lewis, thank you guys.

"Donna Cornell and Jeff Palmer our general counsel for the University of Houston, and they are incredibly valuable to us. Calling them all hours of the night, thankless and tireless work ethic. Donna and Jeff thank you guys very much for your help. Also, Chairman [Tilman] Fertitta and President [Renu] Khator. This can be a lonely time when you're running a search, there's not a lot of people you can rely upon but fortunately I've got two incredible resources with Tilman and Khator. Obviously, they're completely involved with what we do as a university, but they're engagement through this process, through input, and insight. I'm very privileged to have had the opportunity to lean on you two, so thank you guys very much.

"Lastly, Monty [Porter], Garrett [Klassy], and Alvin [Franklin]. I had a small crew that was inside my office that was sworn to secrecy. They did a great job helping me through this process because there's a lot that comes at you. Thank you to them and their help.

"The last part that I think is mostly important that we all recognize is the alignment that we have as an institution. As you see with our board chair here and our president, that alignment exists. The university's administration is here, as I mentioned our general counsel, our provost and other members of our cabinet (Jason Smith). That doesn't happen everywhere, and I know you've heard me say that before, but that is so important for us, from our growth that we've had and the success that we're going to have in the future. That alignment is so important and it takes everybody in this room to show up and show support because there's a lot of equity that they put into us. Through that it's reflective in this room of everybody showing up, so thank you all.

"You come up with a checklist, there's a lot of things that you're trying to guide towards as far as your north star, your guiding principles when you're looking for somebody to lead our program. What it came down to is that Coach Fritz is a great coach, a proven winner everywhere he's been and a program builder. I think what you'll see, and what we've seen is even a better person. He is somebody I couldn't be prouder of to lead our football program, Coach Fritz please come up."

HEAD COACH WILLIE FRITZ
"Go Coogs! Thank you very much. I appreciate President Khator, and one of the reasons why I wanted to come here and be the head football coach is because of the academic prowess at the University of Houston. You want to have a lot of things that you can sell, and obviously, having a degree from a world-renowned University of Houston is a huge deal, so thank you for choosing me.
"I appreciate the Chairman of the Board of Regents, Mr. Tilman Fertitta for everything he does at the University of Houston and the city of Houston. Chris [Pezman], we all bleed red, this guy bleeds Cougar Red and he's teaching me all about the University of Houston, things that have been accomplished here and will be accomplished here, and his passion is just evident. I also appreciate you had patience in the process. I had some deals going on with games and things and I wanted to make sure my focus was in that direction and he was excellent in all of that.

"I've got my family here. I don't have any hobbies. I don't fish. I don't golf. I don't hunt. I don't do any of that stuff. I work and I hangout with my family and that's it.

"You know a lot of people start on third base and they think they hit a triple. You know it took me a long time to get around the bases. I finally got my home run by getting this job, it's a dream, here at the University of Houston.

"One of our goals, is we're going to play as hard as a football team as [Kelvin Sampson's] basketball teams.

"Just a little bit about my philosophies, we've talked about recruit, retain and develop bonafide Division I student-athletes with character. It is a big deal to me. I am proud of the fact that we graduated all of our guys that went through our program at Tulane, and we will do the same thing here at the University of Houston. We're going to recruit the heck out of the state of Texas. I don't know why you wouldn't. The best football is played here in this state, and I know a bunch of high school coaches here and I'm excited about renewing my acquaintances with those guys.

"We talked about retain. You have to provide a culture where your kids can thrive and grow and get better. I'm proud of the fact that there are 133 Division I schools playing football, and we've been in the bottom 10 of guys in the (transfer) portal. I think that tells you about the culture that we have everywhere I go.

"Last but not least, development. Developing these guys in the classroom, off the field and on the field. We had a meeting last night with the guys. I told them, "If you like playing football, you're not going to enjoy playing football for me. You have to love playing football." I want them to understand it is a big part of it. We're going to recruit guys that love playing football.

"I am so proud to be your head football coach, and I am so excited for this opportunity. Thank you y'all very much. Go Coogs!"

Q&A
On what attracted Fritz to the job…
WILLIE FRITZ: "We talked about the academic prowess of the institution, that was part of it. My familiarity with the Houston area and the state of Texas. I've done it at the junior college level, the Division II level. I've done it at the FCS level, and I've done it at the Group of Five level. I want to do it at the Power Five level. That's a goal of mine."

On what is at the top of the agenda list…
WF: "There's a bunch of things to tackle. Last night, we had a great visit with the team and over the course of the next few months I'll get an opportunity to really meet those guys. I'm going to be involved with every aspect of their lives. We have to do a great job with recruiting. I'm going to talk to some of these young men and hopefully, they want to be a part of a great program. They all seemed to be very excited about my hire last night. I thought it was a great team meeting. There are a lot of things we need to tackle but, in the forefront, obviously needs to be recruiting."

On the challenge of competing at the Power Five level in Texas…
WF: "That's one of the many reasons I wanted to come here. I wanted to come here to have this opportunity in the great state of Texas and in the great City of Houston. I just feel like Houston has had some great teams. It's not like it hasn't been done here before. We just want to do it again and do it consistently year after year. That's the goal here."

On what you learned at Tulane to make a program great…
WF: "Every school is different, and you have to find the ins and the outs of each institution. What are your selling points, your recruiting base, all those things. That one thing, I've been in the great state of Texas for a long period of time, and I have to learn more and more about the University of Houston. How are we going to attack it and I need to do that quickly"

On building success at the University of Houston…
WF: "I really believe in complementary football offense, defense and kicking games all being aligned with each other. I'm involved in all facets of the program, but also all three phases. I have what I call "a plan to win." I put that together when I first became a head coach in 1993.

"The first component of the plan to win is to win the turnover-takeaway margin. When I've been plus one or better, all these different stops for 31 years as a head coach, we've won 91 percent of our games. I'm the ball security coach, I'm the takeaway coach. If a guy didn't handle the ball properly then he's going to hear it from me very quickly. We want to be able to run the ball and stop the run, not going to say that we aren't going to throw the football because we are. That's a big important part of the game, if you can't run the ball effectively you have a difficult chance of winning.

"Special teams are so important. I've been a special teams coach all my career. We talk about the Cougars don't beat the Cougars. It means we want to be disciplined and we want to have the fewest pre-snap and post-snap penalties in the conference. We do that as a disciplined team and it gives you an opportunity to win.

"Last but not least we talk about finishing. We have to do a great job of finishing and winning the fourth quarter. Everybody does the fours up with their hand up in the air, but we give high fours – everybody on the team. You'll see that from the energy that we have when we get in the fourth quarter. When we've scored one more point or one time a possession in the fourth quarter over my 31-year career, we've won 90 percent of our games. That's another very telling statistic."

On his offensive scheme based off players…
WF: "You have to see what you have. Some people are married to one scheme, if you don't have the right personnel to run that scheme, you're going to have problems. We've got an overall scheme that we run, run plays, pass plays, and all those different things. We tweak it to our talent level. What a guy can do well and what he does not do well? Keep him away from doing that or get a guy in there that can do it.

"That's one of my jobs as a head coach to make sure we have Jimmy's and Joe's doing the right things as far as the X's and O's are concerned."

On where he starts to build cultures…
WF: "You have to be around and available. You have to be consistent. I'm going to be very consistent with how I deal with them – in the classroom, off the field and in the weight room.

"One of the advantages I feel like I have that maybe other head coaches at the Division I level don't have is that I've taped ankles, lined fields, and I was talking about it last night with Chris [Pezman]. When I used to line the fields, we dieseled the fields because we didn't have enough money to paint it every week. I scheduled and advised student-athletes for 15 years and was a strength coach for 20 years. I've done it all, and you have to make sure you have the whole department aligned going in the same direction. I'll be involved in all facets of the program as well."

On what this journey and job means…
WF: "That's what we want to do and that's why I took this job. I want to do it at the highest level, and I've loved every place that I've been at. You have to be where your feet are. It just so happens that my feet right now are in the greatest goddang university in the State of Texas."

On making NIL and transfer portal work for Houston Football…
WF: "You have to be very smart with the transfer portal to make sure they fit your culture. Some guys just bring in a hired gun to come in, play for a year, and that's not what I'm looking for. I want somebody to help us improve and get better on the field, off the field and in the classroom.

"NIL is an important part of it. Sometimes I hear some of my coaching brethren complain about it. It's here. It's going to stay here and it's not going anywhere. We have to do a great job of being heavily involved with the NIL program. That's a very important part of Division I Athletics."

On the process and what made Willie Fritz the right guy…
CHRIS PEZMAN: "We had a mindset around the type of candidate that we wanted, and the pool that Chairman Fertitta had mentioned was incredibly impressive. For us, I think the learning curve for a first-time head coach, with where we are right now, a coach that had head-coaching experience was prominent in our thought process. Obviously, connections back to the city. A winner, someone that built a program. And when you start listing these things that pool gets tight fast.

"I remember coach Fritz came in last year and beat us with a third string quarterback, that tells me a lot about the development of his roster, and the way he manages it, manage the game and players when you're down. Not saying that the other candidates didn't have a similar situation, but somebody that has so many ties back to the community, to high school coaches and junior college coaches in the state. Just see the way the athletes respond to him and then obviously talking to some of my peers that have worked around him. I can't tell you the number of coaches that I have worked with that have reached out and said, "You got the right guy." It got to the point where I don't want to say no-brainer, but it was clear who that person was, and it was coach Fritz."

On allowing Willie Fritz to coach the conference championship game
TILMAN FERTITTA: "We've been kicked in the tail before, and when Coach asked for some respect about the game that he had Saturday, and if the outcome would have come out differently, I have to honestly say I was pulling for Tulane, then I wasn't pulling for them because I did want to say he had been to New Year's Day bowl two years in a row, so I'm a little mad at him. But at the same time, we were going to have respect for him because the Tulane players meant enough to him that [even though he] was going to come down here but when those players showed up to practice, he was going to be there, and he was going to coach them to another New Year's Day Bowl win. I totally respect him for that, and none of us had any issues with that.

"I wanted him here in the portal week, and that's why it's so important. The portal opens on December 4th, and it's so important that we had him here today. Am I glad he is here now, yes. [Fritz] Family, thank you so very much. We're always going to do the right thing at the University of Houston even if other people don't."

On first impression of Willie Fritz
RENU KHATOR: "As I said, his integrity, character and values were very important to me. I wanted to see that fire in the belly because I don't want to have to tell somebody you need to do this. I just want somebody to have that inside of them and Coach Fritz absolutely has that. The last thing is that it is great to have everything else, but you also need to see where the future is.

"We want to make sure we have a sustainable national relevance for our program because mediocre athletics would become a liability on an institution, but I know that if you have an excellent athletics program, it becomes an asset for the institution. We are here for students. There are student-athletes and there are also non-student athletes. Their success is not where we want to be and should be at this point but, we are committed to building an institution that this city deserves and that this state deserves. Coach Fritz is going to play a very important role in that. I made sure he had a clean record with compliance because all those things are important.

"For where we are, one setback can take us back quite a bit and we just can't afford to do that. I want to make sure here that we have a winning program, but also a program that is sustainable in every form and fashion. We cannot do it without fans, without our city, without sponsorships, we cannot do it without our students. All of them are important here for us. I was trying to see in the next coach that we have the values that we can be proud of and that he can win. That's where we are today and now, we are on a journey together, Coach."

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