Sleeping Giant in the Big 12?

John CT's back with you here live from Big 12 media days in Las Vegas and I am pleased to be joined right now by the new head coach of the Houston Cougars it is Willie Fritz Willie I really appreciate you taking some time for me today are are you a Vegas guy how are you feeling about the the Vegas Vibe here you know I've I've only this is the third time I've been here my my brother who you talked about that you know he he came out here for basketball clinics he's a basketball coach and I'd come out with him and I I would go to the basketball clinics you know and and watch all these different coaches talk CU I didn't you know I didn't gamble so but it's a really neat venue there's a lot of neat things to do here in town and the the big 12 is they're doing it upright yeah well tell me what what made the the Houston job attractive to you you were at like kind of a similar spot right big town it's not a college town but making the move up in into a power four conference here well there really aren't a whole lot of similarities between two lane in U you know the conference is a lot different U you know Houston's got 7.6 million people in the metropolitan area uh New Orleans is actually probably a little smaller than Kansas City wow okay you know and then we were at a private school yeah that only had about 7,000 students out of my school that had 48,000 students so a lot of differences and I just wanted the uh opportunity to coach at the highest level uh and that was uh exciting for me to be able to to to uh you know take a program that was at a you know group of five conference and and go to the big 12 a league that I followed all my life yeah well your career is something I think a lot of people have to admire because you just grinded at basically every single level like how how would you describe what the grind of getting to this point in your career has been like well you know I've loved every place I've been I really have uh you know I started my career I I I played football at Pittsburgh state down in can Southeast Kansas and I was with a guy named Ron randman and then I then years later I coached at Coffeeville Community College for a guy named dick Foster and Skip Foster and uh you know I just learned a great work ethic from all those gentlemen and and uh you know I just you know I've enjoyed every step in the process you know I've gotten to this point and but uh she my wife and I thought we had the you know the cat by the tail we're Coffeeville Kansas you know coaching the jhawk league so uh you know this is fun this is you know we want to make Houston a consistent winner uh in a Big Time conference what is the potential that you see in this job well you know one of the great things I've got is an unbelievable recruiting base we're at the epicenter of of football in the world Houston Texas I didn't get on a plane for recruiting in December and January I drove every place uh you know what I found for the most part kids seem to be a little happier when they're pretty close to home parents are able to come come watch them play they're able to go home when they got a weekend off and things like that so I didn't have that luxury at two lane as much we had kids a lot of kids from distance because of the academic requirements we had at the school but uh that's how I've kind of done it every place I've been at head coach of blend 100% of our guys were Texas guys when when I was in Central Missouri you know 95% of our guys were Missouri or Kansas City metro kids when when I was a Sam Houston they're all Texas kids so I've always kind of done that every place I been except to line how do you evaluate what your what your roster is that you inherited and then obviously add it to upon taking the job well you know they allow you to do a lot more uh as far as uh uh football is concerned with the NCAA than they did five 10 years ago so we're able to go out and do some things in Spring ball we're able to do some drills with the guys you can't do anything competitive uh so I've got a pretty good grasp of what our guys can do uh we're going to play a lot of guys the first three weeks and see exactly who can play at this level when when the you know when it's for real you know and uh I think in week four we probably week three week four we'll probably know hey these guys should be playing the majority of the sashs but there's going to be a lot of competition in preseason camp I'm really excited about that how much does it help to have a guy like Donovan Smith back there a quarterback really helps yeah I'm I'm a big Donovan Smith fan I've just been around him for a little while you know six seven months but very mature he he you know he comes from a football family his uh father was actually a great player uh I call it SMS Missouri State great great quarterback there and is now a coach with the uh Indianapolis Colts uh so he's been around football all his life really intelligent and he's a big guy you know he's 6566 235 good movement uh good very good accuracy uh so I I I I excited about him and what he's going to do in his second year in the Big 12 as I mentioned you've seen the game college football basically every single level you've been in the profession for a while how do you adapt or just react to all the changes whether it's the portal nil Revenue sharing just everything that's happened in the last few years well that's what I do I just I adapt to it you know I I I I'm not making the rules other people are making the rules the people that complain about what's happening and how things are going you know you're wasting your time you know you need to get with the times and uh you know I I think I think everybody uh feels like this is the right thing to do uh I just think that we need to get some guard rails and and uh you know figure out exactly the best way to do it for the students for the the university for the coaches for for the fan base you know and uh so it's interesting times yeah no doubt I the Big 10 in the SEC having such a big Revenue Gap between that and the Big 12 the other conferences do you think I guess what do you think that does for the the sport in general where things are at right now well you know that's going to be answered here in the next few years obviously but you know you still got to play with 11 guys out there on the field and uh you know I I just think that uh I just like the University of Houston I think the sky's a limit with the University of Houston I think the sky's limit with the big 12 I really do I think our commissioner has got tremendous vision where this conference needs to go and uh you know I I enjoy the challenge not only of Houston competing in the Big 12 but the big 12 competing against the other conferences in the power four yeah which which coach in the Big 12 are you closest with you know I I I I know uh you know some of them a little bit I I I don't know all the guys you know I'm kind my you know i' kind of been an old Jo coach two coach and uh but all the guys I was you know we had big 12 meetings I was really impressed with the guys uh good people you know guys you want to hang around with I'm sure I'm going to get to know them all a lot better over the next few years I've got a lot of respect for coach kimman and what he's done at at Kansas State he was the D coordinator of North Dakota State when I was a head coach at Sam Houston we played him a couple times in National Championships uh Lance uh leag pole Lance probably don't remember remember but he and I went out and recruited uh for a couple days when I when I was at Central Missouri and he was in Nebraska Omaha and okay you know both those guys really really good Fellas yeah I guess uh last thing I'll leave you with speaking of K State I'm a Kate guy Michael Bishop was my favorite athlete growing up you know I can remember going to watch him all the time back in the day when did you know you had you had something special there with with Michael oh and I recruited him you know I I was I actually coached at Willis and taught at Willis high school that's where Michael went to high school and uh so when when I was a Blen I you know got the chance to recruit him I wouldn't watch him play a bunch of game he put on a performance at the uh Astrodome where he played uh a free safety and just ran the alley and had 20 plus tackles and obviously was a quarterback and did an incredible job and then he also returned punts kicks and he kicked off and punted so he never left the field the whole game and his most impressive High School performance I've ever seen and you know we we went 24 and0 with him uh and uh coach Snyder just you know did a super job with him and I really followed uh that program because of my time at uh uh Coffeeville and uh what he did there was just really impressive yeah I was I was asking you this a little bit off air but the The Legend always had it right the K State was the one place that was really serious on him playing quarterback well they recruited him from day one offered him from day one uh Mo Latimore did an excellent job recruiting him was back then you could be out a lot more than you allowed to be out now shoot I think I had lunch with him about 20 times he was there all the time he really did a great job recruiting him and and then I had a few other guys who played at uh K State uh Quincy Morgan yeah man great wide receiver uh he actually lives in Houston uh I talked to him the other day on the phone for quite a while and another kid named Keith Black yeah who was a great uh track athlete and also a corner for but those those three guys played for me play yeah man I want my childhood right there I I appreciate the revising hey coach best of luck this year and thanks for making some time for me thank you