Don’t Look Now, Willie Fritz is Doing it Again at Houston

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Don’t Look Now, Willie Fritz is Doing it Again at Houston

Kyle Wood · Athlon Sports

Thu, Oct 2, 2025 ·

7 min read

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Summary points:

Coach Willie Fritz's long-time trend of second-year turnarounds is taking hold at Houston
The Cougars ' considerable improvements on offense and defense are a result of staffing changes and key transfer portal additions
Houston (4-0) is off to its best start since 2016 heading into Saturday's game against Texas Tech

Willie Fritz-coached teams have historically enjoyed a Year 2 bump. What was true back at Blinn College continued all the way through to his tenure at Tulane: His second season in charge always shows marked improvement.

Fritz earned a reputation as a program builder across decades coaching in junior college, Division II, FCS and FBS. But could he do the same at Houston? This was power conference football, after all.

The Cougars have struggled to find their footing since joining the Big 12 in 2023. A disappointing debut led to Dana Holgorsen's firing and Fritz taking over as Houston's head coach. Fritz's first year at the helm wasn't any better; the Cougars went 4-8 again in 2024.

True to form, the Year 2 bump is alive and well in H-Town. Fritz's Cougars are undefeated and have already matched last season's win total. Their defense is dominant and offense considerably more effective. After eking out an overtime win at Oregon State last Friday to continue its best start since 2016, Houston is set to host No. 11 Texas Tech on Saturday in a measuring-stick game for the program.

Houston kicker Ethan Sanchez celebrates his winning field goal in overtime against Oregon State on Sept. 26, 2025, in Corvallis, Oregon.

What changed? Quite a bit. Fritz reunited with familiar faces from his time at Tulane, including offensive coordinator Slade Nagle and special teams coordinator Chris Couch. Houston also poached up-and-coming coordinator Austin Armstrong from Florida to run the defense, and Fritz got busy in the transfer portal to address personnel needs all over the field.

"This is the first job that I've taken over in this era of the transfer portal and NIL, rev share," Fritz told Athlon Sports. "The other five jobs that I took over, the kids were kind of stuck with you, and you coached those kids up and you developed them. But now if you evaluate the right way, you got an opportunity to get things going quickly."

Houston's hot start is the result of many of those offseason evaluations. The Cougars averaged just 14 points per game in Fritz's first season, second-worst in the FBS. In the Big 12, well known for its shootouts, that just wouldn't do. So the Cougars added playmakers from the portal to put up more points.

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One of them was quarterback Conner Weigman , a former five-star prospect who never quite caught on at Texas A&M. But in Nagle's offense, Weigman has quietly come into his own. Fritz said Weigman's dual-threat capabilities stood out on film, which is something Nagle has unlocked. Weigman already has a career-high 140 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns.

Running back Dean Connors from Rice was a less heralded addition, but he's stepped up to lead a run-heavy offense in rushing each game. Tight end Tanner Koziol from Ball State provides Weigman a necessary safety net, and his 23 receptions easily lead the team. Wide receiver Amare Thomas is another newcomer from UAB who joined returner Stephon Johnson to round out Weigman's receiver room.

Houston quarterback Conner Weigman hands the ball to running back Dean Connors against Oregon State at Reser Stadium Sept. 26, 2025.

"We got some guys who've been here six years. We've got some other guys who have been here not even four months," Fritz said. "We talked about this being a little more cooking it like a microwave oven instead of an oven."

The Cougars are averaging 31.3 points per game this season against an admittedly light schedule. They've also scored at least 27 points in all four games, a feat they only accomplished twice in 2024.

The defense, Fritz's area of focus, has also taken a step forward and is particularly stingy against the pass. That's despite top defensive backs Jerry Wilson and A.J. Haulcy leaving in the spring portal.

Houston put together its best all-around performance of the season against Colorado in its Big 12 opener. The offense had over 200 yards on the ground and through the air and turned the Buffaloes over twice in a 36-20 rout at TDECU Stadium.

Fritz didn't let on that the win carried any extra weight. "Every one of these games counts one," he said. "None of 'em count two, none of 'em count a half." Still, after starting 0-2 in conference play with back-to-back shutout losses last season, it had to feel good to go 1-0.

"I've been in a few different leagues, and one of the things about the Big 12 is everybody's pretty good — no gimmes," Fritz said. "Other leagues I've been in, you had three or four ballgames, you maybe play your C game and still win. We're gonna have to play really well. We're gonna have to keep improving. I've seen some legitimate improvement from the beginning of the season till now; just want to keep doing that. I think our best football's in front of us."

Houston head coach Willie Fritz celebrates with defensive back Marc Stampley II after a play against Rice at Rice Stadium on Sept. 6, 2025.

It has to be considering Houston's remaining schedule. Beyond Saturday's game against Texas Tech, in which the Cougars are double-digit underdogs with former defensive coordinator Shiel Wood on the opposite sideline, Fritz's team also plays at No. 25 Arizona State, hosts Arizona and TCU and ends the season at Baylor.

After blowouts against Stephen F. Austin, Rice and Colorado, Houston almost tripped up against winless Oregon State. Trailing by 14 halfway through the fourth quarter, Weigman led a rally to force overtime. That's where Ethan Sanchez — another transfer, from Old Dominion — made the game-winning kick. The comeback was encouraging, but what was enough to beat the Beavers won't be good enough against the Red Raiders, the early favorites to win the Big 12.

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Houston's time in the conference so far has been fraught, between a 2-7 record in Big 12 play in Holgorsen's final year and a 3-6 mark in Fritz's first season. Compare that to a decade in the American, during which the Cougars only finished with a losing record in their league once. But make no mistake: Fritz is happy with the increase in competition.

"The one thing that Houston was lacking was Power 4 affiliation, and we have that now," Fritz said. "That was probably a big reason why some kids left three, four years ago."

Retention is almost as important as recruiting in modern college football, especially given the prevalence of the transfer portal. Fritz knows how fluid rosters can be, pointing to the 60-plus new players that joined his first Houston team. That number fell to the 40s this season, and he hopes it keeps going down.

"We talk about recruit, retain, develop," Fritz said. "And if you can't retain 'em, you can't develop 'em."

Houston is poised to reel in its best recruiting haul in a decade if the 2026 class holds. Five-star quarterback prospect Keisean Henderson is the crown jewel of that group. Stacking strong recruiting classes on top of one another is how he plans to build the program, ideally with 80% of the roster high school recruits and 20% transfers.

Fritz, who said he wants to turn Houston into a powerhouse, harkens back to the heyday of Bill Yeoman in the 1970s and, more recently, Kevin Sumlin and Tom Herman, who enjoyed success in the 2010s.

"They had some great teams here in the past," Fritz said. "Just keeping it up year after year had been a difficult part — and that's what we're going to do."

Competing on Saturday against Texas Tech is the next step toward attaining that level of consistency and building an annual winner.

( Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Fritz coached NAIA. It has been updated to reflect that he coached Division II .)

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Oct 2, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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