Fritz excited about Sam Houston coaching job
12/21/2009 12:00:00 PM | Football
Sam Houston State athletic director Bobby Williams said it best during Monday morning's press conference, which officially introduced Willie Fritz as the new head football coach.
"It is a great day to be a Bearkat," Williams told the audience at the Ron Mafrige Field House.
For the SHSU administrators, faculty, coaches, fans, student-athletes and boosters on hand for the announcement, it truly was a great day to be a Bearkat.
With the room still buzzing about the Sam Houston State men's basketball team's big win over Auburn on Sunday afternoon, the excitement only grew as Williams and university president James Gaertner talked about the decision to hire Fritz.
"I can't tell you how pleased personally I am to have coach Fritz here," University President Dr. Jim Gaertner said. "He has been successful everywhere he has been. He knows Sam Houston. He went over to Blinn and won two consecutive national championships over there. He went up to (Central) Missouri and really turned the program around.
"I've been told that when he was here and coaching our special teams was when we really started blocking kicks. I know he can coach and he fits in well. I just love his personality and his can-do attitude and I'm just sure he is the person for the job."
Fritz was hired Friday after spending the past 13 years as the head coach at Central Missouri. He went 97-47 and guided the Mules to the Mid-America Athletic Association championship in 2002.
Before that, Fritz was the head coach at Blinn College from 1993-96 and went 39-5-1 on the way to winning two NJCAA national titles. He was a graduate assistant at SHSU in 1984-85 where he met Williams and was the Bearkats' secondary and special teams coach from 1991-92.
"Willie and I have a history," the athletic director said. "We have worked together, we have watched film together and we have recruited together. We have done a variety of different things and won championships together, which is very positive.
"... I'm really excited to have Willie here. It is a great time as we move forward. I know this is an extremely important hire for me personally, this department and this university to get our football program where it deserves to be."
Fritz talked about the goals he has for the SHSU football program both on and off the field.
"Our number one goal is to be the best student that we can be," the coach said. "... I can't lose sight of the fact that the number one goal for all of our student-athletes is to get their degree. If they play for me for four or five years and leave without a degree, I really feel like they wasted their time.
"Number two, I want guys to have a passion for football like I have a passion for football. When I go in and recruit young men, if they are wishy-washy about playing the great game of football, those are the guys I'm not interested in recruiting.
"I want guys that are interested in getting stronger, quicker and faster and being the best football players that they can be and never losing sight of the fact that they want to be on a championship team," Fritz added. "In this day and age people talk about 'me' all the time and I want guys that are interested in 'we.'
"I also want to make sure that I lead guys in the right direction. I really want to make sure that our guys leave here a better person than when they came in. ... Last but not least, we want to do all these things in the right way."
Fritz also said he is currently working on putting together a staff so the Bearkats can hit the road and start recruiting. He was going to meet with the assistant coaches who served under former head coach Todd Whitten early this week to see if some of those guys fit into his plans.
"(A staff) is what I'm putting together right now over the next couple of days," Fritz said. "Obviously you want to have some guys that have great contacts and ties with the state of Texas.
"I was already excited about taking this job, but I went over and watched a ball game in Austin on Saturday and it was just tremendous to be back in Texas and see the passion people have for high school football and university football as well.
"We would be foolish not to make Texas our number one priority, especially the high school students."
Fritz's defensive and special teams background was one of the reasons he was selected to take over the Sam Houston program. The Bearkats had one of the worst defenses in the Southland Conference last season.
Fritz said he was going to run the 4-2-5 defensive scheme, which is four linemen, two linebackers and five defensive backs, something SHSU is familiar with.
With the emphasis being put on defense and returning the glory days of the "Block Party," a period between 1991 and 2004 in which the Bearkat special teams blocked 80 kicks, Fritz also talked about his offensive philosophy.
"Offensively, number one you have to tailor things to your personnel," Fritz said. "We run a diverse offense. We run some two (running) back, some one back and some empty backfields as well. Nowadays, people are trying to spread people out, but you have to have the ability to run the football.
"... I do believe you have to be two-dimensional."
