Photo Gallery

NEW ORLEANS - Tulane University Director of Athletics Troy Dannen formally introduced Willie Fritz as the Green Wave' new head football coach during a press conference today in the Jill H. and Avram A. Glazer Family Club at Yulman Stadium. Fritz becomes the 40th head football coach in the 121-year history of the Tulane football program.

"Willie was our number one target of this coaching search from the day it began," Dannen said. "We attracted significant interest from around the country but after meeting with the candidates it was clear Willie was the right fit for our institution and our football program. He has rebuilt three football programs and led each of those programs into national prominence at their respective level. In his 23 years as a head coach, Willie has an established track record of producing quality men, high academic achievements and great competitive success."

"I am very excited about the opportunity to lead the Tulane football program and be a part of such a prestigious academic institution," Fritz said. "New Orleans and the surrounding areas are a hotbed for high school football and I look forward to the challenge of building Tulane into a consistent winner.

"I was very impressed with Troy and Barbara during the interviews and I truly believe in their vision of what can be accomplished at Tulane. I would like to thank Troy, Barbara and President (Mike) Fitts for this tremendous opportunity. I would also like to thank the administration and fans at Georgia Southern for the opportunity to coach at that school as well."

With 193 career victories (193-74-1), Fritz is currently the fourth active winningest head coach among coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision. He is currently tied with Kansas State's Bill Snyder.

Fritz brings 33 years of collegiate experience as a football student-athlete or coach to the Green Wave. He has led his teams to six combined conference championships (one at every level he has coached) and two bowl appearances. He was also twice named the national coach of the year, including the American Football Coaches Association Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Coach of the Year in 2011 and the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year in 2012.

Fritz, 55, comes to Tulane from Georgia Southern where he spent two seasons and led the Eagles to a combined record of 17-7, a 2014 Sun Belt Conference (SBC) title and the school's first-ever NCAA postseason bowl game with their berth in the 2015 GoDaddy.com Bowl. Georgia Southern concluded the 2015 regular season with an 8-4 overall record, including a mark of 6-2 in conference play.

Fritz led the Eagles to a 9-3 overall record and a perfect mark of 8-0 in conference play during his first season at Georgia Southern in 2014, and was named the SBC Coach of the Year. However, the school's waiver claim to allow Georgia Southern to play in a bowl despite being in the second year of the NCAA's transition period was denied.

Prior to Georgia Southern, Fritz served as head coach at Sam Houston State from 2010-13. A proven winner with more than 30 years of coaching experience, Fritz joined the Eagles from Sam Houston State, where he led the team to back-to-back Southland Conference titles, NCAA FCS championship appearances in 2011 and 2012, and a third-straight playoff berth in 2013.

The Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year at the FCS level in 2012, Fritz was recognized nationally in 2011 as the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Coach of the Year. Honored as the AFCA Regional Coach of the Year in 2011 and 2012, Fritz was selected by the media and his peers in the Southland Conference as the league's Coach of the Year in 2011 after his team went a perfect 7-0 in conference play.

In 2011 and 2012, Sam Houston State posted the two highest single-season win totals in program history with marks of 14-1 (2011) and 11-4 (2012) and Bearkat players were showered with accolades. More than 50 earned All-Southland Conference honors under Fritz in the last four years, not including additional "Player of the Year," "Offensive Player of the Year," "Defensive Player of the Year," and "Newcomer of the Year" awards. All-America status from national coaching and media outlets were bestowed on 11 Sam Houston State players during his tenure.

After a highly successful tenure at Blinn College, averaging nearly 10 wins a season during his four years there, Fritz left to revitalize a Central Missouri program and guided it to 11 winning seasons. The NCAA Division II program's ledger included two 10-win seasons with the 2001 Mule squad earning its first postseason trip in more than 30 years.

In 2002, Central Missouri made its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division II playoffs and was the Mid-America Athletic Association (MIAA) co-champion a year later. A 97-47 mark in 13 seasons ranks Fritz as the winningest coach in the program's 118-year history. He was the only coach to ever win seven or more games in eight consecutive seasons and his victory total ranked him 15th among active Division II coaches at the time. In addition to his impressive 67.4 winning percentage with the Mules, Fritz coached his student-athletes to achieve their potential both on the field and in the classroom. More than 150 Mules were recognized with All-MIAA honors with 41 first-team selections and 24 All-Americans.

Under Fritz, Central Missouri recorded a graduation rate of 84 percent with 144 MIAA Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll recipients, 14 Academic All-Region and three Academic All-Americans.

Serving as a graduate assistant for the Bearkat program during the 1984 and 1985 seasons, Fritz earned a master's degree in kinesiology while Sam Houston State posted a 16-6 record and won the 1985 Gulf Star Conference championship. He returned to Huntsville in 1991 after spending two years at Coffeyville College in Kansas under legendary Coach Dick Foster, earning a promotion to defensive coordinator after one year. He stayed another two years to work for Coach Skip Foster and the Red Ravens.

Coach Ron Randleman brought Fritz back to the state of Texas and Sam Houston State as secondary and special teams coach in 1991, instilling an attitude of excellence on special teams that would last more than a decade. The Bearkats' "block party" racked up 80 blocked punts, field goals and extra points beginning with Fritz in 1991 and lasting through 2004.

In Fritz's first year as a full-time assistant coach at Sam Houston State in 1991, the Bearkats won the Southland Conference. That league title and eight-win season launched SHSU to the program's second-ever appearance in the NCAA playoffs.

Fritz would leave Huntsville again, this time for an opportunity to be the head coach at Blinn College, where he would turn around a program that had only five wins in its previous three seasons.

From 1993-96, Fritz and the Buccaneers would rack up 39 victories against only five losses with a tie and claim two national junior college championships. He was inducted into the NJCAA Football Hall of Fame for the environment of success he created at Blinn.

One of seven children, Fritz is the son of the late Harry Fritz, who coached the Central Missouri football team in 1952 before continuing his career as the Executive Director at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in Kansas City. The elder Fritz also served at several colleges and universities in administration as an athletics director.

Fritz played on two conference title teams and was a four-starter at defensive back for Coach Randleman at Pittsburg State and remained at his alma mater as a student assistant coach for his alma mater in 1982. Early coaching stops included a year at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School (Kansas) in 1983 and Willis High School (Texas) in 1986, with his return to Sam Houston State for graduate school in between those years.

Fritz and his wife Susan have three children, Wesley, Lainie and Brooke.