The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Head Coach Willie Fritz Joins Before Cougars Face TCU This Weekend

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

Head Coach Willie Fritz Joins Before Cougars Face TCU This Weekend

133 sports talk 790 we have missed talking to our man the coach of our beloved Houston Cougars 8 and 2 on the season looking for win number 9 this Saturday 3 o'clock TDECU stadium Willie Fritz is with us here on the show Willie thank you for the time I kind of like it I don't know if you scheduled it intentionally this way or the big 12 gods did it for you but having two off weeks in the middle of the season it's kind of nice give you chance to regroup for the final stretch here yeah it is good I don't have that power So we got fortunate and we had a seven game stretch there where we played week after week and a couple times there's short weeks where we played on Friday.

But I do think the biweek came to a good time. We're able to heal up and just make sure their guys were ready for these last two, very, very important ball games. They are important. They're in-state rivals. And I know that everyone wants to argue about how the league looks as a 16-team group and who you play and who you don't play. but I would love, Willie, for you guys to be able to play TCU Baylor and Texas Tech every year. It's not going to happen that way.

But there's just a little something special about playing the in-state schools. Is there not? Yeah, I think, you know, we've said the same thing. We think it would be good if we could play those, you know, three schools. I think, you know, it's, you know, our state and everybody like to play each other. I think the other coaches feel the same way as well. Willie, the turnover battle has not been your friend the last few weeks, although you're able to overcome that in Orlando.

with the wick fixture against UCF. You have made it such a priority, as most coaches do, but you saw more than anybody else I've been around a long period of time. It just must, you want to pull your hair out when you turn the ball over

and you're able to overcome that against the Knights, a couple weeks back. Yeah, it's, you know, we had four and I think we're up being minus two on the game and it just makes it, you know, more difficult to win.

It just, it's the most telling statistic in football turnover, takeaway margin, and I've mentioned it many times in my career. We've been plus one or better. We've won 91% of our games. And I think in the NFL, it's like 64% of your plus one or better that you're going to win. So it's an important statistic. We work on a lot of crazy ball security offensively and then taking the ball away defensively, punching the ball out, all those kind of different things. You're actually seeing that a lot more college football in the NFL than, you know, I've ever seen before here the last couple of years.

but some we work on and you're right it's uh you know all day to day practice I just kept talking about plus one Cooke's win you know that we got to emphasize that every single day but you got a late interception

in the contest against UCF must have made that flight to Orlando feel like I got a 45 minute trip I think that really did it was big play by control web you know we we're ahead and try to take a shot in the end zone and they're down three

and we're fortunate to you know control really played it well and did a good job of picking it and took a knee and we were able to go on home you have during this time and this is where some of these postseason awards come into play tanner cozo your special teams guys it's kind of nice to get this kind of recognition so how do you let these young men say yes you're getting this run but at the same time we got two weeks of football at least to play if not for that third bowl game coming up too yeah those guys understand that we're really, you know, happy Tanner's finalist for the John Mackey Award.

I think I had explained to him who John Mackey was. Zero surprise on that, by the way. That's right. But he really had a fantastic season four. So then Ethan Sanchez, you know, it's done just a great job. I think he's 19 of 22 on field goals on the years. I had a couple game winners as well. And, you know, we always tell the, you know, I always make sure that I announce it in front of the team.

when these guys get special recognition. We've been lucky that we've had a bunch of guys. We've got special recognition this year. But, you know, it's all about the team. They know that. I always tell them all the time. You want to be about the individual or you. You need to get into MMA fighting.

You know, I don't have to worry about anybody else. But this fights with 10 other guys when you're out there on the field and 110 guys when we're in the locker room. So they all understand that and do a great job being great teammates. With all that being said, my last individual question, and Kosiel looks the part. Tell me about bringing him away from his previous school, coming here and then stepping on the floor, on the field of play.

He looks the part, Willie, but a professional tied in. I don't know what his future is going to be. I know what the draft status is, and hopefully we're going to worry about that way down the road. But he just looks like a guy that's going to be able to do it at the next level, and it's certainly been a huge targeting threat for Connor Wigman. Yeah, yeah, he really has. Those two have developed a really good, you know,

relationship throwing the ball and you know on the field off the field whatever but he just got great hands he's got a great catch radius everybody talks about that all the time it really makes it special he's able to extend his hands towards the ball and he's a big guy you know he's 6-6 he's got tremendous reach I think he's a pro guy you know they don't ask my opinion very much but you know I definitely think he is and you know but like he said we wanted to finish out for the coogs the very best you can. All right, let's get to TCU. First time I saw them play this year, I'm sure you've looked at all their film. They embarrassed the heck out of North Carolina. I mean, ruined Coach Belichick's initial run. This season's been good for them, but not great.

They looked rather porous against BYU. And maybe it's because the cougars, their cougars, Willie, putting up some huge numbers, especially in Provo. But a thought or two about this TCU team that has had a couple of very close affairs. And then obviously last week they were shell-shocked against the BYU Cougars. Yeah, I think up until that time, losses were by less than a touchdown. You know, I've got a lot of respect for Coach Dags, known him a long time.

You got a real quality quarterback in Hoover, you know, one of the top ones in the Big 12, really, in the nation. Good receiving core, you know, defensively. You know, they really do a good job and not allowing you to be successful running the football. They want you to throw the football and try to get after you. And they've always had a really potent return game special team. So it's going to be a big test for us.

Our kids understand that. You know, we've been, you know, we worked on a little bit the week before. I just felt like, you know, we'd had that seven-game stretch. We had a couple days where we worked on them and came back in on Monday and went hot and heavy after him. So looking forward to the game three o'clock on. Saturday, boy, we sure would like to get a bunch of people out there. I think it'll be two quality teams fighting it out at DDC Stadium.

And reality is, last year, Willie, the best performance by the Houston Cougar football team was probably in Fort Worth, Texas. Would you not agree? Yeah, plus four, you know, imagine that. You know, we didn't have a real good offense last year, but we really played well that game and kept the ball away from them and played great defense. And, yeah, it was a great game for us last season. And as we all know, each year is a brand new opportunity to play and see what you're all about.

And we want to play great this Saturday. All right, Willie, thank you for the time. I'm going to do everything in my humanly power to get every Houston Cougar alive to get to your stadium on Saturday afternoon for the 3 o'clock tilt. Looking forward to that. And we'll look forward to our visit again next week as we get ready for the game against Baylor. Thank you for the time as always. Thank you.