Anonymous Big 12 coach feels Houston is 'still a year off' in rebuild under Willie Fritz

The Houston Cougars have stumbled in their first two seasons in the Big 12. That included the final year for the program under Dana Holgorsen and now their first under Willie Fritz, a renowned program builder.

Well respected around college football, coaches see the vision for Houston under Fritz. However, as one Big 12 coach who spoke anonymously to Athlon explained, the Cougars are still probably a year away because of how he operates.

“Fritz isn’t a guy who rushes anything,” the Big 12 coach said. “I think this year is a step in the right direction, but they’re still a year off.”

Willie Fritz has been a head coach at five different college programs, both at the Division I and Division II levels. Most of those have been rebuilding projects, and he’s found success at every stop he’s made along the way. That’s a large part of why he was given his first Power Four opportunity at Houston.

Offense has long since been Fritz’s calling card, even as a former defensive backs coach. Still, that side of the ball was an issue last season for Houston. At just 14 points per game, the Cougars were 133rd out of 134 FBS teams in scoring offense. That led to some major retooling on the offensive side of the ball for next season.

“It’s all about the offense. Willie [Fritz] went back to what he knows, bringing Slade [Nagle] back onto the staff. They grabbed [Conner] Weigman,” a Big 12 coach said. “And they’re going to look a lot more like those Tulane systems from a few years ago.”

Coaches around the Big 12 still have their concerns. The major issue for Houston was the offensive line, and that can be a challenging fix. Without it, though, the Cougars are still going to run into their share of issues on offense.

“It’s all about how well they can start on offense,” a Big 12 coach said. “This was the worst O-line in our league. Easy to hassle the QB, not very tough up front.”

On the plus side for Houston, the defense was solid last season. That unit is expected to be good again in 2025, which will go a long way in helping the rebuild amid some more growing pains for the offense.

“Defensively, they did a lot of stuff really well in the first year,” a Big 12 coach said. “And they’ve built on that in recruiting.”

Houston is going to begin its 2025 season on August 28th against Stephen F. Austin. They’ll then begin Big 12 play on September 12th at home against Colorado.