September 4, 2024 • 9 mins
University of Houston Cougars football head coach Willie Fritz joins The Matt Thomas Show following Saturday's 27-7 loss against the UNLV Rebels. The home season opener was also Fritz's debut with the Cougars. The Cougars were scoreless at the half, and their only points came in the final minute of the fourth quarter. Although the loss was disappointing, Fritz has implemented a directive that does not allow for dwelling on the past: the pout rule. "After 24 hours, we're done. We're moving onto the next deal," Fritz said. While penalties on offense and special teams weighed down the Cougars' performance, there were some silver linings on the defensive side of the ball. "We were more assignment-sound." The Cougars will take on the Oklahoma Sooners for their first road matchup Saturday.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Once a week we get the pleasure to visit with
the head football coach at the University of Houston. Cougar's
name is Willie Fritz and he's brought to you by
the Joint Chiropractical Official Chiropractor of University Houston Athletics. Coach,
thanks for the visit as always this week, and you
mentioned the pout rules, so let's get it out of
our system, to get out of our frame of conversation.
What was the POW rule like after that unfortunate performance
(00:23):
against the UNLB this past Saturday.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, I just tell your guys, you know, you know,
you got twelve of these opportunities here you're guaranteed with
and you got to put everything into each one that
you possibly can. And even if you played well, you know,
you know you won the game by fifty. You know,
you sit there and you revel and your success is
you're gonna be focused on the task in hands. So
I have a pout gloat rule. And after twenty four hours,
(00:47):
we're done. We're moving on to the next deal. And
and uh, you know it's uh, I've been doing it forever,
so it's not difficult for me. But you know, I
gotta get the kids you know, on board, and make
sure the other coaches are on board and understand that.
You know, we got to put all of our attention
in the next ball game against the University of Oklahoma,
(01:07):
you know, if we want to play as well as
we're capable of playing. So I'm disappointed, you know, last Saturday,
I made way too many mistakes, you know, and that's disappointing,
and we had to clean that up big time.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
You we mentioned sixty three new players, and all sixty
three played last week. But how long does it take
for a team that has had such a changeover like that,
And I don't know if you ever had in your
career been through that to get through. Yes, it's cool
working with each other and practice every day for a month,
but it certainly is a little bit different when you're
going against other people that want to take you guys down.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
No, You're exactly right. It's uh, you know, this is
you know the I've done this quite a few times
where I've taken over programs that have been down and
got them going in a different direction. But it's been
the first time I've done it. As you just mentioned,
were I've got so many new guys and uh, we
just got to get everybody on the same page. They're
(02:08):
working hard, everybody's working hard within our program. Uh, but
it's just you know, you got to do your one eleventh.
You can't make uh, you know, mistakes on you know
with one guy. You know you've heard mentioned many times
do your one eleventh and everybody doesn't want eleventh. You
got an opportunity to have a successful play. We just
(02:30):
had too many bus and uh. And then also some penalties.
You know, we talk all the time about the coogs
don't beat the koug's, and I was really disappointing our
special teams. We had four penalties which nullified a couple
of really big returns. So you know, those are the
areas that we're really trying to work out the assignments
sound and then also play clean football welly uh.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Depth chart, I guess has asked all the time for
coaches on a week to week basis, And when you
win big games, you don't want to worry about it.
But if you lose in a game that I think
a lot of folks disupport, including yourself. Like the easy
question is how much shuffling has there been? How much
consideration will there be for this game against Oklahoma? And
and how much do you spend with your coaches on
a whiteboard looking at that group, saying, all right, these
(03:16):
guys deserve a second chance. These guys deserve an opportunity
to get a little more playing time. Where do you
balance that right now, just one week end of the season.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Well, you really hit it on the head. I mean,
there's there's some of the guys you got a really
good look at. See what they're capable of doing. And
when the lights come on, how are they going to play?
How are they going to react lights on? Playing against
opposite color jersey? And you know, there's some guys who
moved up on the depth charge, some guys have moved down,
and some guys that are still kind of jocking for
(03:46):
position right there. Some guys will get opportunities based on
how they they played. Sometimes it's based on injury and
move up. And most of the time everybody gets their opportunity,
you know, and it's it's always interested to see who's
ready to take advantage of that opportunity. I've had to
tell a few guys that just just keep working hard
(04:08):
and at some point in time you're gonna get a
chance to show what you can do, and it sure
would be a shame if you weren't able to do it.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
How was Donovan's arm after everything? I know that he
had come off of off season surgery, and I know
that everything going into camp was good to How did
you feel like the zip was there? If it was,
will there be some You used three quarterbacks in the game,
and a lot of it was because of the score, obviously,
But does that is that situation not necessarily with Donovan starting,
but fluid in terms of maybe getting a second singleal
caller and just kind of maybe change of pace things
(04:36):
now and then.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Well there's an opportunity with change of pace, that's true.
But you know we got to you know, for a
quarterback to play well, you know, I mentioned this before.
I've had guys that were great quarterbacks and they weren't
maybe surrounded by a fantastic supporting cast and they look
like an average quarterback. And I've had some average quarterbacks
who had a fantastic supporting cast. Nobody thought they know
(05:01):
the next great uh, you know, the andre Ware coming up.
You know, so it's got to be you know, you
got to play, you know, as a unit on the
offensive side of the ball, and quarterbacks only as good
as his offensive line, his receivers tight ends his running backs,
you know, and uh, we just got to get everybody,
(05:22):
you know. The Donovan obviously he's better, you know, better
than what he showed on Saturday. But I really feel
like a bunch of those other guys are better than
what they showed on Saturday, too, So everybody's got to
get better.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Was there one part of the game that you did like?
I mean, it's hard to be negative Nancy for the
full conversation, so I'm curious if there's something that you
would like to say. Hey, I'll be honest with you, you know,
with the fact the offense just had such a difficult
time moving and the penalties and whatnot. I mean, from
a defensive perspective, I thought your guys did as much
as they could for as long as they were out there.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah, I really thought we played well, you know, especially
in the second half defensively, who stayed over the top.
Now they weren't throwing the ball much and h but
I thought we'd tackled better. We were more assignment sound.
So there were some things that looked, you know, good
on the defensive side of the ball. But you never
(06:13):
know what your pack the victory is and sometimes it's
on one side of the ball's got to play fantastic,
the other side of the ball struggling, and you know,
we have room for improvement on that side of the
ball as well. But there were some some good things
that we saw, you know, on the defensive side of
the ball.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Frankly, coach Oklahoma had very little trouble with Temple. You
obviously have seen the game film on that. The one
thing that probably turned that contest around pretty quickly was
the fact that Temple insisted on given the Oklahoma extra
possessions six turnovers. So that's always the key. But you
just that number is you can't bet anybody who you're
giving the ball up that many.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Times, No, you can't. You know, we talk all the
time about are playing to win. The first component of
that is one of the turnover takeaway margin. And you know,
I think I lost two games in my career plus
two or better, you know, so it's plus six, you're
gonna win, and you're gonna win big, you know. So
we've got to do a great job hanging out on
the football and win that phase in the ball game
(07:09):
as well. We need to get us we know had
a big interception, but we need to get two or
three more takeaways and and uh, you know, give ourselves
an opportunity to change field position. There's too much you know,
on our end of the field instead of the other
end of the field, you know, last Saturday. And in
order to have those big plays, you got to have
big pun kick returns. We had a couple I got
(07:32):
called back. Uh. We got to have, you know, do
a good job of getting some takeaways, you know, and
and you know, getting two or three of those and
give us some short fields for our offense. And then
if you don't score a touchdown, you still have put them,
you know, behind the eight ball having to have dried
eighty eighty five yards at the score. So uh much,
(07:54):
We've got to do much better job playing complimentary football.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Lastly, you've got so many guys that have played elsewhere,
so being in big venues should not be overwhelming. But
they'll have some young men on this football field that
you'll be putting in cougar uniform on that will be
in front of, you know, a large hostile crowd. What
kind of things will you be telling them before kickoff
in terms of don't let that sooner red over whelm
you at least early in the game.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Well, you know, I've been over there a couple of
times playing. You know, I met from my last school,
and it's a great venue, without question, you know, but
you just got to you got to play within the
white lines and just worry about what's going on there.
You know, some of our guys, in an excellent job
of that last episode, didn't do a very good job.
They're worried about things going on, and it stands or
(08:41):
you know, whatever the case may be. You got you
got to focus on the task in hand and for
three and a half hours in order to play the
very best that you possibly can. And you know, we've
we've got to get now worried about, you know, all
the pomp and circumstance going on with the ball game.
We just got to worry about playing the very best
capable of playing.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Coach, great visitors, always, thank you for the time, Good luck.
I'll see you Saturday up in the Norman and we'll
talk again next week. We appreciate the visitors always.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Thank you. Go Coops.
Once a week we get the pleasure to visit with
the head football coach at the University of Houston. Cougar's
name is Willie Fritz and he's brought to you by
the Joint Chiropractical Official Chiropractor of University Houston Athletics. Coach,
thanks for the visit as always this week, and you
mentioned the pout rules, so let's get it out of
our system, to get out of our frame of conversation.
What was the POW rule like after that unfortunate performance
(00:23):
against the UNLB this past Saturday.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, I just tell your guys, you know, you know,
you got twelve of these opportunities here you're guaranteed with
and you got to put everything into each one that
you possibly can. And even if you played well, you know,
you know you won the game by fifty. You know,
you sit there and you revel and your success is
you're gonna be focused on the task in hands. So
I have a pout gloat rule. And after twenty four hours,
(00:47):
we're done. We're moving on to the next deal. And
and uh, you know it's uh, I've been doing it forever,
so it's not difficult for me. But you know, I
gotta get the kids you know, on board, and make
sure the other coaches are on board and understand that.
You know, we got to put all of our attention
in the next ball game against the University of Oklahoma,
(01:07):
you know, if we want to play as well as
we're capable of playing. So I'm disappointed, you know, last Saturday,
I made way too many mistakes, you know, and that's disappointing,
and we had to clean that up big time.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
You we mentioned sixty three new players, and all sixty
three played last week. But how long does it take
for a team that has had such a changeover like that,
And I don't know if you ever had in your
career been through that to get through. Yes, it's cool
working with each other and practice every day for a month,
but it certainly is a little bit different when you're
going against other people that want to take you guys down.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
No, You're exactly right. It's uh, you know, this is
you know the I've done this quite a few times
where I've taken over programs that have been down and
got them going in a different direction. But it's been
the first time I've done it. As you just mentioned,
were I've got so many new guys and uh, we
just got to get everybody on the same page. They're
(02:08):
working hard, everybody's working hard within our program. Uh, but
it's just you know, you got to do your one eleventh.
You can't make uh, you know, mistakes on you know
with one guy. You know you've heard mentioned many times
do your one eleventh and everybody doesn't want eleventh. You
got an opportunity to have a successful play. We just
(02:30):
had too many bus and uh. And then also some penalties.
You know, we talk all the time about the coogs
don't beat the koug's, and I was really disappointing our
special teams. We had four penalties which nullified a couple
of really big returns. So you know, those are the
areas that we're really trying to work out the assignments
sound and then also play clean football welly uh.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Depth chart, I guess has asked all the time for
coaches on a week to week basis, And when you
win big games, you don't want to worry about it.
But if you lose in a game that I think
a lot of folks disupport, including yourself. Like the easy
question is how much shuffling has there been? How much
consideration will there be for this game against Oklahoma? And
and how much do you spend with your coaches on
a whiteboard looking at that group, saying, all right, these
(03:16):
guys deserve a second chance. These guys deserve an opportunity
to get a little more playing time. Where do you
balance that right now, just one week end of the season.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Well, you really hit it on the head. I mean,
there's there's some of the guys you got a really
good look at. See what they're capable of doing. And
when the lights come on, how are they going to play?
How are they going to react lights on? Playing against
opposite color jersey? And you know, there's some guys who
moved up on the depth charge, some guys have moved down,
and some guys that are still kind of jocking for
(03:46):
position right there. Some guys will get opportunities based on
how they they played. Sometimes it's based on injury and
move up. And most of the time everybody gets their opportunity,
you know, and it's it's always interested to see who's
ready to take advantage of that opportunity. I've had to
tell a few guys that just just keep working hard
(04:08):
and at some point in time you're gonna get a
chance to show what you can do, and it sure
would be a shame if you weren't able to do it.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
How was Donovan's arm after everything? I know that he
had come off of off season surgery, and I know
that everything going into camp was good to How did
you feel like the zip was there? If it was,
will there be some You used three quarterbacks in the game,
and a lot of it was because of the score, obviously,
But does that is that situation not necessarily with Donovan starting,
but fluid in terms of maybe getting a second singleal
caller and just kind of maybe change of pace things
(04:36):
now and then.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Well there's an opportunity with change of pace, that's true.
But you know we got to you know, for a
quarterback to play well, you know, I mentioned this before.
I've had guys that were great quarterbacks and they weren't
maybe surrounded by a fantastic supporting cast and they look
like an average quarterback. And I've had some average quarterbacks
who had a fantastic supporting cast. Nobody thought they know
(05:01):
the next great uh, you know, the andre Ware coming up.
You know, so it's got to be you know, you
got to play, you know, as a unit on the
offensive side of the ball, and quarterbacks only as good
as his offensive line, his receivers tight ends his running backs,
you know, and uh, we just got to get everybody,
(05:22):
you know. The Donovan obviously he's better, you know, better
than what he showed on Saturday. But I really feel
like a bunch of those other guys are better than
what they showed on Saturday, too, So everybody's got to
get better.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Was there one part of the game that you did like?
I mean, it's hard to be negative Nancy for the
full conversation, so I'm curious if there's something that you
would like to say. Hey, I'll be honest with you, you know,
with the fact the offense just had such a difficult
time moving and the penalties and whatnot. I mean, from
a defensive perspective, I thought your guys did as much
as they could for as long as they were out there.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah, I really thought we played well, you know, especially
in the second half defensively, who stayed over the top.
Now they weren't throwing the ball much and h but
I thought we'd tackled better. We were more assignment sound.
So there were some things that looked, you know, good
on the defensive side of the ball. But you never
(06:13):
know what your pack the victory is and sometimes it's
on one side of the ball's got to play fantastic,
the other side of the ball struggling, and you know,
we have room for improvement on that side of the
ball as well. But there were some some good things
that we saw, you know, on the defensive side of
the ball.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Frankly, coach Oklahoma had very little trouble with Temple. You
obviously have seen the game film on that. The one
thing that probably turned that contest around pretty quickly was
the fact that Temple insisted on given the Oklahoma extra
possessions six turnovers. So that's always the key. But you
just that number is you can't bet anybody who you're
giving the ball up that many.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Times, No, you can't. You know, we talk all the
time about are playing to win. The first component of
that is one of the turnover takeaway margin. And you know,
I think I lost two games in my career plus
two or better, you know, so it's plus six, you're
gonna win, and you're gonna win big, you know. So
we've got to do a great job hanging out on
the football and win that phase in the ball game
(07:09):
as well. We need to get us we know had
a big interception, but we need to get two or
three more takeaways and and uh, you know, give ourselves
an opportunity to change field position. There's too much you know,
on our end of the field instead of the other
end of the field, you know, last Saturday. And in
order to have those big plays, you got to have
big pun kick returns. We had a couple I got
(07:32):
called back. Uh. We got to have, you know, do
a good job of getting some takeaways, you know, and
and you know, getting two or three of those and
give us some short fields for our offense. And then
if you don't score a touchdown, you still have put them,
you know, behind the eight ball having to have dried
eighty eighty five yards at the score. So uh much,
(07:54):
We've got to do much better job playing complimentary football.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Lastly, you've got so many guys that have played elsewhere,
so being in big venues should not be overwhelming. But
they'll have some young men on this football field that
you'll be putting in cougar uniform on that will be
in front of, you know, a large hostile crowd. What
kind of things will you be telling them before kickoff
in terms of don't let that sooner red over whelm
you at least early in the game.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Well, you know, I've been over there a couple of
times playing. You know, I met from my last school,
and it's a great venue, without question, you know, but
you just got to you got to play within the
white lines and just worry about what's going on there.
You know, some of our guys, in an excellent job
of that last episode, didn't do a very good job.
They're worried about things going on, and it stands or
(08:41):
you know, whatever the case may be. You got you
got to focus on the task in hand and for
three and a half hours in order to play the
very best that you possibly can. And you know, we've
we've got to get now worried about, you know, all
the pomp and circumstance going on with the ball game.
We just got to worry about playing the very best
capable of playing.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Coach, great visitors, always, thank you for the time, Good luck.
I'll see you Saturday up in the Norman and we'll
talk again next week. We appreciate the visitors always.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Thank you. Go Coops.
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