Houston announced on Sunday that Tulane coach Will Fritz has been hired to replace Dana Holgorsen. Fritz, whose Green Wave recently suffered a loss to SMU in the AAC Championship Game, has a career record of 208-116 as a head coach, including stints at Central Missouri, Sam Houston, Georgia Southern, and Tulane.
“I am truly humbled and honored to join the University of Houston family and to be a part of the strong athletics tradition at UH,” Fritz said. “There is no ceiling for success, with the incredible fan support, excellent facilities, talented young men and a collective desire to compete for championships. We will build a program that all Coogs can be proud of and I cannot wait to see the results.”
While his recent record at Tulane stands at 54-47 (31-34 AAC) over the past eight years, the Green Wave have emerged as a Group of Five powerhouse, achieving a 12-2 record and a Cotton Bowl victory over USC last season. Currently, at 11-2, Tulane anticipates its upcoming bowl game destination.
Under Fritz’s leadership, Tulane experienced consecutive bowl appearances for the first time since 1979 and 1980, and the program is poised for its fifth bowl game under his guidance.
Houston parted ways with Holgorsen after a challenging 4-8 season in their inaugural year in the Big 12. Despite Holgorsen’s earlier success with a 12-2 record in 2021, the program couldn’t sustain that level of achievement, leading to his departure with a 31-28 record over five seasons.
Fritz, honored as AAC Coach of the Year for the past two seasons and Boddy Dodd Coach of the Year last season, guided Tulane to a No. 9 ranking in the AP Top 25 poll in 2022, marking the program’s first top-10 finish since 1998.
