There is a lot of noise about Tulane HC Willie Fritz and his candidacy as Georgia Tech Head Coach. Some sites report this as a near-done deal. Nobody has reported it as official. You know how that works. If it is not officially confirmed, it’s not final. If it is not final, the search is not over.
That said if it does end up being Willie Fritz, the Georgia Tech fan in me will view this as a huge letdown and disappointment.
Willie Fritz may be a fine football coach, but there are red flags that concern me. The buzz all along is that Jamey Chadwell of Coastal Carolina was one of the top choices or interim coach Brent Key. I’m skeptical if Fritz is named HC he was one of the first choices.
I am concerned that Fritz has never coached at the P5 or NFL level in any capacity. That was also my concern with Jamey Chadwell, but he is regarded as an upcoming head coach. I’m not sure we can say that Fritz is an upcoming and-coming coach as he started his career in 1982.
His long career doesn’t preclude future success, but a stop somewhere at P5 school or NFL at some point would have been nice.
Before this year he had a 16-32 AAC record in his first 6 years at Tulane. Even after a special 2022 season, he still sits 10 games under .500 in the AAC.
You can expect a major exodus to the transfer portal if he arrives as Key for example is hugely popular with players, and it’s unlikely much talent will follow him from Tulane. This year’s Tulane class has only seven 3 star players. Georgia Tech’s roster would likely be gutted creating another multi-year effort to rebuild the roster.
Can Fritz rebuild through the transfer portal? Possibly, but that remains to be seen.
Collins for all his deficiencies and there were many did give Georgia Tech adequate talent.
I will credit Fritz for leading this year’s Tulane to the 2022 AAC championship and a 10-2 record. He won at places like Georgia Southern, and Sam Houston State.
He would be an immediate upgrade tactically from Geoff Collins, but who wouldn’t be?
Fritz would be a clean slate from that dismal era of football, and that is a point in his favor.
I’ll keep an open mind if Fritz is hired.
There is nothing else you can do, but my initial reaction will be disappointment, then just hope for the best.
Georgia Tech is doing a lot of that lately – just hoping for the best.
