Willie Fitz has a new home after leaving the Tulane Green Wave to take over the Houston Cougars in 2024. After eight seasons, Fitz turned around the football program in New Orleans, and Jha’Quan Jackson believes the head coach can transition his success to the Cougars.
Jha’Quan Jackson Believes Willie Fritz Is a Great Fit for the Houston Cougars
After their inaugural season in the Big 12, Houston fired Dana Holgorsen following three consecutive losing seasons and hired one of the top candidates on the market for the 2024 season. Fritz had turned a struggling Tulane program around, finishing with a 54-47 record and three bowl victories.
Since taking the Green Wave job in 2016, Fritz has been able to develop players and turn them into NFL starts, with multiple former players entering the 2024 NFL Draft. One player is former Tulane WR Jackson, who thrived under Fritz’s leadership.
Speaking at the 2024 NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Jackson had high praise for his former head coach and commented on how he will be able to turn the Cougars around.
“I say the real, a real one. He keeps it real. He ain’t going to sugarcoat you,” Jackson claimed.
“The thing about him is he always says ‘18 years is hard to change’, the way he’s been coaching all his life,” the WR continued telling the media. “That’s the way he gonna coach. He’s not gonna change just because it’s 2024 in a new era.”
Fritz established a culture in New Orleans that was built on responsibility, accountability, and teamwork. “He always talks about the want to know, and he has a team that the culture is – you gotta have an objective,” Jackson said.
The Cougars enter the 2024 season at the bottom of CFN’s Big 12 Power Rankings. Fritz’s leadership should see Houston improve in the future. However, with several transfer portal departures, it is a rebuilding job for the new head coach.
Jackson believes there is hope for the Houston program in the future and outlines how Coach Fritz will lead the Cougars to victory. “He will probably say win the turnover battle, win your one-on-one, finish the fourth quarter, and win on special teams.”
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“If you believe that, he’s probably saying 90% of the time you’ll win the game,” Jackson continued. “Sometimes he was wrong, and sometimes he was right, you know, but just learn from him and the guys that they have around him.”
“The coaches are amazing. No matter if your position coach or a linebacker coach, they all treat everybody the same.”
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