Willie Fritz was asked only two questions when he stepped to the podium today, but I got one-on-one interviews with him along with Michael Pratt, Sincere Haynesworth, Jarius Monroe and Patrick Jenkins and a group interview with UTSA QB Frank Harris in the breakout room a little earlier. Harris, who was named 2022 Conference USA MVP and is entering his seventh year of football (he was redshirted in 2017, played sparingly in 2018 and is taking his free COVID year) and Pratt became friends at the Manning Passing Academy this summer.
Here is what they had to say:
FRITZ
On having three DB coaches:
We've got an anchor position. We called it nickel last year. Rob Greene is coaching that position. Josh Christian-Young is coaching the safeties, the two-deep guys. It's unusual, but some of that ties into recruiting. All three of them are really good recruiters, and then Josh is kind of our lead coach in tackling. Rob is our lead coach in takeaways. He just did a presentation yesterday that was outstanding, and C-Y did a presentation a couple of days ago on tackling that was outstanding. As a matter of fact, he went out with the NOLA Gold (rugby team). And J.J.'s our effort coach, so we really put a premium defensively on those three areas."
On having only one guy coaching same position as last year and six new assistants but liking the staff makeup:
"I think good. We've got an outstanding staff and an outstanding support staff. I've been impressed with our graduate assistants on the defensive side of the ball. I've been impressed with our analysts on the defensive side of the ball, and all of these guys are also really involved in special teams as well." (Editor's note: Fritz was not dissing his offensive assistants. He thought I was talking about defense only and I did not realize it until after the interview):
On adjustment of having coaches who were not there in the spring (defensive line coach Gerald Chatman, running backs coach Carter Sheridan, special teams coach Greg McMahon):
"It was really only one. Rob came in with about seven or eight practices left. Shiel was here (when Mike Mutz left early in spring drills). The thing that's good is the NCAA lets you do a lot of stuff in the summer. Ten years ago, you weren't able to do anything. Now you can do all sorts of drills with technique and fundamentals and all that stuff, so the guy gets to implement his philosophy. In the past he wouldn't have been able to do anything with these guys until the first day of (preseason) practice."
(I am not going to quote Fritz on losing McMenamin because I turned my recorder off before I asked him in case he did not want to talk about it, but there's no big secret there. McMenamin left recently to spend more time with his family, and the demands of recruiting at this level might have worn on him. Fritz did not mention any other reason. He added it was a good thing he had no hobbies because he never had to worry about needing more time to do other things.)
On being picked first:
"Every year is a new year. I tell guys you don't want to carry past success or past failures. They're going to hurt you. It's a new season. You want to be the best you can every single day. What you did yesterday isn't going to help you tomorrow. I'm very consistent. Our guys didn't hear me say a word about being picked seventh last year, and they're not going to hear a word about us being one."
On having a leader like Pratt to spread Fritz's message:
"It's very important. You want your leaders to convey the message that you're putting out there to the team. If they've got their own agenda, they are going to have issues and problems. We've been very fortunate that we had great leadership last year and we're going to have great leadership this year, but you know I've said it a million times that I thought we had outstanding leadership the year before and we were only 2-10. Most teams would have had all sorts of problems. I had next to zero."
On tough early schedule:
"South Alabama is really good. It's a tough schedule. It's going to be very challenging. This is different. There's a lot of reasons why we won a lot of games last year, but I think one of the reasons is we were able to play a lot of guys in week one (Massachusetts) and week two (Alcorn State) and figure out who to play. We knew that going into the season--we have a pretty good chance of winning these two games and we're going to play a lot of people. We did it, it worked out and we learned a lot. We don't have that option this year. We're going to have to figure it out before week one."
FRITZ ON PODIUM
"I'm very excited to be here. I appreciate everybody coming out. I've had a lot of questions about what I think as far as us being preseason No. 1. We were picked No. 7 last year, so it really doesn't mean much as far as your preparation is concerned. Our guys had an outstanding summer of preparation. We'll continue that in preseason camp. We'll report on Tuesday, Aug. 1 and have the first practice the following day. I'm looking forward to building upon what we were able to accomplish last season."
On if he tells players to forget about last year or what he brings up:
"Our preparation's always been the same. I'm very consistent with our preparation. Just like I tell our guys, regardless of the outcome on Saturday, you gotta flip the script and flush that game down the toilet and go on to the next one. I understand how to compartmentalize the season or the game or whatever the case may be. Looking back on past successes or failures, you're not going to be the very best you can. I never brought it up where we were ranked last year to our guys and I'm not going to bring it up this year."
On Tulane's season indicating the parity in the conference:
"We've got a lot of really good coaches and a lot of really good players in this league. You get on a roll, some things can happen good for you. We certainly had a lot of bad things happen two years ago and a lot of good things happen for us last year. The year before, we could have won six, seven or eight games and had misfortune. Each season is its own season. Right now everybody is undefeated and feels good about things. We certainly feel that way, too, but you have to go out and do it."
Here is what they had to say:
FRITZ
On having three DB coaches:
We've got an anchor position. We called it nickel last year. Rob Greene is coaching that position. Josh Christian-Young is coaching the safeties, the two-deep guys. It's unusual, but some of that ties into recruiting. All three of them are really good recruiters, and then Josh is kind of our lead coach in tackling. Rob is our lead coach in takeaways. He just did a presentation yesterday that was outstanding, and C-Y did a presentation a couple of days ago on tackling that was outstanding. As a matter of fact, he went out with the NOLA Gold (rugby team). And J.J.'s our effort coach, so we really put a premium defensively on those three areas."
On having only one guy coaching same position as last year and six new assistants but liking the staff makeup:
"I think good. We've got an outstanding staff and an outstanding support staff. I've been impressed with our graduate assistants on the defensive side of the ball. I've been impressed with our analysts on the defensive side of the ball, and all of these guys are also really involved in special teams as well." (Editor's note: Fritz was not dissing his offensive assistants. He thought I was talking about defense only and I did not realize it until after the interview):
On adjustment of having coaches who were not there in the spring (defensive line coach Gerald Chatman, running backs coach Carter Sheridan, special teams coach Greg McMahon):
"It was really only one. Rob came in with about seven or eight practices left. Shiel was here (when Mike Mutz left early in spring drills). The thing that's good is the NCAA lets you do a lot of stuff in the summer. Ten years ago, you weren't able to do anything. Now you can do all sorts of drills with technique and fundamentals and all that stuff, so the guy gets to implement his philosophy. In the past he wouldn't have been able to do anything with these guys until the first day of (preseason) practice."
(I am not going to quote Fritz on losing McMenamin because I turned my recorder off before I asked him in case he did not want to talk about it, but there's no big secret there. McMenamin left recently to spend more time with his family, and the demands of recruiting at this level might have worn on him. Fritz did not mention any other reason. He added it was a good thing he had no hobbies because he never had to worry about needing more time to do other things.)
On being picked first:
"Every year is a new year. I tell guys you don't want to carry past success or past failures. They're going to hurt you. It's a new season. You want to be the best you can every single day. What you did yesterday isn't going to help you tomorrow. I'm very consistent. Our guys didn't hear me say a word about being picked seventh last year, and they're not going to hear a word about us being one."
On having a leader like Pratt to spread Fritz's message:
"It's very important. You want your leaders to convey the message that you're putting out there to the team. If they've got their own agenda, they are going to have issues and problems. We've been very fortunate that we had great leadership last year and we're going to have great leadership this year, but you know I've said it a million times that I thought we had outstanding leadership the year before and we were only 2-10. Most teams would have had all sorts of problems. I had next to zero."
On tough early schedule:
"South Alabama is really good. It's a tough schedule. It's going to be very challenging. This is different. There's a lot of reasons why we won a lot of games last year, but I think one of the reasons is we were able to play a lot of guys in week one (Massachusetts) and week two (Alcorn State) and figure out who to play. We knew that going into the season--we have a pretty good chance of winning these two games and we're going to play a lot of people. We did it, it worked out and we learned a lot. We don't have that option this year. We're going to have to figure it out before week one."
FRITZ ON PODIUM
"I'm very excited to be here. I appreciate everybody coming out. I've had a lot of questions about what I think as far as us being preseason No. 1. We were picked No. 7 last year, so it really doesn't mean much as far as your preparation is concerned. Our guys had an outstanding summer of preparation. We'll continue that in preseason camp. We'll report on Tuesday, Aug. 1 and have the first practice the following day. I'm looking forward to building upon what we were able to accomplish last season."
On if he tells players to forget about last year or what he brings up:
"Our preparation's always been the same. I'm very consistent with our preparation. Just like I tell our guys, regardless of the outcome on Saturday, you gotta flip the script and flush that game down the toilet and go on to the next one. I understand how to compartmentalize the season or the game or whatever the case may be. Looking back on past successes or failures, you're not going to be the very best you can. I never brought it up where we were ranked last year to our guys and I'm not going to bring it up this year."
On Tulane's season indicating the parity in the conference:
"We've got a lot of really good coaches and a lot of really good players in this league. You get on a roll, some things can happen good for you. We certainly had a lot of bad things happen two years ago and a lot of good things happen for us last year. The year before, we could have won six, seven or eight games and had misfortune. Each season is its own season. Right now everybody is undefeated and feels good about things. We certainly feel that way, too, but you have to go out and do it."
