Houston head coach Willie Fritz may have lost most of his voice over a 40-year coaching career but he still possesses the magic he’s used to turn struggling programs into contenders. We call him “Novocain” because his method will always work given time. He’s 30-25-1 in Year 1 as a head coach. He was 44-17 in Year 2 entering his second season in charge of the Cougars. 

Few questioned whether Fritz could work that magic in Third Ward. Houston is a hotbed of recruiting talent and the Cougars would undoubtedly become conference contenders by Year 4 of the Fritz era. There were some doubts about how fast he could do it for a Cougars program moving into the Big 12 that wasn’t receiving a full media share yet. 

Resources are king in the current landscape of college football and it isn’t speaking out of turn to say Houston is behind most of its Big 12 peers, especially the ones with conference championship hopes. While Texas Tech was spending millions in the transfer portal, Houston was losing its best two defensive backs an hour after spring practice ended. 

Yet, seven games into Year 2, Houston is 6-1 and still in the Big 12 conference race. Not bad for a team that went 4-8 in its first two seasons as a Power Four program. Fritz was open about his motivations for leaving Tulane and heading to Houston ahead of the 2024 season. He’s won at every level – JUCO, FCS, G5. But he hadn’t coached at the highest level of college football and he wanted to prove to himself that he could before hanging up his megaphone. 

Case closed. 

It isn’t that Fritz has turned Houston around that is impressive. After all, that’s what he does. It is how he’s made the Cougars into Big 12 contenders so fast that moves the needle. Fritz is a throwback. He’d prefer to recruit the high school ranks, stash those players away and let them develop, and then release them as upperclassmen. That’s how he won at Sam Houston and Tulane. He realized quickly that is not how he was going to win at Houston. Not in 2025, at least. 

Fritz wasn’t stubborn after Year 1 failures. Instead of complaining about new rules and roster building, he adapted. He replaced his offensive coordinator and overhauled the roster, signing over 30 transfers. Over half of his starters arrived this offseason, including quarterback Conner Weigman. 

Once upon a time, Weigman was a five-star recruit with true dual-threat abilities. He was an athletic gunslinger at Cypress Bridgeland who was a two-sport star who could’ve played professional baseball. Injuries at the end of his high school career and during his three years at Texas A&M stole his rushing ability. Jimbo Fisher’s offense didn’t help, either. In 15 career games over three years with the Aggies, Weigman ran the ball 67 times for 261 yards and two touchdowns. 

Fritz has made a career with running quarterbacks. He and offensive coordinator Slade Nagle rekindled the rushing ability inside Weigman and his legs have helped the Coogs become 6-1 on the season. Weigman ran the ball 14 for 98 yards and a touchdown in the 31-28 win over Arizona in Week 8. He never ran the ball more than eight times at A&M. He’s done that three times in seven games with the Cougars. 

Weigman has ran the ball 66 times in seven games at Houston, one fewer than his total runs in College Station. He’s gained 243 yards and scored six touchdowns, including at least one in five of the six wins this season. We wondered how Fritz and Nagle would tweak the offense to fit Weigman. Turns out, they didn’t have to tweak it all that much. Houston is bowl eligible and still in the Big 12 race heading into late October and Weigman’s wheels are a big reason why. 

The main reason is Fritz, of course. He’s one of the best in his profession, even if he isn’t always mentioned on the list of great coaches.