Willie Fritz has built a successful career by taking programs to new heights. Could 2019 be the year that he does the same at Tulane?
by Dick Weiss for TheAmerican.com
Aside from that 1900 season where Tulane football outscored its opponents, 105-0, the Green Wave has had comparatively few moments in its history when it has been the talk of the nation. The last occurred in 1997 when Tommy Bowden coached the No. 7-ranked Green Wave to a 12-0 record, a Conference USA championship and a 41-27 victory over BYU in the Liberty Bowl.
The program has been largely been off the radar since then, but a turnaround has been the story in recent years as the school hired Willie Fritz from Georgia Southern to provide a spark.
Fritz came to New Orleans with a reputation for rebuilding programs at Blinn Junior College, Central Missouri and Sam Houston State before taking Georgia Southern to 9-3 and 8-4 records, a Sun Belt championship an invitation to the school’s first bowl game with a berth in the 2015 GoDaddy.com Bowl.
Fritz has methodically built the Wave back into a competitive American team in his first three years, coaching Tulane to four wins, then five and then a 7-6 season in 2018, its first winning record since 2013. Tulane won five of its last six games, tied for first in The American’s West Division and defeated Louisiana 41-24 in the AutoNation Care Bowl in Orlando.
This year, Tulane appears ready to take another quantum leap.
“We really want to build on what we did last season,” Fritz said. “We want to compete for conference championships. There’s no doubt about that. We feel like we’re in position to be able to do that. We’ve got a lot of guys coming back, a lot of experience. We’re deeper, bigger, stronger, quicker, faster. We’re comfortable with our schemes. We’re excited about the upcoming year.”
Tulane was picked to finish third in the West Division behind Memphis and Houston in the 2019 preseason media poll. Fritz has changed the culture in this program, but it is hard to tell whether it will be reflected in wins and losses. The Green Wave’s schedule is challenging, even difficult with a nonconference road games at No. 16 Auburn and an Army squad that was No. 19 in last year’s final poll. Additionally, there are league games against back-to-back American champion UCF at Yulman Stadium and road tests against Memphis, Navy, Temple and SMU.
But Tulane is no longer an easy matchup for anyone.
Fritz should be excited a defense that had 41 sacks last season and returns four starters, including Patrick Johnson, a 6-3, 250-pound defensive end who had 10.5 sacks; and two starters back from a secondary that collected 12 interceptions on the year and had an NCAA record 20 pass breakups in a game against ECU last season.
Fritz took steps to make his offense more up-tempo by naming a new offensive coordinator - former Memphis associate head coach Will Hall, who helped guide the Tigers to a record 3,311 rushing yards 42 rushing touchdowns and a second straight appearance in the American title game.
Hall will have plenty of playmakers to work with this year. Running back Darius Bradwell, whom Fritz refers dubs his “Brahma bull,” had a breakout season in 2018, rushing for1,134 yards and 11 touchdowns. Bradwell capped the season by rushing for 150 yards and two touchdowns against Louisiana in the bowl winand was selected as the game’s MVP. Corey Dauphine averaged 6.3 yards per carry and had seven touchdowns in support of Bradwell.
And the offense should be better now that LSU transfer Justin McMillian, who was 5-1 as the starter last year, has settled in for a full season and will have quality receivers like Darnell Mooney and graduate transfer Jalen McCleskey of Oklahoma State.
Mooney, who was the last player to receive a scholarship in Fritz’ first recruiting class, posted team bests with 48 receptions for 993 yards and eight touchdowns while averaging 20.7 yards per catch. McCleskey had a stellar career in Stillwater, ranking among the Cowboys’ top 10 career receivers with 167 catches for 1,865 yards.
If that isn’t enough, the Wave also has a sophomore special teams star in Amare Jones, who finished with an AAC-best 27.9-yard average on kickoff returns, good for fifth in the nation, and 939 all-purpose yards.
If all goes as expected, then Tulane could be planning a New Orleans celebration like it’s 1900.