Case Keenum Tutors UH Quarterback Donovan Smith Thanks to Willie Fritz, The Connector — How Houston’s New Coach Is Bringing Former Players Back Into the Fold

Donovan Smith remembers doing a quick double take the first time Case Keenum and Andre Ware both came up to him in a University of Houston football meeting room. It’s not every day college football’s all-time passing leader and a Heisman Trophy winner are both offering their help to a current college quarterback. Few college football programs in America can match that. This is a University of Houston thing and first year coach Willie Fritz is tapping into this UH power with a focus to reach back that’s rarely been seen before on Cullen Boulevard.

Determined to bring back as many former University of Houston football players into the fold as possible, Fritz and his staff have waged a relentless campaign to reach out and invite as many ex-UH players as possible to be part of the program. If you ever played for Houston, you’re welcome to come. And not just come. Participate. Fritz and his coaches are even bringing former players into their position meetings, a nearly unprecedented step in college football’s often cloistered and paranoid world, and asking them to share their insights.

This is how Donovan Smith found himself in a UH quarterbacks meeting, sitting right by Case Keenum, a 12 year NFL veteran who threw for 19.217 yards for the Cougars.

“That was pretty cool of (UH quarterbacks coach) Shawn Bell to invite me in there,’ Keenum tells PaperCity. “And not just me. There were a number of former quarterbacks in the room.”

When Smith went to the board to diagram a play at the front of the small room, he  found himself getting quizzed by Keenum, one of the best to ever do it in college football. “He kind of gave me pointers,” Smith tells PaperCity. “That was great. He gave me some tips on how I should handle that.

“And Andre Ware, just being able to talk to him. He’s like, ‘Hey, sometimes you have to take control and say things to people they may not like to try and win games.’ Just little things, pointers that helped them, they give ’em to me.”

Excuse Donovan Smith if he almost feels like he has two UH quarterback legend guardian angels looking over him, one on each shoulder, as he heads further into this season, with a daunting second game looming (at No. 15 Oklahoma on Saturday night with the Sooners 28 point favorites). For Case Keenum and Andre Ware are very invested in seeing Smith succeed.

Keenum’s talked to Smith about what he looks for when he steps under center and sees how a defense is lined up. Little keys and recognitions, shorts cuts to determining a defense’s tendencies.

“I probably tried to show him a lot of things,” Keenum says. “Everybody does it a little bit differently. . . Donovan’s a good quarterback. I’m excited to see what he does this season. He’s coming off an injury. Anytime you’re coming off an injury, you’ve got a little extra motivation.”

Smith’s first game of the season — 15 for 30 for 130 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions in a 27-7 loss to UNLV — is something of a dud that’s brought out all types of critics. Few bother to even note that Smith is coming off offseason shoulder surgery. But fellow quarterbacks recognize that.

This growing bond across Cougar quarterback generations is just one result of Willie Fritz’s commitment to honoring those who’ve come before in UH football. It’s not just high-profile former Houston quarterbacks who are being encouraged to be around the program more. This Fritz Blitz reaches across all positions, going back decades.

“That was pretty cool of (UH quarterbacks coach) Shawn Bell to invite me in there. And not just me.” — Case Keenum on former players being welcomed into position meetings.

Willie Fritz, The Connector. That, maybe as much as anything, is what sets this football lifer turned first-time Power 4 coach apart. Fritz brings joy and a real thankfulness — the kind that’s almost impossible to fake — for those who wore the UH uniform in the past.

Tony Fitzpatrick, a defensive line guru who coached for 12 years at the University of Houston under four different head coaches, saw the difference almost as soon as Fritz got hired.

“One of the first meetings I went to, he had a big function in the club over there at the stadium,” Fitzpatrick tells PaperCity. “I saw guys from (the late 19) forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties. Crazy. They reached way back. It was really neat.

“Willie has embraced the past to bring it up to the future.”

Making Former Players Feel Valued

Fitzpatrick, a loud larger-than-life personality who helped the University of Miami win its first ever national championship as an undersized nose tackle during his own college football playing days, often took it upon himself to help keep past UH players connected to the program. But in recent years, he found that to be an increasingly losing proposition.

“A former player that played for me — Phillip Hunt — came up to me at a (UH) game last year and he said, ‘Coach, I can’t stand this place, ‘ ” Fitzpatrick details. “I said Phillip, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘Because they don’t care about us.’ ”

That became a familiar refrain in recent years with some former football players coming back to the University of Houston and barely feeling welcome. Willie Fritz quickly started changing that within months of replacing Dana Holgorsen.

“One hundred difference,” Tony Fitzpatrick tells PaperCity. “One hundred percent. Especially the recent past. The guy who he just took the place of. . . His way of doing things is night and day from Dana.”

Fitzpatrick reached back out to Phillip Hunt, a defensive end who played seven years of pro football, as soon as Willie Fritz settled into his UH office. Hunt came back for that first major football alumni event Fritz and his staff organized. “He was blown away,” Fitzpatrick says, the pride evident in his voice. “He said, “Man, Coach that was awesome.’ ”

That’s Willie Fritz, The Connector.

Tony Fitzpatrick didn’t go to the University of Houston. He got out of coaching years ago and now works in oil and gas. But he lives in Houston and still wants to feel connected to the university where he coached for so long, the university of the city in many ways. And he really wants the guys he used to coach at UH to feel connected to the program.

Willie Fritz has a way of making former UH football players and coaches feel like they’re almost partners in the program. Because Fritz thinks they are. When the 64-year-old Fritz tells former UH players that his door is always open to them, they actually find it is.

“I love meeting the former players,” Fritz says. “I’ve met a bunch of them. Coming to a new place, I think that’s part of it. Embracing the history and the traditions of the university. . . They want to see their alma mater do well.”

Fritz lets the former players all the way in. There are no stop signs. Just warm welcomes. That’s why Keenum’s in a quarterbacks meeting. That is why Tony Fitzpatrick found himself practically shadowing current defensive line coach Oscar Giles at a practice.

“Shoot, I was five feet behind Oscar Giles’ drills and he loved it,” Fitzpatrick says. “He came over and hugged me. . . Just a lot of great things happening. And it expedities getting good and getting great as a program.”

An Army With Case Keenum

Case Keenum, the son of a football coach, isn’t about casting blame. He knows how hard it is to coach, how single minded one can get, how things can sometimes get lost amid all the responsibilities that pile up on a head coach’s shoulders. Keenum also had great success with Dana Holgorsen as his offensive coordinator for two seasons at UH. Keenum’s always stayed close to UH football.

But the NFL veteran’s noticed how connected Willie Fritz is making generations of University of Houston football players feel to the current program.

“Whether it was misunderstandings before or maybe how certain things came across, I’ve been impressed how Willie’s brought a lot of different eras of former players in,” Keenum tells PaperCity. “He’s made a lot of guys feel like a part of it. I’m excited to see where it goes from here.”

Willie Fritz has a way of making former UH football players and coaches feel like they’re almost partners in the program. Because Fritz thinks they are. When the 64-year-old Fritz tells former UH players that his door is always open to them, they actually find it is.

Case Keenum wants to do what he can to help. Keenum’s mentored C.J. Stroud, one of this generation’s greatest quarterback talents, every day with the Texans. Now he’s giving Donovan Smith pointers when he can. Even sitting in on that quarterbacks meeting in the offseason. Andre Ware wants to help too. So do so many former players who find Willie Fritz’s UH football program welcoming them in like they’ve never been welcomed in before.

“It means a lot to be remembered,” Tony Fitzpatrick says. “Because you lay your life out on the line. Your body gets beat up. Your mind gets beat up. Just everything about it. All the time you put into it. You want somebody to care about it. Especially at the university you played for. Or coached for.

“To have them reach out and put something on and tell us that they appreciate us. And thank you for coming back. And please be around.”

Fitzpatrick pauses. He’s already planning to be at as many UH games as possible this season. More and more of the guys who played for him at the University of Houston will be joining him too. Willie Fritz, The Connector, is already bringing Cougars together. It’s who he is.