Tilman Fertitta “Thrilled” With Willie Fritz and UH Football, Sees Return To Double Top 25 As Houston History — The Call From Italy

It is almost 9 pm on a Sunday night in Rome when Tilman Fertitta calls back, happy to talk some University of Houston football and Willie Fritz. Fertitta and his son Patrick Fertitta have been regularly texting and talking about the Cougars’ remarkable 7-1 start and the program’s return to the Top 25, which happened on Sunday after three years of being out of the football polls.

“(UH chancellor) Renu (Khator) is excited,” Fertitta tells PaperCity. “I’m excited. Our AD Eddie (Nuñez) is excited. We’re just thrilled. You’re always thrilled when you feel like you made the right choice and signed him to a longterm contract.”

Fertitta may be proudly serving the United States as the ambassador to Italy and San Marino, based in the historic Villa Taverna in Rome. But he’s still devoutly following his beloved University of Houston closely, catching games and highlights whenever he can. Few understand just how much Fritz having UH back in the Top 25, contending for the Big 12, in year two of the coach’s rebuild, means to the ambassador.

“It’s thrilling to be here,” Fertitta says. “I don’t think we’d be here if we hadn’t made the change.”

Ending Dana Holgorsen’s Houston coaching run after five years and three losing seasons took a major financial commitment from UH ($14.8 million in a buyout), but Willie Fritz has completely reenergized everything with the Houston football program. Including — and maybe especially — recruiting in the greater Houston area. In many ways, Fritz’s program is at least a year ahead of schedule with this 7-1 return to national football relevance.

That’s not lost on any of UH’s biggest believers.

“Arizona and Arizona State are two good football teams,” Fertitta, whose relentless push allowed UH to get into the Big 12 in the first place, says. “There’s not many teams in the country that are beating them back-to-back.” Fritz’s Houston program just pulled off that double dip, downing Arizona 31-28 in a walk-off win at the buzzer at home and then ending Arizona State’s 10-game Big 12 home winning streak seven days later.

“The most impressive thing about the team this year is they keep getting better,” Fertitta says. “Defensively, we keep getting better. Offensively, we keep getting better. And that’s always what you want. Your team to get better as the year goes on.”

“It’s thrilling to be here. I don’t think we’d be here if we hadn’t made the change.” — Tilman Fertitta

It all goes back to that first meeting with Willie Fritz during the hiring process in many ways, a moment that seems to have changed the course of UH football.

“Patrick was with us,” Tilman Fertitta notes. “I have to give some credit to the past AD (Chris Pezman). Myself, Patrick, Renu, Pez — we just liked him. We felt like he had the respect of players. Over time, with the right coaching staff and the right athletes being recruited together — we thought he’d be able to recruit like we needed — it’d work. Willie had a plan.

“When a guy’s coached at six different places at all different levels and is always successful, why wouldn’t he be successful here? That’s exactly what has happened.”

Fertitta tells PaperCity that he’s impressed with how Fritz navigated losing his defensive coordinator to Texas Tech and changing his offensive coordinator, bringing in Austin Armstrong and Slade Nagle. All while weathering some talented players transferring out in the offseason. UH’s billionaire believer also found himself touched by the way Fritz talked about the death of strength coach Kurt Hester in the moments after the biggest win of his still early UH tenure, immediately putting the focus on the real-life heartache of seeing a courageous Houston man’s cancer fight end.

“First, he’s just a good person,” Tilman Fertitta says of Fritz.

“The most impressive thing about the team this year is they keep getting better. Defensively, we keep getting better. Offensively, we keep getting better. And that’s always what you want. Your team to get better as the year goes on.” — Tilman Fertitta

UH’s Top 25 Double

Now, the University of Houston is one of seven schools to have teams ranked in both the AP College Football Top 25 and College Basketball Top 25. The Coogs (No. 22 in football, No. 2 in basketball) are joined by Alabama (No. 4, No. 15), BYU (No. 10, No. 8), Texas Tech (No. 13, No. 10), Tennessee (No. 14, No. 18), Louisville (No. 16, No. 11) and Michigan (No. 21, No. 7). That’s true two-time major sport power, a sign of strength any elite university in the country would be happy to have.

“Absolutely,” Fertitta says when I ask if being ranked in both football and basketball at the same time means something. “UH has a history of having powerful athletics. There’s only seven schools in the whole United States ranked in both football and basketball. That’s a compliment to our university.

“And what’s been built over the last 10 to 15 years.”

The ambassador has to go, but before the interview ends, Tilman Fertitta reminds that being overseas doesn’t mean he’s not following his university of choice as closely as ever. Fertitta texted Nuñez late Saturday night (very early in the morning in Rome Sunday) immediately after Fritz’s team closed out that win at Arizona State and again late Sunday morning Houston time, wanting to talk Cougar football.

Stay tuned to PaperCity Houston for more.