Willie Fritz Lied About Retiring At Tulane During Interview Earlier This Year, Bolts For Houston Job

Most would have confidently predicted that Willie Fritz would end his coaching career at Tulane. Not only had the 63-year-old completely revitalized the program since taking over in 2016, but he quite literally said that he'd be retiring as the head coach of the Green Wave.

Things change, however, and they clearly did for Fritz as he was hired as the Houston Cougars' head coach shortly after Tulane's loss to SMU in the American Athletic Conference title game on Saturday.

Fritz bolting New Orleans and moving five hours West comes less than a year after he explained that he and his wife had decided to retire at Tulane.

While Fritz is a veteran who has coached at multiple levels, but even after 40 years in the business he never learned the rule of never predicting your future. You never know what type of opportunities are going to present themselves, and Houston was one he very clearly could not pass up.

The safe play we see from coaches in most cases when asked about their future is them saying some version of 'My family and I are very happy here' which gives them wiggle room to jump ship in the middle of the night. Fritz flat-out saying that he was going to retire in New Orleans was a mistake, period.

Green Wave supporters have every right to be frustrated at the situation. Not only did Fritz look into a camera and told fans that he wasn't going anywhere, but he's posted a record of 23-4 over the last two seasons including a Cotton Bowl victory over USC a year ago.

While some anger is warranted, Tulane fans would be doing themselves a disservice if they decided to hold a legitimate grudge against its now-former head coach.

Prior to Willie Fritz arriving in New Orleans in 2016, the Wave had one winning season since 2003. Tulane was an afterthought for just about every team who had it on its schedule since the turn of the century, but Fritz turned the perception of the program completely upside down.