KatFans.com Exclusive: Q&A With Coach Fritz - Western Illinois

KatFans.com Exclusive: Q&A With Coach Fritz - Western Illinois

KatFans.com caught us with Coach Fritz during the Southland Conference Media teleconference to take the questions of the Bearkat Nation to the coach. The Kats take on the Western Illinois Leathernecks tomorrow in Huntsville at 7pm. The Leathernecks return a veteran squad but have a huge hole that needs to be filled at QB. The Bearkats will be looking for revenge as the Necks handedly beat the Kats last season in Macomb, Ill.

Tell us about camp this year and preparations for Western Illinois on Thursday:

Coach Fritz: We had a hot camp, just like everyone else. We tried to get the most out of our practices by having them in the early mornings and late evenings. When school started back up we had to go to practice in the afternoons to accommodate some kids with evening classes. We had a couple of kids get banged up in camp but they’ve had a week or two to recover so we hope to have them on the field this Thursday. We’ve got a veteran squad this year as compared to last year where 50% of our kids were new. We’ve got a better understanding of the game and our system, overall camp was very productive.

Is Western Illinois going to be tougher against the run or pass, and how are we preparing for the possibility of two QB’s?

Coach Fritz: They are a very good and balanced team. They are a lot like us in they want to establish the run and do a lot of play action off of that. They are a very physical team, they had a RB that had over 1,000 yards and their second team RB had almost 900. As far as the QB situation neither one of them had a lot of playing time last year. One played a little bit against us after the game got away from us. Both of them are right handed and I am sure they are going to run the same offense because they have a lot of returning starters. I think we gotta prepare for everything and be as ready as possible. I’m sure there will be a wrinkle or two in all three phases for them just like us, but we can’t let it concern us about having two quarterbacks.

How much of an advantage do we have over WIU being acclimated to this heat?

Coach Fritz: It has been extremely hot down here. It’s been hot throughout the Midwest but the Texas heat is a little different with the humidity. We’ve been practicing in the afternoons and our guys should be prepared for it.  

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Q&A With Women's Soccer Head Coach, Tom Brown

Q&A With Women's Soccer Head Coach, Tom Brown
Katfans.com Exclusive Article

Tom Brown is entering his fourth season as the Bearkat's head coach, and has high expectations for the upcoming year. After taking over the team in 2008, Coach Brown has gotten the team to the playoffs 3 of his 4 seasons at Sam, as well as posting a 27-28-3 record at Sam. Coach Brown took some time out of his schedule to sit down and answer some questions for the Bearkat Nation:

Tell us a little about this year’s team, and how they will be different than last year’s team?

I think this year’s team finally (will be younger), we tend to be a bit older team. We’ve been a very young the past few years, and now a lot of our players are juniors and we only have one senior. That junior class has started for us for such a long time. A lot of those players have already been two-year starters. It’s nice we’ll be a little bit older on the field and a little bit more experienced. I think between the last two (seasons), that’ll probably be the biggest difference, as far as the team. We also have to replace Jenny Pence in goal; she’s been a four-year starter for us. That’s been kind of a been a key as we’ve looked to replace her position and then how we want to organize ourselves in response to that.
Losing Jenny Pence, the starter for 4 years, how are the other two goalies, Michele McCullough and Mallory Garthwaite handling the competition for starter this year?

I think good. They both were obviously around in the spring, and I thought they both progressed well through the spring. Both have been a little banged up with nagging injuries through training camp. I don’t think we’ve been able to get everything out of them as we would have liked to, but I think their training has been good, and the biggest thing early on is for them to get into the games early on and gain some experience, and we figure they’ll make some mistakes early on, but we’ll be able to use those as teaching tools as we progress toward the conference games.

Coming into your 4th season as coach, where do you see the team heading?

I think we’ll be very competitive in the conference. We return two players that were preseason first team all conference players with Tricia Mallory and Kirby Zak. I think we’ll be good in the attack. We’ve added Jessica Toms, who was a freshman that comes in with a lot of experience and I thought she’s had a very good preseason over the last couple of weeks. Our biggest thing is trying to get the defensive group sorted out. We’ve had a very pleasant surprise with Ashley Fluty, another freshman out of the Dallas area who has come in and done extremely well for us, better than I had anticipated. We’ll use this first month, as far as non-conference schedule, to get ourselves organized a little bit more. I think we’ll be good in conference by the time we get there.

With the Women’s World Cup run this summer, how excited are the girl’s to get on the field? It seems each year the World Cup goes on, people get a little more excited about soccer? Any of that excitement carry over on the team, are they excited to get out there?

I always think so. Once they get back, even when it’s not a World Cup year, all of them are aware of what the Women’s World Cup team was able to accomplish this last year, and had a chance to see some of that. I think that’s good, not only for our players, but I think we have a lot of people that participate in soccer in our nation, but not a lot of people that watch soccer in our nation. The more excited people can get, I think that’s good for our team, it’s good for collegiate soccer, and it’s good for soccer across the whole nation.
Moving to the Southland, we were picked to finish 5th, tied with Lamar. Where do you put the Kats this year, and which team (outside of SFA) is the team to beat?

I think it’s hard to pick a team to beat. I think Southeastern Louisiana returns some very good players and they were very successful last year. I think they obviously have to be up there close with Stephen F. Like you said, SFA is the team that’s picked to win it. They were the team I put number one in my poll. I think they’ve got some quality players, and I’m good friends with their head coach, and I think he is a quality head coach. I think he’s done a good job there. As far as our finish, I think we’ll be battling for those top spots. Last year, even going into that last weekend, depending on how things fell, we had the potential to finish from number one all the way to number five. I think you’ll find high enough of a cluster of us at the top that will be there again. I just don’t think any team can completely run away with it. I hope over the five week period that, again, we keep ourselves in and our last game is a game against Stephen F., so hopefully it will have title implications, and we always know it will be a big battle between the two schools.

What can we expect in the season opener on the road at Baylor, and the home game opener against HBU?

Baylor will probably be our toughest game over the entire year. A Big XII team that had very good results last year, and only lost three starters. They were a young team themselves, and I think going into their place to start the season will be very tough. The thing for us, win or lose, is that I’m sure that because of how competitive they are, they will put us under some pressure and give us some things we need to consider as we go forward throughout the season. Looking beyond the score, just from a coaching standpoint, I think it will expose some things, but I think that’s good for us. It will help the players realize the level we would like them to play at and help the coaching staff be able to see where some of our weaknesses can be exposed later on.

Against HBU, I think from some of the excitement we see from Baylor on Friday night, we’ll be able to bring back home for our home opener. It’ll be nice, normally Sunday’s are 1:00 kickoffs, but we brought it to a 7:00 o’clock kickoff mainly due to the heat, and the possibility of trying to minimize hydration issues with both teams. Last year, we lost a tight game to them in the last minute or so. I think our players will be keen to try and get that game back in and hopefully flip that result around. From a coaching standpoint, I hope we don’t have to wait till the last minute. I would like that to happen a little sooner, if we can get the lead.

How important our facilities in the recruiting process of college soccer? Is it easier or harder to recruit with Pritchett Field being the showcase field of the Kats?

A lot of universities are putting a lot of money into facilities for women’s soccer. The surface we play on does make it difficult. When you compare our facilities to other facilities, whether it be in the Southland, or other division I schools. I think the atmosphere that’s created by the stadium, and that surrounding with the seating and stuff, that is a very unique aspect of our facility that where we may not look like we have as many seats or as up to date seating, but I think that creates a very unique venue for us. Our biggest challenge has always been the surface and the size of the field that we have to play on because it’s smaller than any other field that we play on, and where we have to logistically deal with our locker room, training rooms, and those sorts of things.

We posed the same question to Coach Fritz regarding the football program, and we want to know what you think. If Dr. Gibson came to you and said money is no object Coach, what is the one thing you would wish for to take Sam Houston SOCCER to the next level?

Going back to the previous question concerning the playing field and facilities, that is such a key component of us moving our program forward. Where we are located, being so close to Houston, and Houston being a hotbed with Dallas. Those two cities, and Austin, we can attract a lot of good players that would like to come to Huntsville, and to Sam Houston. I think our University, when we walk players around it, most of the time it’s their first time to be on our campus, and most parents and players are very impressed with the University, across the board. The last little bit we need is to be able to showcase the facilities that will draw even better players in because the University has a lot to sell with our academic programs. I think with that, combined with the facilities, we could continue moving everything forward.

Q&A with Coach Willie Fritz

Q&A with Coach Willie Fritz
KatFans.com Exclusive Article

With one full season under his belt as Sam Houston's football Coach, Willie Fritz is ready for the next step, the Southland Championship. With an overall career record of  142-57 over 19 seasons, Coach Fritz is a winner and expects to do so here. Coach Fritz took some time today to talk with KatFans.com and answer the questions of the Bearkat Nation. 

Last year Tim Flanders rushed for almost 1,000 yards and has gained some attention in the preseason. How do you think he has handled the added expectations?

Coach Fritz: He's one of the hardest workers on our team, he loves the game of football and does everything he can to get better. You don't have to worry about him being the guy that gets the big head, he's actually worked harder this summer than he did last year and is doing a fantastic job at camp. We're trying to limit his touches a little bit during the preseason, we know what he can do. The big thing we gotta do with Tim (Flanders) is keep him healthy, he probably only played 7 games last season when you add it all up. I think he has the opportunity to be the best running back in FCS football, he's that talented.

Are your expectations higher for Flanders this year than they were last year?

Coach Fritz: We had no idea what he could do last year, he was a pretty good high school player, going to Kansas State, plus the other offers he had there was potential. He was red shirted at Kansas State so we had no look at what he could do. After about three or four weeks we figured out he was pretty darn good and we better get him in the lineup as much as possible.

How is sophomore QB Brian Bell progressing with his arm strength and over all quarterback skills?

Coach Fritz: Brian has also had a great spring and a super summer, he put on about 20 pounds and weighs between 175 and 180. Last year we had to throw him in to the fire, starting nine games as a freshman. He's way ahead of where he was at this point last year. He really has great command of the offense and has made some really great throws, he's playing with great confidence right now.


How does the transfer from Wyoming fit in to the offense with Bell being the established QB? Does he fit in to the Wildcat?

Coach Fritz: He can do both looks. He runs really well, there have been numerous times in camp he's put his toe in the ground and changed directions with a burst of speed. He also throws the ball very well so we can run our total offense with him. He's not exclusively a running or passing quarterback, he can do both. Right now we doesn't know the offense as well as Brian (Bell) does, but we are very happy to have him.

Last year our defensive backs had some tough times. How are they progressing this camp and with their experience from last year do you think we can limit the big plays?

Coach Fritz: The thing that's going to happen with our defensive philosophy is we're gonna crowd the box and do everything we can to not allow you to run the football. Our big goal on the offensive side is to throw the ball more effectively and on the defensive side is to play a lot better pass defense. Other teams are gonna have to throw the ball against us because of how many people we put in the box. We are getting better and better, a lot of those guys (defensive backs) are really third year starters. Shaw, Jenkins, Taylor have played a lot of football for the Kats and did a good job last season. Bookie Sneed and Dax Swanson did a great job on the corners and I really think the secondary's big question is depth. We gotta get some guys to step up and play if a guy gets banged up, someone to step up and start for us. That is what we are trying to develop right now in camp.


How do you feel about D-Line depth and rotation with the transfers coming in? Do you think we will be able to get to the QB without blitz packages?

Coach Fritz: We would like to be able to rush four and play a little bit more zone behind it. Again, our philosophy both run and pass is to out number and overwhelm you. This team has one of the deepest D-Lines that I've been around, I really feel like we've got seven or eight guys who can play and be effective at this level. Four or Five of them have a chance to be dominating players at this level, led inside by JT Cleveland, he's a second team all conference player. We are moving Preston Sanders from a tackle to an end and picked up a couple of transfers in Jarret Brown and Andrew Weaver. Those guys have shown flashes of being explosive players.  

With all of the WAC talk out there, whether Sam Houston's in the mix or not, are there any changes in preparing for an FBS game versus an FCS game?


Coach Fritz: No, not really, probably the biggest difference is most of those games are on the road. I've told our kids we are basically playing three FBS teams this year with UTSA, Texas State and New Mexico. We've got a heck of a schedule, a lot of home games, which is good and the game down at Reliant. We are playing four FCS teams that are ranked in the Pre-Season Top 25, UCA, Western Illinois, McNeese and SFA. It's going to be a very challenging schedule, it's probably the toughest schedule Sam has played in along time.

Richmond, Montana, etc. are always on top of the FCS year in and year out. What do you think they do that makes them top programs every year?

Coach Fritz: It all starts off with recruiting, and I've gotten beat very seldom by being out coached. Recruiting is very important at all levels, normally the team with the better players has a better chance of winning. I feel like we have really upped our recruiting from what its been in the past and that's the big thing. Tradition is also big, you combine those two and that's the package we wanna have here.

I feel we are headed in the right direction, we had a good product on the field last year and we are excited about this season.

Coach Fritz: We've got a ways to go, we were 6-5 last year and that's just a smidgen better than average. We've got a long way to go but we got a lot of kids back and we need to come out of the box fast. We are starting the season against a team that went two rounds deep in the playoffs last season, that's gonna be a big ballgame for us.

If Dr. Gibson came to you and said money is no object Coach, what is the one thing you would wish for to take Sam Houston football to the next level?

Coach Fritz: An indoor practice facility would be nice, but we have good facilities now. The financial situation is tough right now in Texas and across the U.S. The thing I've been looking at with our program right now is we wanna be a top flight FCS program. I think sometimes people start looking past their real goals,our goal right now is we wanna win the Southland Conference. We want to be like those teams you talked about a minute ago, Montana, Richmond, SFA over the past few years and McNeese for a long period of time. We've got a ways to go, to be able to accomplish that. We've got things in place right now, I'd love to have better facilities and more budget, but everybody would. I'm not in to excuses, we got enough for us to be successful and we just spent $145,000 on new video equipment, we are piecing it together. We've got enough to be successful, a great location. great campus and a large student body. There is no reason why Sam Houston can't be highly successful.

KatFans.com Exclusive: Q&A with Coach Fritz

KatFans.com Exclusive: Q&A with Coach Fritz

We are giving you the chance to ask what you want to Coach Willie Fritz in our exclusive Q&A. Go to the Message Board and get your question in now!

Coach Fritz is in his second year as Sam Houston's head coach. He posted a 6-5 record with a team that was by all accounts young. The team returns 22 starters including Sophomore's QB Brian Bell and Tim Flanders. This season is shaping up to be one of the best seasons in recent history as the Kats are expected to be in the hunt for a title. Get to the message board and get your question in now.

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A new day at KatFans.com

This is a new day and a new face for KatFans.com. As most of you know there is new administration at KatFans and we are excited to bring you the site you love with a new look. We have made many changes and it is an exciting times here at KatFans.com. I'm sure you have noticed the new design that is easier to use and has lots more information on your Bearkats. We have RSS feeds from KBTX, The Item, The Houstonian and the Official Website of Bearkat Athletics, gobearkats.com. If you are on twitter please follow us, we are katfansdotcom, it is also directly linked on the main page. The biggest change we have for you is our exclusive content we will be writing. We will feature three writers, the head writer will be Mike Silva, Silva graduated from SHSU, where he studied mass communications. He's currently an intern for Sporting News Radio, Positively Houston, and HoopsAddict.com. J Wooten is a site administrator and will also cover writing duties for KatFans.com. Wooten is an SHSU Alum ('09 & '10) and creator of the Katfansdotcom Twitter account. Wooten is an avid follower of all things SHSU and Bearkat Sports. Rounding out the team is myself, T. Jeske Class of 2011. I have a background in journalism covering sports for a small newspaper in Central Texas prior to Sam Houston State. Together, we are looking to take KatFans.com to a new level, we are truly all in. We will be writing pre and post game articles and will cover all things Bearkats. We look forward to providing you great information and entertainment. On the forum side of the house big changes have been made. The entire forum has had a facelift and we feel it is on par with the rest of the league. We are excited about our opportunities and where we are going. We hope that you all will join us for the ride as we cover Bearkat Athletics to the top of the SLC.