Willie Fritz may face choice between Tulane and Houston

Since Monday, when new Tulane director of athletics David Harris said the school would have “an attractive package” to retain its football coach, the Willie Fritz rumor mill has been fairly quiet.

That’s exactly the way Fritz wants it.

“Last year (when he was courted by Georgia Tech) I wasn’t a distraction,” said Fritz on Tuesday. “This year I am not a distraction, and I hope next year you are asking me the same God dang questions and I am not a distraction.”

The Green Wave’s focus is on one thing only.

“We are locked in on Saturday,” said Fritz, referring to the AAC championship game against SMU.

For Fritz, it is likely the final big decision of his coaching career. Does he stay at Tulane with a lifetime deal and  legendary status, or does he gamble on himself at the University of Houston, knowing that if he doesn’t win, he will still likely get the most golden of parachutes?

Houston reportedly owes its recently fired head coach Dana Holgorsen a buyout of $15 million. Even in inflationary times, that many zeroes with a 15 in front of them will get you plenty of purchasing power.

Earlier this week, a source told us that Tulane’s prepared to offer Fritz the money the Houston coach earned, which is $4.5 million per season, and that the school would not only build a practice bubble on the site of the old Tulane Stadium but also a human performance center behind the north endzone at Yulman Stadium.

If so, the latter would represent a major investment for a school that was notoriously frugal, even after the school’s undefeated season in 1998.

Earlier this week, SMU warded off any schools who might pursue its football coach, Rhett Lashlee, by signing him to what the school calls a new multi-year deal.

It was an easy move for SMU and its coach. Next year, the Mustangs join a Power 5 league, the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Tulane has no such option on the table for Fritz. However, with the new 12-team playoff in college football, Fritz has to ask himself the following: Is my path to the playoff easier at Tulane or at Houston, where I am in a power 5 league far deeper and more challenging than the American Athletic Conference?

Only Willie Fritz and his representatives have the answer to that question.

This week a source told us that David Harris doesn’t want Fritz leaving “on his watch.”

Hours before the press conference Monday to announce Harris, Fritz had a great answer to a question by a reporter from a Houston newspaper.

Reporter: With the focus on you and the championship game, would you prefer, if you are being pursued, have told teams specifically Houston, that you don’t plan to talk until after the game?

Fritz: Yes.

That’s how you negotiate.