Georgia Southern's Fritz reportedly headed to Tulane
NEW ORLEANS -- Georgia Southern's Willie Fritz has reached an agreement to become Tulane's next head football coach, a person briefed on the decision said Friday.
The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because an announcement won't be made until the contract is signed. The announcement is expected by Saturday.
But Georgia Southern's website said that a search is on for a new head coach, that Fritz had taken the Tulane job.
Fritz will succeed Curtis Johnson, who was fired Nov. 28 after his second straight 3-9 season. He will be the first significant hire by Troy Dannen, who became athletics director last week after holding the same post for nearly eight years at Northern Iowa.
The 55-year-old Fritz has spent the past two seasons at Georgia Southern, posting 9-3 regular-season records each year. He led the Eagles to the Sun Belt Conference title in 2014 and was the conference coach of the year.
Fritz joined Georgia Southern after four seasons at Sam Houston State, where he went 40-15 in regular-season games. He coached the Bearkats to the FCS playoffs in three straight seasons, advancing to the 2011 and 2012 championship games.
Fritz has spent the bulk of his head coaching career at Division II Central Missouri, where he went 97-47 from 1997-2009.
Now he inherits a Tulane program that has a 2-year-old, on-campus stadium and only two bowl appearances since 2002 -- the Hawaii Bowl (2002) and New Orleans Bowl (2013). The 2002 game was Tulane's last bowl victory, over Hawaii.
Fritz was introduced as Georgia Southern's new head coach on Jan. 10, 2014, replacing Jeff Monken, who left to take over at Army.
A release from Georgia Southern noted that no determination had been made as to who will lead the Eagles in the GoDaddy Bowl against Bowling Green on Dec. 23. It is Georgia Southern's first bowl game.
This story was originally published December 11, 2015 at 10:13 PM with the headline "Georgia Southern's Fritz reportedly headed to Tulane ."