Report: Houston expected to hire former Auburn assistant Zac Etheridge

The Houston Cougars are adding a former Auburn Tigers assistant to their coaching staff in some fascinating coaching news.

According to Matt Zenitz, Houston is expected to hire Auburn defensive backs coach Zac Etheridge to their staff.

“Houston is expected to hire Auburn defensive backs coach Zac Etheridge, sources tell @247sports,” Zenitz posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The former Auburn star, who was a finalist for the Louisiana-Monroe head coaching job, coached three players this year who earned Senior Bowl invites and other Auburn standouts like 2022 second-round pick Roger McCreary and current star Tigers DB Keionte Scott.”

That’s another solid hire for Willie Fritz, as he continues to build up the program and their next head football coach.

Willie Fritz has been the head coach at Tulane since 2016, in the process of building the Green Wave into a Group of Five power. That included winning the AAC and the Cotton Bowl last season, before playing for the AAC Championship again this season. During that time, Houston saw him first-hand as AAC rivals, with Fritz going 3-4 against Houston.

During his time with the Green Wave, Willie Fritz took Tulane to five bowl games, including this season. The program has gone to 16 bowl games all time. The only time the program went to three bowls in a row was under Fritz and he won the first major bowl for Tulane since the 1934 Sugar Bowl last season.

Willie Fritz ended his time at Tulane with a record of 54-47. That’s second all-time in wins for a Tulane head coach, only behind Clark Shaughnessy who last coached with the team in 1926. His winning percentage is the best of any coach after 1951.

Prior to his time at Tulane, Fritz worked his way up from Central Missouri, to Sam Houston State, to Georgia Southern. A Kansas native, Fritz played for Pittsburg State before starting as a coach in the early 1980s. At each stop, he found success by doing more with less.

It’s a new era for the Houston Cougars, and Zac Etheridge wanted to be a part of it, as he takes his talents to the program for 2024.