Sources tell FootballScoop that Willie Fritz will be the new head coach at Georgia Southern.
Fritz replaces Jeff Monken, who posted a 38-16 record in four seasons on the job before accepting the Army head coaching job on December 24.
A three-decade coaching veteran, Fritz has been extremely successful at all three of his head coaching stops over the past two decades. He started at Blinn (Texas) Junior College, where he turned a program that posted a 5-24-1 record from 1990-92 into a 39-5-1 mark with two national championships over his four seasons. He was inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame for his efforts. Fritz departed for Central Missouri in 1997 and proceeded to post a 97-47 record over the next 13 seasons.
In 2010, Fritz moved to Sam Houston State and, after a 6-5 record in his debut campaign, went 35-10 over the ensuing three seasons with three trips to the FCS playoffs and two national championship appearances. Fritz went 34-7 against FCS competition over those three seasons, but the Bearkats' win totals dropped from 14 to 11 to nine. Coupled with the departure of key offensive personnel and it's easy to see why Fritz felt it was the right time to leave.
After coaching in junior college, Division II and FCS, Georgia Southern will be Fritz's first FBS head coaching job. The Eagles move to the Sun Belt in 2014.
Sam Houston State's shotgun spread rushing attack was among the tops in FCS each of the past three seasons, rushing a grand total of 2,097 times for 11,574 yards for 132 touchdowns from 2011 to 2013. That's a per game average of 46.6 carries for 257.2 yards (5.52 per carry) and 2.9 touchdowns.
Fritz's departure is the 25th head coaching change in FCS this season, and makes him the 17th FBS head coach hired. Only Vanderbilt, Massachusetts and UAB remain open at this time.
As always, we'll have more updates as they become available.