CLICK HERE for the full report from the News and Record and here is the text that Coach Fritz sent to the N&R:
“I have been blindsided by my firing! I am truly grateful for the 14 years as head football coach here at Southeast Guilford. I am very proud of the accomplishments we have had together as a program. I want to thank the community, my current and former players, my assistant coaches who swung the axe with me every day, the countless number of wonderful colleagues I have worked with over the years, the collegiate coaches who have helped me place so many football players in the college ranks and, most importantly, my wife and three daughters. I have been blessed in many ways in my life! Being the head football coach at Southeast was one of those many blessings. I am proud of the 100 wins that we have accumulated over the past 14 years, along with the 12 playoff appearances. However, I think I am most proud of the school record-setting 35 wins in a four-year period over the last four years. #kilestrong”
Coach Fritz was 100-72 at Southeast Guilford and his teams went (42-40) in conference play…Coach Fritz was the head coach of the Southeast Guilford Falcons for 14 seasons/years…
*****We enjoyed working with Coach Fritz over the years and he was tough, but he was fair and he was always in control of his program and you knew where you stood with Coach Walter ‘Fritz’ Hessenthaler…..Coach Fritz was a leader and he taught his young men/his troops to do things the right way….Coach Fritz will be missed for sure and all Coach Fritz ever asked for was for his program to receive fair treatment and for his players to be on an equal playing field/ground with the other teams in the county…Good luck to Coach Fritz and we look forward to seeing him coaching again with another team next season/next year…If Coach Fritz is not a head coach next season, he would make some team a great/super offensive or defensive line coach….A very good line coach for any high school team, Coach Fritz Hessenthaler and I think he could probably coach softball too….
Coach Fritz gone as the head football coach for the Southeast Guilford Falcons and we will be interested in seeing what the next move will be for Southeast Guilford, as they prepare to hire their next football coach….*****
I have really enjoyed watching Coach Fritz at Southeast Guilford, my alma mater(class of 1977) the past 14 seasons. I think that he is a great coach and he certainly changed the way that football was looked at around here. He was a winner and he exuded that in his players. I think that we had some very good years whenever he was here. We did not have as good of talent as Page and Dudley but we still did good against them. We even beat Page a few times. This has been a tough year with this new information and losing another great coach and person in Coach Chris Kile to cancer. I think that Coach Fritz will be a head coach again somewhere else because he is a good man and he knows football. It does not hurt my feelings that he is a Tarheel too! Good luck Coach Fritz Hessenthaler!
Mike Turner
Southeast Guilford
Class of 1977
Wish Coach Fritz well in his future. Fritz is a great Strength/Conditioning coach and offensive lineman coach. The difficulty is that even the great Dean Smith would have trouble filling the seats and continuing to attract good talent if he refused to stop running the 4 corners as his primary offense.
Even if they were getting to the dance and losing in the first round, fans would not be happy.
@Falcon Parent
That’s funny. Two of the teams playing for NCHSAA state championships Saturday, including unbeaten Wake Forest, run the exact same wing-T offense that Southeast has been running and Charlotte Catholic continues to contend for and win state titles with the same attack.
The problem, if there even was one at Southeast, wasn’t the coach. It was and is some of the parents, especially those who want a coach who will kiss their butts or else they’ll shop their kids to a certain other school. And if you’re a Southeast parent, you know which school I’m talking about.
Be careful what you wish for SE Fans. You guys may get that spread attack offense you have been dreaming about. You may get that 5-5 record to go along with it.
Falcon Parent,
You do realize you were in a conference with not 1 of but 2 of the best teams in the State?!?! No amount of coaching or different offense would help you beat Page and Dudley on a regular.
This is clear to me and it should be to everyone else. This has nothing to do with Wins or losses. This has everything to do with the AD thinking a new coach with a new offense is going to bring more W’s to the school. Can’t wait to see SE Guilford go 3-8 next year.
That’s a great SE fan
Can’t wait until they have a worse record next year
Sounds like these comments only showed up Friday’s for the coach
Clearly this is not a wins or losses firing. It has all to do with keeping kids in the SE community that will allow them to compete with Dudley and Page and other top programs. WF and Charlotte Catholic have a more versitile offensive system that allows them to compete each year for State Championships. Don’t compare the 3 yards in a cloud of dust with what they have accomplished at their programs. Not in anyway similar. SE will be just fine moving forward. Fritz did a heck of job while he was there. Times change however.
I wonder if SEG and Dudley criticizers pay attention. First, Guilford County Schools divided an entire area where the parents of SEG’s football team attended Dudley. That community is located on the outskirts of Liberty Road. Second, the “shop their kids to another school” comment has become so annoying. Why shouldn’t parents have the right to place their children in whatever school they prefer?
Sometimes the comments on this blog illustrate that people do not want parents to have control over which school their children attend. Wake Forest and Charlotte Catholic imports players too. Page has “special assignment” for some of its top players on both the basketball and football teams. I enjoy laughing at the “Dudley cheats” inferences made on these posts.
Ted,
Parent should have that right. The problem in Guilford County is parents do not have that choice to attend any school. A few schools, Dudley being one of them, have the special programs that anyone can attend.
Open is up to everyone to attend whichever school they choose like Forsyth or close it down that you play sports for the school where you live. Right now certain schools have an advantage.
Parents want the best possible situation for their kids Period. Academically and Athletically. That’s a right as a parent you do have so it is what it is. The rules for now won’t change so quit complaining over spilled milk. At the end of the day it’s about the Kids.
Charlotte Catholic will lose some students to the new Catholic high school down there but they also have a strong feeder pipeline for their version of the Wing T that they run. Most of their players start learning it in Middle School. $10,000 base tuition per year to attend CCatholic; very different setup than what SEG has.
As former player of Frtiz’s at SE that went on to play Division I football, this news saddened me. A really good OC could do wonders with this program under Fritz. He got the most out of kids. He was a good coach. Definitely prepared me to play at the next level too. This is a bad call.
What? said,
Falcon Parent,
You do realize you were in a conference with not 1 of but 2 of the best teams in the State?!?! No amount of coaching or different offense would help you beat Page and Dudley on a regular.
Don’t forget Southeast also lost to a Eastern Guilford team that is also playing for a State Championship and a Davie County Team that is the only team to beat Page this year. Southeast had a rough road no matter who the coach was.
There was so much talk at the beginning of the season about how SE Guilford was going to open up the offense, and how did they end the season? By throwing zero passes in the second half vs. Davie County, even though the falcons entered the half down by two touchdowns. I saw a coach more concerned about not getting blown out, instead of putting his kids in position to win the game. This same strategy was used just a week earlier when the falcons played Dudley. SE had other loses against Page and Southwest that were also blowouts. The offense was one dimensional and predictable and it never gave the kids a chance to compete especially if they were behind on down and distance or on the score board.
The news of Fritz’s firing is upsetting. I am a former female athlete from SE and while Fritz was without a doubt one of the most hard nosed, no nonsense people I have ever been around, he found a way to excite greatness out of male and female athletes alike. The bottom line is we are raising today’s youth to be soft and buying into the “rec league”, politically correct mentality. Those who truly want to be great and want to succeed in their sport for themselves and their school know that with great reward comes great sacrifice. When I arrived at SE as a freshman Fritz knew I had dreams of playing division I basketball and everyday he pushed me to be better, get stronger and fight harder. And, day I committed to the DI school of my choosing he was the first to congratulate me with a giant bear hug. That is what he has done for 14 years for every single athlete that has come through SE. I could never thank him enough for the role he has played in helping me become the athlete, person and coach that I am today. Were there fellow classmates that didn’t appreciate the caliber coach and educator that he was? Sure. But those students wanted it to be easy, to be given to them. They never won conference championships, state championships and they definitely never signed their name on a National Letter of Intent. The future does not look bright for the Falcons. What a shame.
Change is a good thing and needed to compete. Fritz never put the players where they were best able to help the team…… That seems to be the coaching style at southeast with all sports ( not putting the players where they are needed to help the teams)….. Hopefully more shake up will come within other athletic programs at southeast……CHANGE
This firing is an absolute disgrace to all coaches in the coaching profession regardless of sport. This man spent 14 years at one school investing in athletes, the community, the alumni, and his coaching staff. His teams played hard every night which shows the respect they had for him as a coach. No matter the talent of the SEG team or the team they were playing against you knew that SEG was going to compete and play hard. This says a great deal about Coach Fritz and his staff.
The only reason this firing took place was because of the offense that SEG ran. Who freaking cares what offense you run if you are having success. A few parents complain just like any other school. The difference at SEG is the Principal and the AD didn’t have the guts to stand up for a man that has invested 14 years into a school. To you parents who complained you ought to be ashamed.
Coach Fritz, his wife, and his daughters deserve more respect from the SEG administration than this. They have refused to comment on this matter and not give Coach Fritz the proper respect he has earned. On top of everything, the Principal fails to even meet with Coach Fritz and fire him in person.
I don’t wish nothing bad on SEG but you better be careful. If the administration is not going to support someone that has done more for SEG than any of the admin ever will, what hope does that give the next coach. If I was an incoming coach I would make sure to keep my head on a swivel at SEG. You never know who is coming for you there.
Best of luck Coach Fritz, you and your family deserved more respect than this. Those that really know you, appreciate all that you have done for this community!
Let’s get a few things straight.
1. I don’t know of any parents at Southeast that were “shopping” their kids around and I know a lot of the kids and parents at SE. However, I do know that if your kid played a skill position you would be crazy not to explore your options.
2. To say that Southeast can’t beat Dudley or Page or any other school is the wrong attitude to have. There were three kids from the Middle School that went to Dudley this past year and they are standout players. One is actually playing varsity. That talent left because they knew that under coaching staff at SE they wouldn’t get the opportunities that their talent commanded.
3. Last year the coaching staff fed the team the line that they were going to open up the offense. They had the talent to do it, but after about two games they reverted. They went all summer and all pre-season spreading it out and poof, back to the same ol’same ol’. The crazy thing is that they had to pass to win at NW and to even stay in the game at Ragsdale, but the coaching staff never bought into it. The fans didn’t like watching the games, the players didn’t like knowing that they had no shot to show their talent, and some parents felt like they were lied to.
4. A football program is not all about wins and losses. Even if Southeast went undefeated in it’s conference there weren’t any college scouts coming to see them play. Not on a regular basis. If you have kids that have the talent, as an educator you are doing them a disservice by not developing that talent. The offense that they ran killed a lot of talent and opportunities IMO.
5. To the young lady that talked about kids wanting it easy……..you are sadly mistaken. I know kids in that program and that are funneling to that program and they are some of the hardest workers that you will find and I think that SE has some of the best talent in the county.
I know that a lot of people are just waiting to say “I told you so”, but those are the same people that say Southeast will never be better than Dudley, Page, Davie County (yes Davie County……), or any other school that they didn’t beat this year. That mindset in itself was and is the biggest problem. Hopefully the new coaching staff will recognize the talent that is at SE, actively develop it, and believe that they can compete with and beat any team that they play.
@ Let’s get a few things straight
I agree with you all the way.
@ Let’s get a few things straight……,.PREACH
To the person who said Fritz didn’t put players in the best position…He won more games in the last 4 years than anyone in school history! Sounds like he had them in the right spot. You will soon find out the grass is not always greener on the other side. I hope you bring in that Spread offense you want so bad. You will then see that Fritz didn’t know what he was doing. Like the person said earlier….Enjoy 3-8 Falcon fans. That’s what you will be next year. Hope the AD gets ran out of town next year for such a dumb move!
By reading all of these post, it appears that alot of you have details of the firing which leads me to believe that you are or were a coach on the staff. It becomes very clear to the casual reader who’s just commenting and those with feelings attached.
My co-worker has a nephew that plays for SE. He said that it was very frustrating and predictable watching them play. I didn’t believe him until I went with him to the Southern Alamance game. We sat on the Southern Alamance side and I listened to a woman in the stands call out the direction that SE was running the football with a high degree of accuracy. By the way, what is the right way to terminate anyone? Someone on this blog woulda had a problem either way it went down, which ever way that was. Again, your showing that you were close to the pulse.
Hmmm,
That is the best post I’ve ever read. Southeast only put up 33 first half points against Southern Alamance then called off the dogs. Tell you co-worker’s, nephew’s, uncle’s, cousin that they’re an idiot.
@haha,
That doesn’t mean that the lady in the stands didn’t call out the way that SE was running each play. Southern Alamance just couldn’t stop it. The problem is when someone knows which way your running and does stop it! If you can’t see that then your the idiot
To coach Fritz,
You and I have had personal conversations so you know I am not a big fan of the offense. However, I hope you know that If I wanted to say something it would be to you and the coaches personally.My son has not always been happy with the offense, and gets discouraged, but he has always liked you as a person and supported you and would play his heart out for you.Can’t say that I would not welcome a different brand of offense but that is not personal. I respect you as a man’s man and hope nothing but the best for you in the future. Which as I understand from my son, is currently still as the strength trainer at SE.
The talent at E. Guilford isn’t much different from what’s available at SE. Both are close in proximity to Dudley. Kids are no longer buying into Fritz’ system like they did in 2006 when they nearly beat 2006 3AA state champion, E. Randolph.
@ what? …..obviously you didn’t attend any games this year…. I have an idea how about you go help fritz with the wing t or the snug offense …. lol it’s sad when a 67 yer old man questions the offense that was ran and commented that they ran the same offense when he was in HIGHSCHOOL
@ Talent observer, I think you are correct. There is much difference between the talent at E. Guilford and SE. The only difference is SE uses their kids with WR skill sets as RBs.
Good luck to the next Coach at Southeast Guilford High School. I’m sure the line of top notch Coaches is already huge. Who couldn’t get excited about dealing with these parents (you know your all disgruntled parents) and working for an administration that will have your back.
@I am not a coach
No, clearly you’re not a coach. The difference between the talent at E Guilford and SE is significant if you’ve watched them play and you’re not a disgruntled SE parent who thinks your kid is better than they are, and it’s because the kids who live in the E Guilford attendance zone actually attend E Guilford and no longer run to Dudley or Northern the first time their parents don’t like the plays being called.
And E Guilford still barely beat SE this year, although that seems to have been forgotten. If SE had won that game 28-24 instead of losing it 28-24 should the E Guilford coach have been fired? His team is playing for a state championship.
Since SE beat Northwest this year, at Northwest no less, should the Northwest coach be fired? He has more talent at his disposal (and 1,000 more students than SE), runs an “exciting” offense and lost to SE’s coach and didn’t get out of the first round of the playoffs, either, with an easier opponent.
Page’s coach lost to SE in 2013 and 2014. Should he have been fired at that point? If he had been, the Pirates probably wouldn’t be playing in a state championship game for the second straight year.
I hope the SE administration and backstabbing parents get exactly what they deserve.
Maybe they should just hire one of these genius parents to coach. They all seem to know so much. I’m sure a dad as a coach and an administration backing that dad would be a perfect fit. You people are crazy! Next coach, better really do some research before jumping into this situation. Some of these people will wish they had Coach Fritz back about the time Daddy ball starts up!
@ daddy ball….. how about you coach since you don’t have a dog in the fight …. and let the administration back you…… clueless?
Hopefully the new staff will be able to stop some of the talent at SE from leaving before they even get into the program. Admit it or not, everyone knows that’s been a problem with SE sports, except baseball.
@same ole story,
Maybe Page’s coach wouldve lost to SE in 2015 too, if Overton would’ve stayed at SE. He would’ve only been the BIGGEST recruit in recent history at SE!! But shame on his parents too for getting him out of a program that they saw would throw the ball three times a game. Yeah sure, he should’ve stayed at SE as a 6’5 WR. Maybe he would’ve caught all three passes thrown in the game and still ended up at Clemson!!!
Dr. Bryant is spot on in this thread. This is an absolute disgrace.
There is clearly a big problem at SEG. And that is the lack of testicular fortitude of the AD and Principal to stand up for a man who has invested so much to the school and community. Unhappy parents? Yea I’m sure you wont get any of those with the new guy.
What a joke. #shopsomewhereelseseabiscuit
@ Same Old Story,
You just made the points expressed earlier about the talent at SEG compared to EG. The talent level is fairly similar the difference is the coaching and the kids at Eastern fully embracing the system. Heck, E. Guilford hasn’t even been ranked in any of the statewide polls so they are exceeding expectations. No reason why SE can’t accomplish the same and they will be 3A next season.
@ wait a minute,
You are right!!!
How dare the SE admin and parents want the same opportunities for their kids!! Shame on them!!!
@ Same old story, I am not a coach, but I do have an eye for talent. E Guilford has more talent than SE but the difference is not that significant. The difference is even less at the skill positions. SE running back dual of Stephens and Love is as good as any in the county. Both Guy and Farely have sub 4.5 speed but this combination of talent was not used properly because of the offense and or play calling.
The biggest difference was on the defensive side of the ball with the edge going to Eastern. they were by far more athletic. SE would have the advantage on special teams because of the Guy brothers.
I am disgruntled because I know how hard these kids worked over the summer and they deserve to be put in the best position to win football games. If you can’t do that on a constant basis as a coach then you should be fired. No one win or loss should make or break your season, but if you watched SE football this season, then you will agree that a change is needed.
It is interesting reading this thread. There are many people here willing to sacrifice the talents and opportunities of the players for one man……..now THAT is a disgrace.
@pgpatriot it seem like you are stuck on loyalty…… the team was not coached to its potential the talent was there but you couldn’t see it for your loyalty to the coach it’s time to move the program forward….. Lets hope for the best and if you are so loyal to the coach you should have told him to change his approach to the game….. as far as the Dudley and Davie county loss it was evident the coach gave up on his team
@ let’s get something straight,
Wow!! You are right again!
@ I’m not a coach,
If SE would use some of their players on O that play D or vice versa you’ve got a team that’s very similar to Eastern. For arguments sake, let’s give Eastern the nod due to the experienced players they have on their team versus the youth of SE.
It is very simple. Parents believe they know more than the coaches. Most of these people couldn’t coach their way out of a paper bag. The sad thing is that some parents all over this county think the same way.
@Tom I’m sure the parents would have enough common sense to make changes when it is needed…. common sense would tell you that you don’t run the same play at Davie County ….. I think the parents would also tell you that a forward pass is legal and a part of the game. My 12 year old daughter knows that you don’t call a quaterback keeper at 4th and 35….. but I’m sure you would have made the same call…. SAD
These coaches get paid practically nothing. They do this because they love the game and the kids. They put in countless hours and they are away from their families. Maybe they are not NFL quality, but most are doing it for the right reasons. Give these people a break and just enjoy the high school experience.
Some of you parents/Fans get so caught up in WingT/Triple Option/Spread. You run whatever gives you the best chance to win. SE didn’t run a Wing T… They ran a Wing based offense but they didn’t run Buck Series, Belly series, Jet series etc. The problem is too many of you idiots think you know football because you played JV or went to a clinic or watched it on Youtube. If SE fired a coach who was winning the most games in school history because of the offense he chose to run you deserve to lose every game because you don’t have a damn clue about Football. Go ahead and install the spread….You will find out real quick that Zone Blocking and having a stud QB like Page and Dudley is what makes the system go. Not some new coach who can draw up plays on a board.
Safe to say this AD’s job will be on the line. He better win more games next year and from here on out. If not he better update his resume because he deserves to be judged the same way he judges his coaches. This was a really bad move on the part of the SEG Admin.
NW Guilford fans wanted to change the Wing T a few years ago. They brought in this exciting new spread and that lasted 2 years before they started putting an option based attack back in cause they couldn’t run the ball at all. They found out real quick if you run the spread you better have Strong big o-linemen and a QB who can throw it. They had 3 D-1 kids this year and still only won 7 games because they have NO LINEMEN or a decent QB.
Hopefully they give the AD the same 14 years that they gave the coach to see if his game plan would work……..
@Football news flash they did run jet buck andbelly….. you must be the one who attended the clinics and played JV…….#LAME better yet you apply for the coaching job and let’s see what you learned going to the football clinics #JOHNMADDEN
@football,
How do you know what system the new coach will implement? If the parents were running the program at SE, a coaching change woulda happened a LONG time ago. The parents and community have not been happy with the offense at SE for a long time now. Anyone that sits in the stands regularly knows this.
Also when NW changed their O, two D1 WR’s magically appeared. One who has offers from ACC, SEC and Big 10 schools. You think he ends up at NW without an offense that would showcase his talents? Highly unlikely, especially with his brother being a player who went to Dudley
@ Well…… Preach……. @ Football let’s start you over at flag football …..you’ll do great
After reading some of the comments on how a great coach was let go
A new coaching job shouldn’t be a problem
Tried to tell everyone at the beginning of the year players, parents and admin were not happy at all. I say bring back Norwood, best coach SE ever had.. IMO
Time to give the post and the comments some rest and also give everyone a chance to process what has happened over the past couple of days…
I think we all must agree that we wish Coach Fritz the best in his high school football coaching future and we do see that football future continuing on the high school level next season….
Fritz was a good coach but some old ways seemed to have caught up with him in the long run. Former players and coaches alike know what I am talking about coming from SE itself. Too much dirt going on behind the scenes costing players opportunities and for some ending their careers at SE when they were clearly college talent.
Coach Fritz was fired because he failed to appeal to the African American players and coaches. There is no question that in order to have a successful program you have to keep your “athletes” and key contributors engaged. Coach Fritz failed to do this, he was focused mostly on wins and not the development of his players as football players or the development of his staff. Consistent turnover of your staff is an excellent way to find yourself without a job. If you want to know the truth, ask his former assistants why they left the staff and in some instances even left the school. When I played the majority of the stars were doing poorly in school and they were punished for missing practice to go to tutorial. Coach seemingly did all the right things on the football side of things but it is what you all did not see behind the scenes that he was fired for. I wish Coach Fritz and his family all the best. Thanks Coach for teaching me hard work and perseverance.
Former SE Player. I think that you are WAY off when you say that he failed to appeal to the African-American players. There were plenty of non-African American players, parents, and fans that had an issue with his offensive approach and player development. Please don’t try to put this on a particuar group because I know for a fact that is not true.
100 wins and 72 loses comes out to about 7-5 each season over 14 years. #stagnant… #mediocre…
How many other schools in Guilford County have 100 or more wins in the past 14 years? I would think SE record is better than half of the other schools in the county. I would surmise that is better than #mediocre. Would love to know the numbers…
It’s funny reading all these comments and none of you know how it is unless you played for him. He is a great strength and conditioning coach. He is a great O-line coach but we should have run a different offense point blank period. It made so many players lose interest knowing what type of plays we would run. There are games we as players would be in and could see what we needed to do to get a first down or a touchdown but we would run the same stuff and lose or not pull away like we should. I knew people who would’ve been great players but didn’t want to play because they knew the ball wouldn’t be thrown. Besides that though he will make you a better man for the future he just should have be open to trying new things.
@I wonder, trying to be better than half the field is part of the problem. The mentality. Strive to be better than everyone in the field.
Also, if you look at the record SE had 4 really good years, but outside of those years it was 6-6 or 7-5. There was even a 3-8 season in there. If middle if the road is your measuring stick then things were ok. Also, a football “program” is about more than wins and losses. As some in this thread have mentioned, there were other issues with the coach.
@ I wonder His winning percentage is .581 over 14 years. Maybe you could convince me differently by talking about the number of state titles he has or the number of D1 recruits he has put out compared to other schools in the county…. Lets see Page, Dudley, Northern are all programs that have enjoyed success over the past 10 years. Its just time to take the program to a new level. Think about it what if you were only .581 proficient at your job. What would happen?
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS! OFFENSE PUTS POINTS ON THE BOARD.
THAT IS AND WAS SE PROBLEM. FIX THAT AND COACH FRITZ IS STILL SE HEAD COACH. WING T IS A GREAT OFFENSE. LOOK FOR EXAMPLE NE GUILFORD UNDER COACH PURSLEY. 20 PLUS YEARS OF WINNING. GUESS WHERE HIS DEFENSE COORDINATOR IS? EASTERN GUILFORD…..
ONE FINAL POINT PLAY YOUR BEST 11 PERIOD ON DEFENSE AND OFFENSE