How former K-State QB Michael Bishop is helping Houston as an assistant coach
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- Michael Bishop joined Houston as an assistant coach helping the offense.
- Willie Fritz praised Bishop as a trusted mentor, role model, and smart coach.
- Bishop reunited with five-star Keisean Henderson, who will be a backup.
Michael Bishop is back in the Big 12, but he’s no longer playing quarterback or wearing purple.
The former Kansas State passer is now an assistant coach at Houston, where he is helping the Cougars improve behind the scenes on offense.
Some may not have envisioned that kind of career move for Bishop after his playing days came to an end, and he became a successful head coach at the high school level, but Houston coach Willie Fritz saw it as a perfect fit.
“He does an excellent job,” Fritz said on Tuesday at Big 12 Media Days. “He’s just a great person, great role model and mentor. He’s also a real smart football coach. We’re fortunate to have him around.”
Fritz and Bishop have an obvious connection. It dates back to before Bishop enrolled at K-State and led the Wildcats to two of their most memorable seasons in school history.
With Bishop at quarterback, K-State won 11 games in 1997 and finished the year with resounding victory over Syracuse at the Fiesta Bowl. In 1998, K-State won another 11 games and rose all the way to No. 1 in the national rankings before it suffered a disappointing loss to Texas A&M in the Big 12 championship game.
Still, Bishop played well enough as a dual-threat QB to become a Heisman Trophy finalist.
But before all that he played quarterback at Blinn Junior College for Fritz.
They built a strong relationship back then and added to it over the years.
“He played for me at Blinn Junior College in 1995 and ‘96,” Fritz said. “I’ve been close to him ever since. I don’t think a month ever went by where he and I didn’t talk at least one time. He’s always visited me at all the different places that I’ve been at over the years.”
Things lined up for Bishop and Fritz after Houston hired Fritz away from Tulane in 2024. Bishop was winning in the area as the head coach at Legacy the School of Sport Sciences in Spring, Texas. And he just so happened to coach a five-star quarterback named Keisean Henderson.
Henderson committed to Houston last year. Bishop re-united with him at Houston shortly after.
The plan is for Henderson to serve as a backup behind Conner Weigman this season, but Fritz is already showing confidence in him. On Tuesday, he said he will run the entire offense rather than a wildcat package when he is on the field as a freshman.
Bishop will help him from there.
“It’s good to have somebody that knows you,” Fritz said. “He is somebody I can really trust. I’ve known him forever, and he understands how I do things. He’s always got my back.”