For the second time in the last three years, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Head Football Coach Pete Fredenburg is a nominee for the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. Fredenburg is one of 20 nominees on the primary ballot to become the Texas Sports Hall Of Fame’s Class of 2018.
Fredenburg has spent the last 19 years as head coach of the Cru football team after starting the program from scratch in time to open play with the 1998 season. Fredenburg guided the Cru to its first NCAA Division III National Championship in 2016 and has led UMHB to a 196-38 overall record in those 19 seasons. Fredenburg has guided the Cru to 14 American Southwest Conference Championships and 15 NCAA Division III National Championships appearances. UMHB has advanced to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl twice and has played in six National Semifinal games during Fredenburg’s tenure. Fredenburg was voted Division III Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association following the 2016 campaign. He was voted Liberty Mutual NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year following the 2013 season and has also been named Division III National Coach of the Year by American Football Coaches Monthly magazine. Fredenburg is a nine-time ASC Coach of the Year and has nine AFCA Region III Coach of the Year honors in his career at UMHB.
Before joining UMHB, Fredenburg also spent 13 seasons as an assistant coach at Baylor University. He was named Southwest Conference Defensive Coach of the Year following the 1990 season and coached in the Cotton Bowl, Liberty Bowl, Copper Bowl, John Hancock Bowl and Bluebonnet Bowl during his time with the Bears. Fredenburg also coached in the collegiate ranks at Louisiana State University and Louisiana Tech University. He also made high school coaching stops at New Braunfels Canyon, New Braunfels and Giddings High Schools. Fredenburg is a 1970 graduate of Southwest Texas State University and was a three-year football letterman. He is also a member of the Southwest Texas State University Athletics Hall of Honor.
“It is an incredible honor and it means an awful lot to me,” Fredenburg said. “You have to share it with all of the coaches and players who’ve been there to help us succeed over the years and to help put my name on this ballot. I am just so thankful and so honored.”
The official announcement of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2018 will come in August with the enshrinement banquet scheduled to take place in April of 2018 at the Hall of Fame in Waco. Generally, six primary ballot nominees and two veteran ballot nominees are selected for enshrinement. Members of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame (open to the public) will once again be able to help the selection committee determine the newest class. The deadline to become a member and be able to vote for the upcoming class is July 1st.
