Most people have family trees. Debbie Fritze’s could be mistaken for a coaching tree.

“I’m 71 years old, and my mom said my first football game was on a Friday night when I was 1 year old,” she said. “So I’ve been going to football games for 70 years.”

Her father was Bruno Waldner, a Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame coach who started Bloomington Jefferson’s program and led the Jaguars to two state runner-up finishes.

Bruno and his wife, Margie, had a son, Tony, and two daughters, Debbie and Patti, who both married football coaches.

Debbie’s husband, Dave Fritze, is also a Minnesota Hall of Famer. He started Eagan’s football program and has run the Minnesota High School Football All-Star Game for 26 years.

“My wife never missed a game ever,” Dave Fritze said. “We had four kids, two of them during the football season. Our last baby [daughter Megan] came to a game when she was three or four days old.”

Dave’s brother, Mike Fritze, had a long, successful run as Apple Valley’s football coach. When high school rivals Eagan and Apple Valley played back in the 1990s, it served as a de facto Fritze (pronounced Fritzy) family reunion, with a brother on each sideline and up to five sons on the field.

“The announcer was kind of losing his mind because many times it was ‘Fritze tackles Fritze’ or ‘Fritze is intercepted by Fritze,’ ” Debbie said. “It was almost like we were making it up.”

In 2013, the Super Bowl featured one of the all-time brotherly coaching matchups, with John Harbaugh’s Ravens defeating Jim Harbaugh’s 49ers. Football fans were talking about the Harbaugh brothers, but in the Fritze household “we’re like, ‘We’ve been doing that for years,’ ” Debbie said.

Debbie and Dave’s three sons — Joe, Dan and Tom — all played college football at St. Thomas. Dan has been the head coach at East Ridge since 2015, when he led the Raptors to a state runner-up finish. Tom is the defensive coordinator at Hastings. Joe is in his 23rd year in the Army, stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

“When my kids played, I couldn’t even watch the games,” Debbie said. “The Eagan booster club created a custom program for me with two eyeholes cut out because I would always hold the program over my face.”

Debbie was also known to question Dave’s coaching decisions, loudly, from the bleachers.

“I was very vocal in the stands with Dave, like, ‘Oh my God, what are you doing?’ ” Debbie said. “So the boosters, at one of those end-of-the-year dinners, gave me my own headset connected to Dave.”

She laughed and added, “Or so I thought it was connected to Dave.”

One of Debbie’s passions is growing the game of football for women, especially coaches’ wives. At one point, she even taught a football class at a restaurant in Eagan.

“I mean, imagine how many games that she’s been to,” Dan said. “She’s our number one supporter. Even now, she’ll watch my games online and ask me how they went. She understands.”

Debbie said the wives’ stories have not been heard.

“We are cheerleaders, trainers, nutritionists, equipment managers, sports psychologists, mentors and more,” she said. “I have to feed [the coaches]. I have to mentor them after heartbreaking losses.”

Dan said he’s also extremely grateful to have his dad with him on the East Ridge coaching staff. Dave was his defensive coordinator for years and now works as the team’s director of operations.

As for the next Fritze generation? Dave and Debbie have already found themselves at TCO Stadium in Eagan to cheer on Tom’s 9-year-old son, Harry, in flag football. Harry is named after Vikings safety Harrison Smith.

“Dave and I started watching our grandson play football,” Debbie said. “So here we go.”