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Drinkwitz era starts Saturday
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Missouri Athletic Director Jim Sterk (left) introduces Eliah Drinkwitz as the new head football coach of the Missouri Tigers last December in Columbia.

Sept. 24, 2020

COLUMBIA, Mo. --- The Barry Odom experience ended on Nov. 30, 2019, when he was fired by Mizzou.

That was than 10 months ago.

After what we've been through, it seems more like 10 years.

Odom was never going to be the long-term answer for the Tigers football program. A favorite son of ol' Mizzou, he was basically a sacrificial lamb hired to give a floundering program --- both the program and university were in disarray after the chaos of 2015 --- some semblance of stability.

Odom was football's version of Kim Anderson, who had the displeasure of inheriting the basketball disaster left by Frank Haith.

Odom took the hit, he did his best, and was gone after four seasons, a 25-25 record and two bowl appearances. That was lot better than most expected.

His main duty was to bridge the gap between the greatly successful reign of Gary Pinkel, the school's winningest coach, and the next big hire.

On Dec. 10, Mizzou hired Eliah Drinkwitz.

Who?

Exactly.

If you'd heard of Eliah Drinkwitz before this, you were either:

A ) a real college football enthusiast;

B ) an alum of Appalachian State, or

C ) a liar.

Drinkwitz, 37, becomes the 33rd head coach in the 130-year history of the program. Here's a look at his college head coaching experience:

^ Appalachian State, 2019

That would be that.

Now, here's a look his high school head coaching experience:

There's a reason that's blank.

So to compete in the SEC, Athletic Director Jim Sterk --- who started his fifth year at Mizzou last month --- went out and hired a guy with one year of college head coaching experience, none in Division I (or high school), and Sterk paid him $24 million for six years.

Almost makes you skeptical.

"I'm thrilled to have him here at Mizzou leading our program," Sterk said the day of the hire. "He's got passion, a plan and a vision that will take this program to great heights."

Drinkwitz grew up in Alma, Ark., and is 2004 college graduate of Arkansas Tech. He was an assistant high school coach for three years, before serving as a quality control assistant at Auburn for two years.

After two years as an assistant at Arkansas State, he joined the staff at Boise State, coaching tight ends in 2014 and becoming offensive coordinator in 2015.

He moved to the ACC and was offensive coordinator at North Carolina State for three years, before taking the FCS Appalachian State job and leading the Mountaineers to a 12-1 mark last year.

Drinkwitz, who's known for his offensive mind, already has an SEC win under his belt --- Appalachian State beat South Carolina 20-15 last season. If you were curious, MU beat SC 34-14 during the Gamecocks' 4-8 campaign.

To be sure, Drinkwitz has his doubters, but he's not one of them. And he believes his team is following his lead.

"I think our team's trying, they're trying to do exactly what we're asking them to do," Drinkwitz said in a season preview on the team's website. "We've instituted a lot of new things in a small amount of time and they're trying to do them the right way.

"That's the sign of an eager team and hopefully that's a good sign for the season."

There haven't been many good signs for anyone --- not just at Mizzou, but anywhere in the country in football, other sports, or anything else.
"We've got to be comfortable being uncomfortable, that's what Covid has done to us," said Drinkwitz, whose team kicks off this strange, delayed season against the best program in the country, No. 2 Alabama, at 6 p.m. (ESPN-TV) Saturday at Faurot Field.

There will be only 11,800 fans allowed at the game, 20 percent of capacity. In addition, no tailgating will be permitted in any of the school's parking lots.

That should be interesting, we'll see how tightly the latter is enforced.

With the graduation of Kelly Bryant, the Tigers will be raw and inexperienced at quarterback --- either junior Shawn Robinson or redshirt freshman Connor Bazelak will get the start.

They'll make up for that lack of experience at running back with the return of the top two leading rushers, senior Larry Rountree (829 yards, nine touchdowns) and junior Tyler Badie (457, three).

"Our offense is built on rhythm, attack and execute," Drinkwitz said. "We want to play out of the no-huddle, we want to attack the defense with vertical shots and downhill runs."

Linebacker Nick Bolton returns for his junior season after leading the Tigers in solo (74) and total tackles (107). Senior safety Joshuah Bledsoe was second in total tackles (49) and led the team in passes broken up (10).

"We're going to run and we're going to hit on defense," Drinkwitz said. "We're going to be aggressive, play multiple fronts with lots of pressure and movement, and try to confuse, harass and hit the quarterback at all times."

2020 has been a year of doom, gloom and pessimism, but the start of football season always seems to bring out plenty of optimism in coaches, players and fans alike.

But with only 11,800 fans in the stands and four-touchdown favorite Alabama coming to Columbia, it's hard to be optimistic. And you might still be thinking Eliah Drinkwitz, really?

Hey, you know what?

You probably thought the same thing when they hired a guy named Gary Pinkel

Chris Leuckel