Football season is almost halfway done and Tiger fans are ready to Drink Up! There's only one place to get set for Mizzou game day every week this season. Macadoodles does tailgating like nobody else. Get your crew ready to watch the Tigers take on the SECs with a stop at Macadoodles on your way to Faurot Field. Whether it's beer, wine or spirits you're looking for, Macadoodles will make your tailgate the pre-game place to be in Columbia this season. Who does tailgating like nobody else? Macadoodles does.
Every week, PowerMizzou.com publisher Gabe DeArmond answers questions from Tiger fans in the mailbag. This format allows for a more expansive answer than a message board post. Keep your eye out each week to submit your question for the mailbag or send them to powermizzou@gmail.com. On to this week's inquiries.
rlt002 asks: In your opinion, why is it that some coaches do very well coaching in college, yet struggle in the pros? Some guys do great in the pros and struggle coaching college. This can be said for head coaches as well as coordinators, etc. What're your thoughts?
GD: It's a completely different job. First of all, in college, it's mostly about assembling talent. Recruiting is by far the most important part of the job. You have to be a salesman capable of convincing a high school senior he should play for you. That's far more important than anything you do football wise. In the pros, other than a free agent here and there, there's no recruiting. It's a league with a draft set up to bring everyone closer to the middle. The difference between the best team in the NFL and the worst team in the NFL isn't insignificant, but it's not nearly as big as the difference between the No. 1 and the No. 32 team in college football.
Also, there's a difference of dealing with college kids versus grown men who are paid professionals. Some coaches' approach just works better with one than the other. Not that there's a right way or a wrong way to do it, but certain ways aren't going to land as well with certain audiences.
Christianmizzouguy asks: How much is upperclassmen (4th and 5th year guys) attrition, poor recruiting, and lack of senior leadership contributing to the run defense and pass rush struggles? Do you find the end of Barry's first and first half of his second year issues comparable to Drinks?
GD: As I've said consistently since Saturday, Missouri does have a talent issue. That talent issue is not enough to explain why the defense is as bad as it is. Mizzou's recruiting wasn't good enough for a few years and that's definitely showing up right now. But it wasn't the worst in the country defensively. They've got guys who have played well before (Jeffcoat, Whiteside, Manuel have all garnered some sort of recognition around the league).
So far, Drinkwitz's start is better than Odom's. Odom started out 5-10 in his first 15 games (and actually 5-13). Drinkwitz is 7-8 so far. We'd probably look at it differently if the Arkansas and LSU games had gone differently last year, but they didn't. After that 5-13 start, Odom actually got things going. He went 14-6 over his next 20 games to get the record back to .500 overall. And that will really be the key with Drinkwitz. This year is going to be a disappointment in all likelihood. How big a disappointment remains to be seen, but it's almost certainly going to fall short of most expectations. Everybody gets one of those. The key will be what happens next. Next year needs to be better than .500. And the year after that needs to be a year you show significant progress and indicate that you can compete for something more than third or fourth in your division. When I say "needs to be," I don't mean that's what has to happen to keep him employed. I just mean that's what has to happen if he's going to end up as good as fans hope.
The other main differences between Odom and Drinkwitz are that Drinkwitz's recruiting is significantly better and he's a whole lot better at PR. I remain convinced if Odom had had the social media and media savvy that Drinkwitz has, he'd still be the head coach here. But he had a .500 record combined with a public persona that didn't get people excited about Mizzou football and that's why he ultimately got fired.
