Drinkwitz steals show in SEC Media Days debut
HOOVER, Ala. — In July of 2006, Eli Drinkwitz, then a first-year offensive line coach for Springdale high school in Arkansas, came to the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama for the first time. Drinkwitz’s team was playing in the Southeast Select 7-on-7 tournament, and between games, the coaching staff brought the players to the shopping mall connected to the hotel for lunch in the food court. Drinkwitz remembers gazing into the Wynfrey, seeing the team banners and hallway lined with folding tables topped with radio equipment that led to the SEC Media Days.
Fifteen years later, Drinkwitz made his media days debut at that same hotel. In characteristic fashion, he made his presence known.
Drinkwitz, taking the big stage in the main media room, made it about 10 seconds into his opening statement before referencing the rumor of the week — that Texas and Oklahoma have been in talks about joining the SEC.
“Hard-hitting questions coming out of yesterday,” Drinkwitz said. “I think one of them was whether or not the ‘horns down’ is going to be a 15-yard penalty in the SEC in the future. So I asked commissioner (Greg) Sankey in the hallway, and he gave me a strong rebuttal by saying no comment. So we'll see where that goes.”
By the time he finished making his rounds, Drinkwitz had taken jabs at SEC associate commissioner Mark Womack, Florida coach Dan Mullen, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer and Arkansas fans. He sprinkled in a joke about getting himself in trouble in 2020 when he picked a fight with ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, a tale about his college flag football team (nicknamed the Steve Spurrier Boys) and a serious plea for Missouri players to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
In short, Drinkwitz did what he came to Hoover to do, and what he’s done masterfully since taking over at Missouri about a year and a half ago: He got people talking about a Tiger program that rarely generates much buzz southeast of the state.
“I’m a brand ambassador for the University of Missouri, so any time we get a chance to push our brand and push Mizzou football, that's my job,” Drinkwitz said. “And they pay me a whole hell of a lot of money to do my job, so I embrace it with everything that I have, and understand that the real reality is the wins on Saturdays, but this is part of it. And you know, I’m living the dream.”
Drinkwitz’s day started well before he took the stage at 9:05 a.m. At 7:30, he was already lounging in a chair on radio row, cracking one-liners in his Ozark drawl. He bounced around between radio stations after that, flashing a pair of black Air Jordan sneakers that featured patches of cheetah, zebra and, of course, Tiger patterns.
Most football coaches approach conference media days with attitudes ranging from tolerance to contempt. You might hear the old guard of the sport snear about “talking season,” answering questions with coach-speak cliches or outright “no comments” to avoid providing motivational fodder for opposing teams.
That has never been the way Drinkwitz operates. The 37-year-old cracked self-deprecating jokes about his spectacles and his stature at his introductory press conference. Since then, he’s been active on social media, tweeting everything from “bat signals” to signify new commitments to pictures from the golf course to jokes aimed at other coaches in the SEC.
Those who know Drinkwitz say the act is genuine. Defensive lineman Akial Byers, one of Missouri’s two player representatives for media days, said Drinkwitz is the same guy in a team meeting as he is on television.
But there are a couple objectives behind the bravado. Drinkwitz’s personality endeared his players to him, helping him earn their trust after he took over for Barry Odom in December of 2019. Byers still remembers being struck by Drinkwitz’s energy during his first meeting with the team, and he said that energy has only increased since.
Most importantly, Drinkwitz uses his panache to try to connect with new fans. He hopes to win support even before he racks up wins on the field. That was one of the themes he repeated during each of his interviews Thursday: He implored Missouri fans to re-engage in the program.
“I need the fans to really re-engage like they’ve never re-engaged before,” Drinkwitz said. “I hope they’re excited about what we’re trying to do, but I need the fans in the stands. I need them to buy season tickets. That’s the greatest way to show fan support. If you can’t buy season-tickets, we need mini-pack tickets. But what’s going to help us more than anything is for Faurot field to be sold out, to be ferocious, to support our football team.”
After making the rounds on radio row Thursday morning, Drinkwitz went to a suite, where he sat down with about 10 local reporters. At one point, he interrupted one of his answers to read a text from backup quarterback Tyler Macon praising his outfit: “The fit looking sharp, hand clap.”
Asked how he has managed to toe the line between mouthing off without drawing a fine from the SEC office (unlike Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin, who drew a $25,000 fine for criticizing officiating last season), Drinkwitz said he doesn’t talk about the league office for fear of drawing the ire of his wife.
“I’m what they call new money, so I’m not really giving away money right now,” Drinkwitz said. “I think some of these other guys have had money for a long time, so it doesn’t quite matter as much to them. My wife would kill me. She still lets me live off that Auburn (quality control assistant) salary.”
Drinkwitz didn’t completely give the SEC administration a pass, however. Asked about the reports that Texas and Oklahoma might join the SEC, he first quipped that Missouri leaving the Big 12 a decade ago gave those two schools the courage to follow suit. Then, he joked that the league would probably make Missouri face the Longhorns and Sooners in 2021.
“I don’t think it’s going to change our schedule this year,” Drinkwitz said, “but I am prepared for Mark Womack to put both Texas and OU on our schedule like he did last year with Alabama and LSU.”
It wasn't all jokes for Drinkwitz. Speaking to local reporters, he made an impassioned endorsement of the COVID-19 vaccine, saying that he hopes all his players and staff will choose to get vaccinated not just because it would give Missouri a competitive advantage but because "that's what we need to do in order to take care of our neighbor."
His appearance on the main stage featured plenty of wit, however. Drinkwitz directed perhaps his sharpest jab yet toward Arkansas. Drinkwitz hasn’t shied away from prodding his home-state school during his tenure at Missouri, at one point joking that “the school to the south” seemed to offer every prospect the Tigers did. Thursday, asked about the possibility of rekindling a rivalry with Oklahoma, Drinkwitz said he was content with keeping Arkansas as a rival since Missouri has won the past five matchups between the two schools.
“I kind of like the rivalry we've got with Arkansas,” he said. “I don't remember the last time they beat us, so I kind of like that one.”
He wasn’t finished throwing shade at annual opponents. Later, in an interview with SEC Network, Drinkwitz made a couple snide comments about Florida coach Dan Mullen, who stoked the tensions that led to a brawl between Missouri and Florida when the two teams met last season. At one point, Drinkwitz chided Mullen, who appeared for his postgame press conference after that game wearing a Darth Vader helmet, for not knowing the names of all the Star Wars movies. Later, Drinkwitz said he’s hoping for snow when the Gators visit Missouri on Nov. 20. “Dan is going to complain about everything anyway,” he said.
Drinkwitz also slipped in a shot at South Carolina coach Shane Beamer. Earlier in the week, Beamer mentioned the tight end position a whopping 12 times during his address in the main media room, which some have interpreted as a recruiting pitch to four-star prospect Oscar Delp. Drinkwitz thanked Beamer for the heads up that the Gamecocks planned to direct plenty of passes to the tight end during the Nov. 13 matchup.
If the end effect of Drinkwitz’s debut in Hoover is that fans from other schools don’t like him or his quotes become bulletin board material, so be it. “I just am who I am,” Drinkwitz said.
Most importantly, he seized the stage and used his personality to further build the buzz he’s cultivated around the Missouri program — and to make memorable an appearance that he’s been dreaming about since 2006.
“To think that … 15 years later, you’re here as the head coach of an SEC program, like, you don’t take that for granted,” Drinkwitz said. “You don’t know what opportunities are going to come in life.”
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