Cotton Bowl Coaches Press Key Quotes
Both Coaches On Playing In The Cotton Bowl
"Missouri Head Coach Eliah Drinkwitz: Yeah, just want to say our appreciation for being included in the 88th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. It's been an unbelievable event. It starts, first, with people. And the people of the Cotton Bowl Classic have been unbelievable as far as hosting and taking care of our needs, making sure that we have everything we need, especially on Christmas. Around the holidays, for our families, our players to feel the warmth of the holidays here in Texas was really important and very appreciative to them.
Ohio State Head Coach Ryan Day: I'll echo what Eli [Drinkwitz] said, about just how great everybody here at the Cotton Bowl has been. I was here in 2017 and talked for a long time about the hospitality that the folks here have shared with our team. And it's been the same -- it's been better. It's been better.And like Coach [Eliah Drinkwitz] said being here for Christmas is a different experience, but our guys have really enjoyed the week. Also, had a great week of practice. Practicing in a first-class facility like we're in now. Made it easy and seamless.And again, a lot of people have a lot of pride in this bowl. So it's an honor to be a part of it."
Coach Drinkwitz on Brady Cook's Full Circle Moment
Coach Drinkwitz: "I think Brady, obviously growing up in the State of Missouri, wanting to play for the university, battling throughout adversity during his year last year, now having an opportunity to lead a New Year's Six bowl is exciting for him.You can tell the level of focus that him and Cody [Schrader] have displayed all week. They're really here to play and play well. They've taken their preparations seriously. They've been going to the sauna in the morning over at the Anatole Hotel. That was a nice perk for them. They're very focused and want to play at a high level in this game."
Coach Drinkwitz Talks About His Decision To Give Up Play-Calling
Coach Drinkwitz: "Yeah, it really began after the bowl game, going back to the month of December. I just -- I wasn't doing the best that I could for our football team. We have a sign in our building that says, "Do your job. Put the team first. Embrace your role. Put the team first." And I wasn't doing that. I wasn't embracing my role as the head coach. I was trying to hold on to my ego of being the play caller.
And I needed to step back and say, the job as a head coach is to build this team, empower other people to do their jobs, and really build connections amongst our players from player-to player, coach-to player, and from our team to our university and community.
It begins with investing in your guys. And I just didn't have the time that I needed to do that. So that really became my mission: How could I support our strength and conditioning athletic performance? How could I be around our players more? How could I engage our coaches more in a real way? How could I engage our players more in a real way to create a more connected team?
Football is a powerful game, and there's always elite teams. But it's really not about elite talent. It's about elite teams. Ryan [Day] alluded to it earlier. When NFL teams get on a run, it's teams that are connected.
And I felt like we needed to be more connected so that when that moment came and we broke through, we would be able to sustain it. And that kind of happened for us after the Kansas State game.
So yeah, it really just came down to me being more of living my integrity, not just talking about it but being about it and putting the team first and embracing my role as the head coach.And Kirby Moore came in and did a phenomenal job to coach the offense, call the offense, and couldn't have had it happen any better for us."
Coach Drinkwitz On Recent Coordinator Extensions
Coach Drinkwitz: "Yeah, you're only as good as the people you surround yourself with. And I think there's been incredible vertical alignment within our coaching staff where both Kirby and Blake utilized their unique personalities to communicate the message of the head coach to their side of the ball.We have a sign in our staff meeting that says "Low Ego, High Input" and "Preference versus Performance." I think both of those guys reflect that immensely.Low ego, it's not about them. It's about what's best for our program and our team in order to win. They're not concerned about stats on either side of the ball. They just want to work together to find the best way for our team to win."
