Eli Drinkwitz Rated in Top Half of SEC Head Coach Rankings

New rankings from USA Today rate Drinkwitz as one of the top 25 head coaches in the country, and in the top of half of the Southeastern Conference.

Sep 7, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz runs out with the team against the Buffalo Bulls prior to a game at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

After having his job security called into question following a third-straight season at or below a .500 winning percentage in 2022, Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz has reinstated confidence in both himself and in the program in the last two seasons.

That's led to much more national respect from national media, as evidenced by a continued rise in coaching rankings for Drinkwitz ahead of his sixth season with the Tigers.

In the latest 2025 head coach rankings from USA Today, Drinkwitz was rated as the 24th-best head coach in the country, and the seventh-best in the Southeastern Conference.

"Drinkwitz made winning 21 games the past two seasons look much easier than it’s historically been for Missouri," Blake Toppmeyer writes in the SEC rankings. "His best move was surrendering play-calling before the 2023 season so he could focus more on being the program’s CEO."

The positive impact Drinkwitz's decision to give up playcalling duties has been significant. It's allowed him to focus more on recruiting, and furthering individual relationships with players and assistant coaches.

"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," Drinkwitz said in a press conference ahead of the team's Cotton Bowl win in the 2023 season.

That reorganizing of responsibilities has also helped Drinkwitz establish Missouri as a major recruiter in the transfer portal. ESPN recently ranked Missouri's 2025 transfer portal class as the sixth-best in the country.

"He’s made Missouri a player in the transfer sweepstakes," Toppmyer writes. "He deserves credit for enacting needed change, instead of digging in his heels."

Below are the full SEC head coach rankings from USA Today.

USA Today's SEC Head Coach Rankings:

1. Kirby Smart, Georgia
2. Steve Sarkisian, Texas
3. Brian Kelly, LSU
4. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama
5. Lane Kiffin, Mississippi
6. Josh Heupel, Tennessee
7. Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri
8. Shane Beamer, South Carolina
9. Mike Elko, Texas A\&M
10. Mark Stoops, Kentucky
11. Brent Venables, Oklahoma
12. Hugh Freeze, Auburn
13. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt
14. Sam Pittman, Arkansas
15. Billy Napier, Florida
16. Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State