The Changes Eli Drinkwitz Made on His Trek to the Mountaintops
The sold-out crowd at Kroeger Field had reached a roaring pitch. The Kentucky Wildcats had dominated the Missouri Tigers in the first quarter, leading 14-0 early in the second quarter and feasting at the opportunity to extend the lead after forcing a stop on third down.
The Tigers were drowning. They were coming off of a heartbreaking loss to LSU, their first of the season. In the last two quarters, Missouri had been outscored 36-7 by opponents.
The Wildcats would never get the opportunity to extend their lead though. Instead of booting the ball away with his leg, punter Luke Bauer shocked Kentucky by launching a pass to freshman Marquis 'Speedy' Johnson for a touchdown.
The bold play call was more than a lifeboat for Missouri's season. It was an airlift to unprecedented heights for the program. In the next seven quarters, Missouri would outscore opponents 72-12.
The bold play call was designed by special teams coordinator Erik Link but the decision to call it came from Eli Drinkwitz. It's a decision the head coach doesn't think he'd make in previous years.
Instead, he felt a new freedom and clarity this past season after forfeiting play calling duties in the offseason.
"I was in that moment saying, 'Okay, let's do that here,'" Drinkwitz said of the fake punt call. "I don't think as a head coach calling the offense I would have been prepared to do that."
'Embrace Your Role, Put the Team First'
The role-reducing decision did not come easy for Drinkwitz. But he came to the conclusion that it would be best for the team after the Tigers had lost in a bowl game for the second straight year.
Missouri had lost 27-17 to Wake Forest in the Gasparilla Bowl on December 23rd of 2022. It was another disappointing end to another disappointing season. After the loss, the third-year head coach refused to dodge accountability.
“I just didn't do enough to give ourselves a chance to win tonight. That's on me,” Drinkwitz said.
While Drinkwitz’s team scored once in each of the first three quarters, the Tigers failed to score at all in the fourth.
“At the end of the day, we’ve gotta score in the fourth quarter,” Drinkwitz said. “We didn’t do that, and it’s my responsibility. ... I’ve gotta give us a better opportunity.”
The pressure was building against Drinkwitz. Following the loss, his record at Missouri was a uninspiring 17-19. The 2022 season was particularly brutal for Drinkwitz and the Tigers as they finished with a 6-7 record. Packed in there were devastating one-score losses to Auburn, Georgia, Florida and Kentucky. There was also embarrassing losses of 28-points to Kansas State and of 44 to Tennessee.
The 19th loss of his time at Missouri caused Drinkwitz to say that he needed to do “a lot of reflection” to see what he could do better.
"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.
Drinkwitz’s self-reflection began with recognizing that he needed to prevent his ego from holding the team back. His desire to be the offensive play caller was causing him to lose sight of the relationship aspect of coaching.
"I spent so much time worried about Xs and Os that I forgot about the mindset of our players, making sure that was ready each and every week," Drinkwitz said when reflecting on his approach in previous seasons.
In the weeks following the bowl loss, Drinkwitz came to the conclusion that he needed to forfeit play calling duties. He hired an offensive coordinator for the first time in his stint at Missouri when he brought in Kirby Moore. The young, creative mind from Fresno State brought the schemes and play calling needed to turn the Missouri offense into one of the most explosive in college football.
Less Time at the Blackboard
A majority of sports' most successful coaches are much greater motivators than they are scheming geniuses. Vince Lombardi is no exception.
While the 'Packer Sweep' dominated defenses, Lombardi's football knowledge is not what led to his historic success. It was his knowledge of people. Lombardi recognized this himself.
"Coaches who can outline plays on a blackboard are a dime a dozen," Lombardi once remarked. "The ones who win get inside their players and motivate."
This season, Drinkwitz had to be reminded of the crucial role that motivating players holds in coaching.
“We had a couple of coaches come and talk to our team, and I was picking their brains about them being head coaches," Drinkwitz said. "And one of them told me, reminded me, that college football, coaching 18-to 22-year-olds is 90 percent having your team motivated."
In 2023, Drinkwitz spent less time at the blackboard. Instead, he focused on investing in his players. Creating stronger relationships with them. Fostering an unbreakable bond between the team so that the group played as one unit instead of 85-plus individual players.
"As leaders, you have the opportunity to model the mindset that you want for your players and be transparent with them," Drinkwitz said. "And I did that with our guys. And I think our staff has been very much like that. And I think our players respected that and kind of adopted the same thing."
For Missouri players, the shift in their coach's approach has been noticeable all season long.
"I think it’s helped him a lot. I can see it," Cook said on Drinkwitz's decision to give up play calling. "I can see it in the way he interacts with the team and what he’s focused on. I don’t think he’s as stressed out, to be honest with you. I think he’s focused on keeping our team ready to play. I think it’s helped us, I think it’s helped him.”
Drinkwitz builds a relationship with players by making an effort to show that he cares about their lives outsides of football too. One of the team's mottos is 'chase two dreams', emphasizing the importance of having goals for a life with football and goals for a life without it.
"It kind of translates on to our lives day-to-day," defensive tackle Kristian Williams said. "So he doesn't make football just a game, he makes it more about life.”
Reaching the Mountaintops
Three quarters into their biggest game in a decade, the Missouri Tigers were dealing with the most adversity they had all season long. The Missouri offense remained scoreless, showing no signs of life against Ohio State in the 88th annual Cotton Bowl.
The Buckeyes were only winning by three but the Tigers had to fight for every offensive yard in the first three quarters. They were yet to travel into the red zone. The deficit, no matter how small, seemed nearly insurmountable. But through the experience of a tumultuous 2022 season, Drinkwitz built an unflappable team.
"Can't kill us. We've already been killed," Drinkwitz said after a vengeful victory over Tennessee in 2023. 'We've been at the bottom. We were there last year."
The team had reached its lowest point in the fourth quarter of the Gasparilla Bowl. Failing to score a single point in the most important fifteen minutes of the season. Now a year later in the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State, the Tigers had no other choice but to score in the final quarter if they wanted to win.
Drinkwitz took the blame for his team's scoreless fourth quarter last year. In the Cotton Bowl though, he was able to take pride in the relentless effort of his players to score 14 unanswered points in the fourth.
The Tigers were prepared to step up as Drinkwitz made it a key part of the team's preparation, taking inspiration from the words of Pete Carroll after the Seattle Seahawks' last minute win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
"I actually talked to the team about it," Drinkwitz said. "You can't win it in the first. You can't win it in the second. Can't win it in the third. But you can sure win it in the fourth quarter. And this team, they did that. They displayed that."
With a convincing win in a New Year's Six Bowl, Missouri has accomplished what they set out to at the beginning of the season by proving to the world that they can be one of the top teams in the nation. The team adopted 'Something to Prove' as their official motto for 2023, but next year will require some modifications to the saying.
"It's 'why stop now'," Drinkwitz said. "That's the mentality it's, why stop now. We've worked really hard to get this opportunity, and we're not going to sit here and change."
After the potentially program-changing win, the Tigers will have a new set of challenges to deal with heading into next season. The expectations for the program will reach their highest levels in nearly a decade. But Drinkwitz is prepared for the fresh issues he and his team will have to face.
"Everything's coming together now, but we do understand that the wind's twice as hard at the top of the mountain," Drinkwitz said after the win. "So, whatever we did to achieve this year, it's going to be twice as hard. We're going to have to battle a whole new set of problems. Starting with the disease of me, the disease of what about me. We're going to have to go in there and rebuild a culture."
Drinkwitz's mention of the 'disease of what about me' seems to be one that he successfully self-medicated himself through this year by forgoing his ego to give up play calling duties.
The decision led to Drinkwitz and the 2023 team redirecting the trajectory of the Missouri Tigers. Though he helped push the team to the windy mountaintop now, he couldn't have reached the peak without becoming familiar with the emptiness of the valley.
