Mizzou football’s Eli Drinkwitz discusses return ... and choosing which shirt to wear
Missouri Tigers coach Eliah Drinkwitz is in an awkward spot. As the leader of Mizzou’s football program, he’s managing 10 assistants, droves of staffers and an entire football team.
And then there’s the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a wrench into his best-laid plans. The first-year MU coach is navigating the uncertainty one step at a time, though now, at least, there appears to be a clear timeline that revolves around an as-planned start to the 2020 football season.
He and his fellow NCAA Division I football coaches are still not allowed to physically coach their teams — they’re relegated to eight hours of remote training per week. It’s an unenviable position for the former Appalachian State coach.
Worries about who should lead his quarterback-driven offense “keep him up at night,” he said, as the season creeps ever closer.
“What we have to do is take one it day at a time,” Drinkwitz said Wednesday. “Try to do what we have to do be successful today. We will figure those problems as they arise.”
The next step toward a season this fall revolves around a six-week practice plan proposed by the Division I Football Oversight Committee. The NCAA will soon vote on that. If it’s approved, Drinkwitz and his staff will have a timeline for when they can start coaching in person again.
For now, Drinkwitz likes what he’s hearing from MU athletic director Jim Sterk, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and other officials in the know.
“We’re planning on playing Sept. 5,” Drinkwitz said. “That’s my mindset. I don’t have a contingency for every other plan possible. We’ll just take it as it comes. ... There’s just so many unlimited possibilities.”
What to wear
Drinkwitz appeared on Wednesday’s video call paying special homage to Chiefs coach Andy Reid. Drinkwitz found a Hawaiian shirt he wanted and asked one of his equipment staffers to procure it for him. Within about 10 days, the colorful shirt had arrived.
Coaches’ apparel is always a hot topic, but that’s been especially true in recent days thanks to Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney.
Gundy was photographed wearing an One America News (OAN) shirt, sparking controversy when some OSU players denounced its messaging. The Cowboys’ All-America running back, Chuba Hubbard, tweeted about it and Gundy later said he had spoken with his team about it.
Swinney, meanwhile, was criticized for wearing a “Football Matters” shirt that some interpreted as a jab at the Black Lives Matter movement.
Drinkwitz said he wasn’t going to be “defending the shirt choice of either Coach Gundy or Coach Swinney.” He said he owns the same shirt Swinney was pictured wearing, explaining that it was given to him by the National Football Federation when he was at Appalachian State.
The Missouri coach said it was eye-opening to see how a photo of a coach wearing a certain shirt could create such backlash on social media.
“I’m a lot more aware now of everything I do than I have ever been in the past,” Drinkwitz said. “I’m hyper-sensitive to anything I might potentially say … I’m worried about what my shirt choices are.”
COVID pledges?
Drinkwitz said that, to his knowledge, MU players did not sign any sort of COVID-19 waivers before returning to Columbia this month for voluntary workouts.
An athletic department spokesperson, however, confirmed that all student-athletes were asked to sign a pledge detailing COVID-19 precautions ahead of their participation in school-sanctioned voluntary workouts on campus.
Missouri hasn’t been the only school to ask its student-athletes sign some form of pledge. Ohio State, Indiana, Tennessee, Iowa and other schools have enacted similar measures.
Drinkwitz said he and his coaching staff are urging their players to stay safe. But he noted, too, that it’s difficult to know where a college-aged person is at any given moment.
“What I’ve advised our football team is to take this as an extreme threat,” Drinkwitz said. “That they need to practice safe social distancing. The way we operate in our building is six feet separation. … It’s a hard thing to do in a workout, but we’ve figured out how to do it in a workout. We’ve figured out how to do it running.”