Mizzou football’s Eliah Drinkwitz has a simple message for fans: Wear a mask
Missouri Tigers coach Eliah Drinkwitz has been known to wear some choice clothing during his video news conferences. In June, he wore a Hawaiian/Missouri-esque shirt, which sparked a conversation about football coaches’ wardrobe decisions.
On Wednesday, Drinkwitz donned a face mask with a Mizzou logo, armed with a simple message:
Wear a mask.
“What we’re trying to do is encourage people that it’s OK to wear a mask,” Drinkwitz said of the #MaskUpMizzou hashtag on Twitter. “It’s OK to do it. I get there’s arguments on both sides. I get that, for some reason, it’s been politicized. I just happen to believe it’s good public health policy.”
Mizzou, much like the rest of college football, faces difficult decisions in the coming weeks regarding the fall football season during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Big Ten and PAC-12 — fellow Power Five conferences — have already announced they will be playing a conference-only schedule, should there even be football this fall.
The SEC hasn’t made any concrete decisions yet, with commissioner Greg Sankey saying Monday that the conference plans to make a determination in late July.
In the meantime, to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Drinkwitz said he wants to encourage fans to wear a mask. The first-year coach also voiced some annoyance with those who’ve come out against wearing masks, including how it’s somehow become a political issue.
“I’m frustrated with the fact that people argue against it,” Drinkwitz said. “It’s like, ‘Why are we not willing to try it?’ It’s gotten to the point where, supposedly on Twitter, you got the ‘Coronabros’ and then you got the guys who think it’s fake. Now you got both sides rooting against each other. I’m just rooting for the United States of America. I’m just rooting for us to defeat the disease.”
Drinkwitz noted that he loves going to the local Columbia eateries — the Murry’s, Booche’s, Shiloh and Shakespeare’s. In order to get back to more normal frequenting of local spots, Drinkwitz said everyone should wear a mask.
While Drinkwitz stressed he’s not a medical professional, he noted that he’s listening to those experts to ensure there is a college football season.
“I know how, in order to get things done, everybody has to buy into a collective issue,” Drinkwitz said. “For us in COVID, we have to buy into a collective mission. It may not be a perfect plan — seldom plans are perfect. Plan your work, work with the plan.”
Hypotheticals
With the cloud of uncertainty hanging over Mizzou football, hypotheticals have followed. Should the SEC opt for a conference-only schedule, it could add more games than its original eight. If the season is pushed back, that could mean a spring schedule.
But at this point, Drinkwitz said, it’s all a big game of what if.
Drinkwitz cracked some jokes when it came to such hypothetical scenarios. (For context: President Donald Trump mistakenly called Alabama coach Nick Saban “Lou Saban” recently.)
“If we play a conference-only schedule, will Lou Saban or Nick Saban be the head coach of Alabama?” Drinkwitz said before a smile crept across his face. “I’m not going to waste time on hypotheticals and conference-only and all that stuff. … Hypothetically, if we play Lou Saban, it’ll be whatever.”
Empty stadiums
Another issue with the pandemic, of course, is fan attendance. Faurot Field’s capacity is 62,621, though full football stadiums are unlikely this fall.
There’s a lot of money riding on the decision about whether fans are allowed inside stadiums as ticket sales, concessions and other factors are considered.
“Brother, I coached in the Sun Belt,” Drinkwitz said. “There’s a lot of sparse stadiums going on, big dog. I’m ready to roll. I’ve coached junior high football where there’s 100 people in the stands.”
Drinkwitz coached one year at Appalachian State of the Sun Belt, when he led the Mountaineers to a 12-1 record and conference championship. There were five times last season when App State played in front of a crowd with less than 20,000 announced fans. The Mountaineers’ announced season-low was 17,908 for a win at Georgia State.
Of course, schools have been known to fluff their announced attendance by counting tickets sold, not just tickets scanned. So some games could have included less fans than the number shown on the final box score.
“I’m not going to throw specific teams under the bus, but there are stadiums I’ve been in that were sparse,” Drinkwitz said. “I could’ve probably counted the number of people in a couple of games last year.”