Eli Drinkwitz blasts coaching carousel rumors after signing Mizzou extension
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Drinkwitz signed extension through 2031 to end coaching carousel speculation
- He framed 2025 as a good but imperfect season and vowed to improve
- Drinkwitz blasted social-media speculation and called for structural change
The Missouri Tigers fell short of initial expectations in 2025, but a 31-17 Battle Line Rivalry victory Saturday gave head coach Eli Drinkwitz another positive reason to look back on the season.
The 2025 campaign did not go to plan, and that was true off the field as Drinkwitz became an unwilling member of coaching carousel rumors in recent weeks.
Major college football openings in this cycle include LSU, Penn State, Florida and Auburn.
Drinkwitz put an end to any coaching rumors by inking his extension through 2031 on Thanksgiving Day, but he’s not quite done yet.
“College football is going to have to change all this stuff,” Drinkwitz said. “We’ve got to figure this out where we’re not putting pressure on coaches and programs and people during the middle of the week, where there’s nothing but speculation.
“We’ve got Twitter trending with bets on who’s going to be leaving or get this job. I was the leading bet-getter for a job I never interviewed for. That’s annoying. It’s bullcrap.”
Tucked inside his rant on coaching speculation, Drinkwitz noted that his job in Columbia “isn’t completed yet.” He said he texted athletic director Laird Veatch after the Oklahoma loss with a request to get the extension finalized. “Let’s get this thing done,” Drinkwitz said he texted Veatch.
With sights now set on a bowl game — and then ahead to 2026 after that — Drinkwitz reflected on a 2025 season that began with College Football Playoff hopes.
“Somebody’s going to ask me at some point, ‘How do you view this season?’” Drinkwitz said. “I would just tell you that it’s a good season. It’s not great. We had a chance to go to great and we didn’t get it done. As a team, as an organization, as everybody, we’ve got to find those inches. And it starts with me and it trickles down to everybody.”
A concept he later touched on was “micro-goals.”
“We’ve got to have micro-goals,” Drinkwitz said. “Obviously the goal that we set out to start the season got taken away from us. This team has faced a lot of adversity throughout the year ... three significant injuries in the first game of the year, our quarterback got hurt in a game where we kind of (had) control of the game, and for our team to stay in it and stay in the fight, I’m really, really proud of them.
“You’ve got to find a way to salvage that, and I thought our guys really did that.”
That said, Drinkwitz wants to see improvement.
“We’ve got to find a way to be better in those games,” Drinkwitz added. “I understand that. That’s going to be those inches that we’re looking for, but I’m really proud of our team. Like I said, it was a good season. We finished 8-4, lost to four top-10 teams. ... We’ve just got to figure that out moving forward.”
This story was originally published November 29, 2025 at 8:42 PM.
