SEC carousel spins, but Eli Drinkwitz stays put as five conference jobs fill up

The regular season ended Saturday with Missouri jogging off the field in Fayetteville with the Battle Line Trophy and an 8-4 record. By Sunday afternoon, a quarter of the SEC had new head coaches.

LSU hired Lane Kiffin away from Ole Miss. Florida turned to Tulane’s Jon Sumrall. Auburn poached Alex Golesh from South Florida. Arkansas tabbed Memphis’ Ryan Silverfield. And Ole Miss promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding after Kiffin’s exit.

All of it unfolded just a few days after Missouri took its own coach off the market.

Drinkwitz signs first, then the dominoes fall

On Thursday, Mizzou announced a new six-year contract for Eli Drinkwitz that runs through the 2031 season and averages about $10.75 million per year. The deal was approved by a unanimous Board of Curators vote.

National reports had linked Drinkwitz to several of the same jobs that opened in the SEC, including LSU, Florida and Auburn, as well as Penn State (Big Ten). He chose to re-sign at Missouri before any of those schools announced their hires.

“This place has been nothing but great to me,” Drinkwitz said in Fayetteville after Saturday’s 31–17 win over Arkansas. “I just felt like we weren’t done yet.”

Missouri finished the regular season 4-4 in SEC play, then watched the rest of the league reshuffle around it.

LSU: Lane Kiffin finally lands in Baton Rouge

LSU fired Brian Kelly on Oct. 26 and spent all of November pursuing Kiffin, who had Ole Miss (11-1) in the playoff race. On Sunday, the purple-and-gold Tigers made it official, agreeing to a deal that brings Kiffin to Baton Rouge and leaves the Rebels to Pete Golding.

Kiffin went 55-19 in six seasons at Ole Miss with what will be one College Football Playoff appearance in 2025 and built a reputation as one of the sport’s most aggressive offensive playcallers. National outlets graded the hire as an “A,” framing it as LSU trading one big personality in Kelly for another while expecting Kiffin to keep the program in the national title picture.

Missouri did not play Kiffin nor LSU in 2025. Under the SEC’s new nine-game schedule, the Tigers will travel to Baton Rouge in 2027, which should be MU’s first meeting with Kiffin’s LSU.

Florida: Jon Sumrall brings Group of Five résumé to Gainesville

After firing Billy Napier and falling short in its chase for Kiffin, Florida settled on Sumrall, who has stacked double-digit wins at Troy and now Tulane. Across the last four seasons he is 42-11 as a head coach, with multiple conference titles and a reputation for physical defense.

ESPN reported Sumrall’s deal at Florida is for six years at roughly $7.5 million annually, paired with a new personnel chief in former Jaguars executive Dave Caldwell. Early national grades have been strong, with Florida betting that Sumrall’s program-building success translates from the Sun Belt and AAC to the SEC.

Missouri did not see Florida this fall. The Gators will come to Columbia in 2026, making Sumrall one of the first new coaches to bring a team into Memorial Stadium under the nine-game conference scheduling model.

Auburn: Alex Golesh’s tempo offense heads to the Plains

Auburn fired head coach Hugh Freeze on Nov. 2 after a loss to Kentucky dropped the Tigers to 4-5. The decision came after persistent offensive struggles and an overall record of 15-19 during his tenure.

Auburn turned to Golesh, who rebuilt USF from the bottom of the AAC to a 9-3 program that spent much of this season ranked, beating Boise State and Florida in nonconference play.

Golesh’s offenses at USF averaged more than 35 points and 450 yards per game, ranking in the top 25 nationally in multiple offensive categories. Auburn is betting that his tempo-driven system restores some explosiveness.

Missouri played at Auburn in October, winning 23-17 in double overtime at Jordan-Hare against Freeze. The next scheduled meeting is in 2027, when Auburn visits Columbia with Golesh on the sideline.

Arkansas: Ryan Silverfield steps in after a 2-10 collapse

A 2-10 season, capped by Saturday’s loss to Missouri, cost Sam Pittman his job. The University of Arkansas fired Pittman on Sept. 28 after a 56-13 loss to Notre Dame dropped the Razorbacks to 2-3. Bobby Petrino served as interim head coach while the school conducted a national search.

Arkansas landed on Silverfield, who went 50-25 at Memphis with four bowl wins and back-to-back 10-plus win seasons in 2023 and 2024.

Silverfield’s Tigers beat Arkansas earlier this season, one of several close losses that helped sink the Razorbacks’ year. His track record suggests a higher floor in Fayetteville: Memphis went 31-9 at home under his leadership and reached as high as No. 18 in the polls this fall.

Missouri saw the final days of the old regime Saturday, rushing for 322 yards in a 31-17 win that pushed Drinkwitz to 5-1 in the Battle Line Rivalry. Beginning in 2026, Arkansas becomes one of MU’s three annual SEC opponents, so Silverfield and Drinkwitz will see each other every season. The teams meet in Fayetteville in 2026.

Ole Miss: Pete Golding gets the promotion

When Kiffin left Oxford, Ole Miss chose to act quickly. The Rebels promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to head coach.

Golding has SEC experience from his years at Alabama and has recruited well on defense. External grades on the hire have been mixed, but he will lead the Rebels into the College Football Playoff.

Missouri did not play Ole Miss in 2025. The Tigers will travel to Oxford in 2026 and host the Rebels in 2028 as part of the new rotation, meaning Golding’s first meeting with Missouri will come early in his tenure.

What all this means for Mizzou

Missouri spent much of November in the middle of an SEC that was as tightly packed as it has been in years. The Tigers were picked 12th in the preseason, finished 8-4 overall and 4-4 in conference play, and performed like an upper-half team in a divisionless league where games often hinged on a few plays.

Now the league around them is turning over. Five of the SEC’s 16 head coaching jobs changed hands Sunday. While LSU, Florida and Auburn searched for splashy hires, Missouri chose stability and extended Drinkwitz.

The new nine-game conference schedule means that stability will soon intersect with the league’s changes. Beginning in 2026, Missouri’s annual opponents will be Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. Florida comes to Columbia that fall. Road trips to Ole Miss and Georgia are also on the 2026 slate, and 2027 adds visits to LSU and Alabama along with a home date against Auburn.

Missouri just wrapped its regular season by beating one program that is changing coaches. Over the next four years, the Tigers will cycle through Kiffin’s LSU, Sumrall’s Florida, Golesh’s Auburn, Silverfield’s Arkansas and Golding’s Ole Miss, all while trying to prove that continuity can still matter in modern college football.

Copyright 2025 Columbia Missourian

This story was originally published December 1, 2025 at 7:44 PM with the headline "SEC carousel spins, but Eli Drinkwitz stays put as five conference jobs fill up."