Eliah Drinkwitz Is In For The Long Haul With Mizzou

The Missouri Tigers head coach knows building in the SEC is a process

Coming off of another .500 regular-season record in 2021, the Missouri Tigers and third-year head coach Eliah Drinkwitz are looking to take a step forward in 2022. 

There is experienced talent at Mizzou. Not to mention a host of Power 5 transfers, and one of the top recruiting classes in program history is on its way as well. 

In short, reinforcements are incoming.

But make no mistake about it, while Drinkwitz knows what he is building in Columbia is going to take time, he also feels the urgency to start to win now. 

“We’ve spent two years really trying to win and build at the same time,” Drinkwitz told the Athletic in a recent interview. “We go to back-to-back bowl games and have the recruiting classes we have. I think the future is bright, but the future needs to be now.”

The first obstacle in taking that next step will be the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, who with a new head coach in Sonny Cumbie, and optimism of their own on their side, come to Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium in Week 1 with an upset on their mind. 

Unfortunately for Mizzou, it won't get any easier from there.

After a Week 2 matchup with the always challenging Kansas State, a crucible for Drinkwitz and Co. awaits, with the SEC schedule beginning in Week 3 against Auburn. 

Auburn might be the Tigers' best chance at an earlier SEC win as well, with Georgia and Florida matchups coming shortly after.

Either way, those first three weeks will all constitute near must-wins for Missouri early on.

“We’re in a scoreboard-based business, and it’s all about wins and losses,” Drinkwitz said in the interview. “But it also takes time to build, and there’s not instant transformation from what we were to what we want to be like. It’s not a quick fix. The team that just won the national championship took five years of recruiting a top-five class in order to get there, and they have unlimited resources."

That national champion Drinkwitz is referring to is of course the Georgia Bulldogs, who are coming off of their first national title since 1980 - A project that took Kirby Smart's program more half a decade to complete.

As Drinkwitz admits, the Tigers obviously don't have the same resources as a program like Georgia - Or perhaps even as programs such as Ole Miss or Arkansas. 

And with Texas and Oklahoma coming to the SEC no later than 2025, it won't get any easier. 

However, for the Tigers to get to that level, it starts first and foremost on the field. Not just with 

“In order for us to compete at that level, we’re going to have to continuously build," Drinkwitz said in the interview. "Discipline to compete precedes the discipline to win. Do we have the competitive nature to stay in games and be in close games consistently? We were able to do that our first year by beating LSU and beating Arkansas that year. We had a competitive game versus Florida. But we had three games in the fourth quarter where we had a lead or were tied and didn’t win. So we’ve got to flip those things in order to finish in the win column the way all the fans want us to.”

That build continues on when players report back to campus later this summer, and will Sept 3. against Louisiana Tech, as Drinkwitz begins his all-important third year at the helm.

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