SEC names Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz as league’s Coach of the Year

The league and voters are in agreement.

The Southeastern Conference named Eli Drinkwitz as the league’s Coach of the Year in a news release Wednesday, a day after the Associated Press and a little more than a week after USA Today tabbed the Mizzou football coach for the same honor.

Drinkwitz, in his fourth season as the Tigers’ head coach, led Mizzou to its first 10-win season since 2014 this year, which was just the sixth such feat in program history.

As a reward: Missouri earned a berth to the Cotton Bowl for a bout with the Ohio State Buckeyes on Dec. 29 in Arlington, Texas. Mizzou athletics announced Monday that the Tigers’ allotment of tickets for the game were sold out, less than a day after the New Year’s Six Bowl berth was announced.

Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz answers questions during a postgame interview after a college football game at Memorial Stadium on Nov. 18, 2023, in Columbia, Mo.

Drinkwitz, who was hired by Missouri from Appalachian State in December 2019, had never had a winning regular-season record during his previous three years in Columbia, and Mizzou lost both of its bowl-game appearances under his leadership.

But the tide quickly changed in 2023.

Mizzou saw off a then-ranked Kansas State team at Faurot Field in September, part of five straight wins to start the season. The Tigers hammered South Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas in the back half of their schedule, staged a comeback win to defeat Kentucky on the road and dramatically downed Florida on Faurot Field.

MU’s only losses of the season came against back-to-back national champion Georgia and Heisman Trophy favorite Jayden Daniels and his LSU Tigers. Both games were competitive into the fourth quarter.

Drinkwitz signed a contract extension with MU midway through the 2022 season that keeps him in Columbia until 2027. He will…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/sec-names-mizzou-football-coach-211245882.html

Author : Columbia Daily Tribune

Publish date : 2023-12-06 21:12:45

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