KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The University of Missouri rewarded football coach Eli Drinkwitz with a contract extension through the 2028 season on Sunday, two days after he led the Tigers to a victory over Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl to cap an 11-2 season.
Drinkwitz’s contract was due to expire after the 2027 season. The extension approved by the Missouri Board of Curators also is expected to include a bump in pay, though the school had yet to announce the financial details.
Drinkwitz was hired before the 2020 season after a single year at Appalachian State, where he went 12-1 and won the New Orleans Bowl. The timing could not have been worse — the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult for him to build the program — and the result was three straight .500 regular seasons and two losses in bowl games.
Despite the relatively mediocre results, Missouri gave him an extension in 2022 that took his pay to $6 million per year, and Drinkwitz made it pay off this season. Picked to finish in the middle of the Southeastern Conference, the Tigers’ only losses came against Georgia and LSU, and they beat nonconference rival Kansas State, a Big 12 program, along with SEC foes Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee.
“You can’t do this alone,” Drinkwitz said in the release announcing his extension, “and our players, coaches and staff have worked tirelessly and believed in the process of building a championship program. The passion of our fan base, alumni and donors is awesome. We are extremely grateful for the resources they provided and the continued investment from our administration.”
Drinkwitz, 40, was AP’s SEC football coach of the year this season and finished third in voting for the national award.
The seventh-ranked Tigers were considered heavy underdogs in the Cotton Bowl against No. 9 Ohio State, but they rallied in the fourth quarter for a 14-3 victory against the Big Ten program.
Missouri could be in the mix for a spot in the College Football Playoff next season, when the field expands from four teams to 12. Quarterback Brady Cook, standout wide receiver Luther Burden III and several other key players are expected to return, and the Tigers already have supplemented them with a top-25 recruiting class highlighted by five-star defensive end Williams Nwaneri.
“Coach Drinkwitz and his staff have done a tremendous job in this modern era of intercollegiate athletics,” Missouri athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois said in the release. “Continuity is important in implementing a championship culture, maximizing student-athlete potential and recruiting future Tigers. Our program is positioned to continue our momentum into the future.”