Here’s why Eli Drinkwitz won’t stand in way of interest in Mizzou football’s assistant coaches

There is a downside to Missouri’s meteoric rise.

Namely, what it might mean for the future of the Tigers' coaching staff.

Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz is already preparing for the potential that the coaches who were a part the Tigers’ success story could become intriguing prospects for the ever-growing list of coaching vacancies around the country.

How long until defensive coordinator Blake Baker takes the reins of a program? Or offensive coordinator Kirby Moore?

Missouri defensive ends coach Kevin Peoples was named as a Broyles Award semifinalist on Monday; Brandon Jones has turned MU’s offensive line into Joe Moore Award contenders; Jacob Peeler has made the most of the deep group of wide receivers he recruited; Curtis Luper has turned a Division-II transfer into the SEC’s leading rusher …

The list goes on.

Of course, it’s all conjecture at this point. Missouri still has a season to finish.

But when the busy December schedule for college football teams came up — figuring out who is sticking around the team for the bowl game; the bowl game itself; early signing day; recruiting; convincing players to return — Drinkwitz brought up the added stressor of the coaching carousel.

“You're going to have coaching decisions, people making changes — coaches, assistants, just had a lot of uncertainty,” Drinkwitz said.

But the head coach won’t be standing in his assistants’ way, should opportunities arise.

Drinkwitz referenced his own path through college football, which took him from the staff at Auburn to eventual offensive coordinator at Arkansas State, Boise State and NC State to head coach at Appalachian State before Missouri, as a reason for not interfering.

“Everybody's got their own dreams and aspirations, and I'm not going to be selfish,” Drinkwitz said. “I had my own journey to get where I would like to have been, which is to be a head coach in the SEC. And in order to get there you’ve got to make different decisions along your career path, and what we want to try to do is create an opportunity for everybody to believe that this is the best job for them in their current journey.

“And if they have opportunities to go be a head coach or be a coordinator or go back and do something closer to home for whatever reasons, for their family, then I never want to be standing in their way.”

The one caveat in Drinkwitz’s support: making lateral movements.

Between the end of last season and the beginning of the 2023 campaign, two Missouri assistants left for different positions.

Offensive line coach Marcus Johnson left for the same role on former Mizzou DC Ryan Walters’ staff at Purdue in March. Bush Hamdan, who was MU’s quarterbacks coach last year, became the offensive coordinator at Boise State. The Broncos recently fired head coach Andy Avalos.

Mizzou faces Arkansas in its regular-season finale at 2:30 p.m. Friday in Fayetteville, Arkansas. With a win, the Tigers reach 10 wins in a season for the first time since 2014.

That might not go unnoticed.

“I've got some really good football coaches on the staff and they've done an outstanding job at the University of Missouri for our fans and for our players,” Drinkwitz said. “And if that affords them another opportunity on their next step to achieving what they want to achieve, then they’ve got my full support.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Here’s why Eli Drinkwitz won’t stand in way of interest in Mizzou's assistant coaches