Eli Drinkwitz will enter his third season of rebuilding Missouri’s football program in 2022, and for the first time in his head coaching tenure, he is set to return to where his college coaching career began.
Drinkwitz worked his way up from the high school ranks to land his first collegiate coaching job at Auburn in 2010. After working alongside [autotag]Gus Malzahn[/autotag] at Springdale High School in Arkansas during the 2004 season, Drinkwitz met back with Malzahn to serve as a Quality Control Coach on the Plains for two seasons.
When discussing his time at Auburn, Drinkwitz says that he shares the same sentiment that so many who have spent time in Auburn do by calling the university a special place.
“We had a great experience at Auburn,” Drinkwitz said Monday during his turn at the podium during SEC Media Days. “Once you’re a part of Auburn, you’re always a part of Auburn. Obviously, the experience to win a national championship (in 2010), I thought college football was relatively easy when that happened.”
His time at Auburn allowed Drinkwitz to learn valuable life lessons, and to develop many relationships, relationships that he has continued building at Missouri in the form of positions on his current staff.
“Curtis Luper is on my staff, Erik Link is on my staff, Ryan Russell, Brett Whiteside is on our staff, guys that I met while I was at Auburn,” Drinkwitz said.
Following his time at Auburn, Drinkwitz followed Malzahn to Arkansas State, where he would spend the 2012 season as the running backs coach.
Drinkwitz’s connection to Auburn does not end with Malzahn, however.
After Malzahn departed Arkansas State to return to Auburn as head coach in 2013, Drinkwitz remained at Arkansas State and was promoted to the co-offensive coordinator for current Auburn head coach, [autotag]Bryan Harsin[/autotag]. He would remain with Harsin for three seasons, as he would follow Harsin to Boise State to serve as an assistant coach from 2014-15.
Drinkwitz says that entering the game against his former boss at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Sept. 24 is going to be a challenge.
“They’re going to be physical. (Harsin) is going to do a great job as the play-caller with a variety of schemes,” Drinkwitz says. “Defensively, I know he’s got [autotag]Jeff Schmedding[/autotag] calling the defense. They’re going to be multiple, aggressive. It will be a real test for us.”
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