Eli Drinkwitz
Eli Drinkwitz went 63–32 as a head coach, 2019–2026, at App State and Missouri. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 5–1); by them his record is 63–31. Share
- Record
- 63–32 career
- Seasons
- 8
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 1 season
- Born
- Apr 12, 1983
- Alma mater
- Arkansas Tech 2004
- Best season
- 2023 11–2, No. 8
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | App State | 12–1 | 1st | New Orleans (not coached) | ||
| 2020 | Missouri | 5–5 | 3rd | Music City (not played) | ||
| 2021 | Missouri | 6–7 | T–4th | Armed Forces Bowl L | ||
| 2022 | Missouri | 6–7 | T–4th | Gasparilla Bowl L | ||
| 2023 | Missouri | 11–2 | 2nd | Cotton Bowl W | 8 | |
| 2024 | Missouri | 10–3 | T–4th | Music City Bowl W | 22 | |
| 2025 | Missouri | 8–5 | T–8th | Gator Bowl L | ||
| 2026 | Missouri | 5–2 (Wikipedia: 5–1) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Ahmad HardyConsensus All‑American, 2025- Darius RobinsonNo. 27 pick, 2024
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 29 | 8–21 | 28% |
| Against top-10 teams | 13 | 2–11 | 15% |
| Against rivals | 25 | 17–8 | 68% |
| Conference games | 62 | 35–27 | 56% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 5 | 2–3 | 40% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 34 | 21–13 | 62% |
| At home | 52 | 42–10 | 81% |
| On the road | 37 | 18–19 | 49% |
| At neutral sites | 6 | 3–3 | 50% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 61 | 52–9 | 85% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 34 | 11–23 | 32% |
His own 95 games on file, 2019–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sam Pittman 2020–2024 | 4–1 | Arkansas | 5 | |
| Clark Lea 2021–2025 | 4–1 | Vanderbilt | 5 | |
| Shane Beamer 2021–2025 | 4–1 | South Carolina | 5 | |
| Billy Napier 2019–2023 | 3–1 | Louisiana, Florida | 4 | |
| Mark Stoops 2020–2023 | 2–2 | Kentucky | 4 | |
| Kirby Smart 2020–2023 | 0–4 | Georgia | 4 | |
| Jeff Lebby 2024–2026 | 2–1 | Mississippi State | 3 | |
| Josh Heupel 2021–2023 | 1–2 | Tennessee | 3 | |
| Mike Elko 2024–2026 | 1–2 | Texas A&M | 3 |
Eli Drinkwitz’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| South Carolinaseries | 7 | 6–1 |
| Arkansasseries | 6 | 5–1 |
| Vanderbiltseries | 6 | 5–1 |
| Floridaseries | 5 | 3–2 |
| Kentuckyseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Mississippi Stateseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Texas A&Mseries | 4 | 1–3 |
| Tennesseeseries | 4 | 1–3 |
How he was hired
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Alma HS (AR) high school | Assistant coach | |
| 2006–09 | Springdale HS (AR) high school | Offensive coordinator | |
| 2010–11 | Auburn | Quality control coach | |
| 2012 | Arkansas State | Running backs coach | |
| 2013 | Arkansas State | Co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| 2014 | Boise State | Tight ends coach | |
| 2015 | Boise State | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2016–18 | NC State | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2019 | Appalachian State | Head coach | |
| 2020–present | Missouri | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Gene ChizikAuburn
- Gus MalzahnArkansas State
- John ThompsonArkansas State
- Bryan HarsinArkansas State, Boise State
- Dave DoerenNC State
Assistants who became head coaches
- Greg GasparatoTroy
- Shawn ClarkApp State
- Ted RoofDuke
- Casey WoodsMissouri State
- David GibbsHouston
- Ryan WaltersPurdue
- Scott LinehanSt. Louis Rams
- Steve WilksArizona Cardinals
- David BlackwellEast Carolina
- Kirby MooreWashington State
- Chris BallNorthern Arizona
- Chip LindseyTroy
Worked under (5)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gene Chizik | Auburn | 2010–11 | Quality control coach | |
| Gus Malzahn | Arkansas State | 2012 | Running backs coach | |
| John Thompson | Arkansas State | 2012–13 | 2012: running backs coach; 2013: co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| Bryan Harsin | Arkansas State | 2013 | Co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| Bryan Harsin | Boise State | 2014–15 | 2014: tight ends coach; 2015: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Dave Doeren | NC State | 2016–18 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (12)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greg Gasparato | App State, 2019: safeties coach | Troy | |
| Shawn Clark | App State, 2019: assistant head coach and offensive line coach | App State | |
| Ted Roof | App State, 2019: defensive coordinator | Duke | |
| Casey Woods | Missouri, 2020–21: tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator | Missouri State | |
| David Gibbs | Missouri, 2020: defensive backs coach | Houston | |
| Ryan Walters | Missouri, 2020: defensive coordinator and safeties coach | Purdue | |
| Scott Linehan | Missouri, 2021–23: offensive analyst | St. Louis Rams | |
| Steve Wilks | Missouri, 2021: defensive coordinator | Arizona Cardinals | |
| David Blackwell | Missouri, 2023: SDA; 2024–26: defensive tackles coach | East Carolina | |
| Kirby Moore | Missouri, 2023–24: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2025: offensive coordinator | Washington State | |
| Chris Ball | Missouri, 2024–26: defensive assistant | Northern Arizona | |
| Chip Lindsey | Missouri, 2026: offensive coordinator | Troy |
Other assistants under him (14)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Charlie Harbison | App State, 2019: cornerbacks coach; Missouri, 2020–21: assistant head coach and defensive backs coach | |
| D. J. Smith | App State, 2019: outside linebackers coach; Missouri, 2020–21: linebackers coach; 2022–24: co-defensive coordinator, linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Garrett Riley | App State, 2019: running backs coach; Missouri, 2026: quarterbacks coach | |
| Brick Haley | Missouri, 2020: defensive line coach | |
| Bush Hamdan | Missouri, 2020–21: wide receivers and quarterbacks coach; 2022: quarterbacks coach | |
| Curtis Luper | Missouri, 2020–26: running backs coach | |
| Matt Linehan | Missouri, 2021: graduate assistant | |
| Blake Baker | Missouri, 2022–23: defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Corey Batoon | Missouri, 2024–26: defensive coordinator | |
| Jacob Yoro | Missouri, 2024–26: safeties coach | |
| Sean Gleeson | Missouri, 2024: analyst; 2025: quarterbacks coach | |
| Derek Nicholson | Missouri, 2025–26: linebackers coach | |
| Alex Atkins | Missouri, 2026: tight ends coach | |
| John Papuchis | Missouri, 2026: special teams coach and defensive assistant |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
How he coached
Drinkwitz’s teams went for it on 20% of fourth downs and on 34% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 48% of plays and took 26.0 seconds a play, 2020–2026.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 10 g | 18 of 74 24% | 33% | 53% | 25.1 | +0.09 | |
| 2021 12 g | 19 of 92 21% | 41% | 52% | 25.0 | +0.09 | |
| 2022 12 g | 18 of 101 18% | 30% | 48% | 26.4 | −0.03 | |
| 2023 13 g | 15 of 90 17% | 33% | 46% | 26.2 | +0.16 | |
| 2024 13 g | 18 of 97 19% | 26% | 47% | 26.8 | +0.07 | |
| 2025 13 g | 22 of 84 26% | 60% | 43% | 26.5 | +0.07 | |
| 2026 7 g | 7 of 55 13% | 22% | 49% | 25.5 | +0.09 | |
| All 80 g | 117 of 593 20% | 34% | 48% | 26.0 | +0.08 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.