Matt Drinkall
Matt Drinkall went 52–27 as a head coach, 2014–2026, at Kansas Wesleyan and Central Michigan. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 3–3); by them his record is 52–26. Share
Five seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 2014–18 at Kansas Wesleyan. They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 52–27 career
- Seasons
- 7
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Nov 8, 1982
- Alma mater
- Western Illinois 2005
- Best season
- 2025 7–6
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Kansas Wesleyan * | 2–9 | T–8th | |||
| 2015 | Kansas Wesleyan * | 10–2 | 2nd | NAIA First Round L | 14 | |
| 2016 | Kansas Wesleyan * | 9–2 | T–2nd | 17 | ||
| 2017 | Kansas Wesleyan * | 8–3 | 3rd | 21 | ||
| 2018 | Kansas Wesleyan * | 13–1 | 1st | NAIA Semifinal L | 6 | |
| 2019–24: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2025 | Central Michigan | 7–6 | 5th | GameAbove Sports Bowl L | ||
| 2026 | Central Michigan | 3–4 (Wikipedia: 3–3) | ||||
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. * A season our game records don’t credit to him; its record is the article’s.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Against top-10 teams | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 3 | 1–2 | 33% |
| Conference games | 11 | 6–5 | 55% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 5 | 2–3 | 40% |
| At home | 9 | 7–2 | 78% |
| On the road | 10 | 3–7 | 30% |
| At neutral sites | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 7 | 7–0 | 100% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 13 | 3–10 | 23% |
His own 20 games on file, 2025–2026, 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.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Akronseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Western Michiganseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| San José Stateseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Massachusettsseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Bowling Greenseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Buffaloseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Colgateseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Eastern Michiganseries | 1 | 1–0 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–05 | Bettendorf HS (IA) high school | Wide receivers coach and defensive coordinator | |
| 2006–07 | Western Illinois | Tight ends coach | |
| 2008 | St. Ambrose | Assistant coach | |
| 2009 | St. Ambrose | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2010–11 | St. Ambrose | Offensive line coach | |
| 2012–13 | St. Ambrose | Offensive coordinator | |
| 2014–18 | Kansas Wesleyan | Head coach | |
| 2019 | Army | Offensive quality control coach | |
| 2020–22 | Army | Tight ends coach | |
| 2023 | Army | Co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach | |
| 2024 | Army | Offensive line coach | |
| 2025–present | Central Michigan | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Don PattersonWestern Illinois
- Jeff MonkenArmy
Worked under (2)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Don Patterson | Western Illinois | 2006–07 | Tight ends coach | |
| Jeff Monken | Army | 2019–24 | 2019: offensive quality control coach; 2020–22: tight ends coach; 2023: co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach; 2024: offensive line coach |
Coached under him (3)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Derek Fulton | Central Michigan, 2025–26: co-offensive coordinator | |
| Jim Chapin | Central Michigan, 2025–26: offensive coordinator | |
| Sean Cronin | Central Michigan, 2025–26: defensive coordinator |
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
Drinkall’s teams went for it on 29% of fourth downs and on 49% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 37% of plays and took 29.8 seconds a play, 2025–2026.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 13 g | 26 of 101 26% | 51% | 36% | 30.1 | −0.02 | |
| 2026 7 g | 20 of 56 36% | 47% | 39% | 29.2 | +0.02 | |
| All 20 g | 46 of 157 29% | 49% | 37% | 29.8 | −0.01 |
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.