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Missouri

Eli Drinkwitz labels himself 'dorkiest' coach in college football, embraces role

IMG_6598by: Nick Kosko09/08/25nickkosko59
USATSI_27025498 (1)
Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Sam Pittman embraced the hog and Eli Drinkwitz is ready to embrace the “dork.” The Missouri head coach crashed his QB Beau Pribula’s interview on SEC This Morning and made such a claim.

Not to the extent of Pittman’s tagline for Arkansas football last season of course. But Drinkwitz is just fine being perceived as a nerd or dorky.

In fact, he might be No. 1 on the dork rankings in college football. As long as he keeps winning, who cares?

“I’m the dorkiest guy in college football and I embrace it,” Drinkwitz said. It was in response to Peter Burns and Chris Doering asking Pribula if Drinkwitz was cool.

“I don’t think coach Drink is cool at all,” Pribula said, while laughing. He couldn’t contain himself as his coach crashed the interview.

Missouri is now 2-0 on the season and ranked No. 25 in the latest AP Poll, so Drinkwitz’s dorkiness is working again. The Tigers just beat Kansas 42-31 in a return to the Border War game.

Drinkwitz may be a dork or a nerd, but let’s not forget he’s also a troll. He became one again as he went after a fan who said he should’ve been fired.

Prior to the massive victory, a troll account on Twitter/X tweeted that Drinwitz should be fired if they lost to the Jayhawks. Following the win, Drinkwitz took to social media and channeled his inner (pre-crazy) Kanye West at the 2005 Grammys.

“If he loses to Kansas, he has to be fired,” the tweet read. “I would pull all month NIL funding if I was a whale. Unacceptable.”

Drinkwitz simply replied, “guess we will never know.” Mic drop!

The Jayhawks jumped out to an impressive 21-6 lead with 2:13 remaining in the first quarter following a Jalon Daniels one-yard touchdown run, but this would mark the end of their strong start to the game. Over the remaining three quarters, Missouri outscored Kansas 36-10 to improve to 2-0 on the young season.

“First I wanna say how much I appreciate the fans,” Drinkwitz said postgame. “Atmosphere all day from SEC Nation to kick-off to fourth quarter. I think our fans really showed up and showed out. I think this was the Missouri that I’ve always believed in and dreamed in. But I’m gonna challenge that this is the expectation moving forward.

“It’s not just about beating Kansas, it’s about being like this all the time in the SEC play. So I’m gonna encourage our fans to continue to do this. It shouldn’t be about a team we play once. It should be the expectation of our program moving forward that the energy and passion shows up all the time. Incredibly proud of our team.”