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Eli Drinkwitz reveals blunt message to Mizzou coming out of close call in Week 3
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Eli Drinkwitz has always been known as a head coach who doesn’t do coach-speak.
So the Missouri head coach revealed in Tuesday’s weekly press conference what he told his 7th-ranked team on Monday. It was blunt. It was direct. It was very much Drinkwitz at his core.
“Put your feelings in a box, put your big boy pants on,” Drinkwitz told his Tigers, who are still undefeated at 3-0 but who also struggled mightily in getting past then-No. 24 Boston College, 27-21, on Saturday in Columbia.
“Don’t come into this meeting room thinking we’re going to celebrate and party based on the film,” said Drinkwitz. “…The lack of discipline is the result of lack of accountability. There’s gonna be accountability… The team’s mission is way more important than any individuals hurt feelings. Put your feelings in a box, put your big boy pants on.”
#Mizzou FB coach Eli Drinkwitz tells me the biggest thing his team can grow off of from last week's game is how they responded to adversity.
Big challenge for his guys this week: "Put your feelings in a box….the lack of discipline is the result of lack of accountability.… pic.twitter.com/pUtOOHPIK5
— Nathalie Jones (@NathalieABC17) September 17, 2024
Missouri’s ugly victory over the Eagles cost the Tigers a little in Sunday’s AP Poll, where they dropped from No. 6 to No. 7 heading into their Week 4 SEC opener at home against Vanderbilt. Drinkwitz explained to his players on Monday that it’s all about putting what’s good for the team in front of anything individually.
Missouri fell behind early in the victory over BC, trailing 14-3 early in the 2nd quarter before scoring the next 24 points to take a 27-14 lead late in the 4th quarter. The Eagles made the crowd in Columbia sweat by scoring a touchdown with 3:45 left, but Drinkwitz’s team closed it out, surviving the scare and staying unbeaten.
“Was not pretty, wasn’t our best performance top to bottom but really responded,” Drinkwitz said after the win.
Now Drinkwitz is challenging his team to be better.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
