Ted Lasso effect? Eli Drinkwitz invokes popular soccer coach to award scholarship
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz must be a fan of the popular Apple TV+ show “Ted Lasso” by the way he recently awarded a scholarship to start the season.
Drinkwitz said the announcement was made by way of a juice box, because it was a running theme to fall camp after the Tigers opened it with a sub-par energy level. That’s when the coaching staff handed out juice boxes as a reminder to, “bring the juice.”
“Richard Taylor, he was awarded the scholarship yesterday,” Drinkwitz said. “You know Richard’s a graduate already going into his master’s degree. A guy who’s always here, always working, gives everything he can to the football program, has 2 jobs and he earned it.”
So if a player made a great play, Drinkwitz said he was given a juice box, and in Taylor’s case, he was given a box that said he had “scholarship juice. It’s kind of corny, Ted Lasso-ish probably,” Drinkwitz said.
Scholarship reveals are certainly one of the most popular events of fall camp, and this is certainly one of the most unique ones.
I asked @CoachDrinkwitz about the way he decided to give Mizzou OL Richard Taylor a scholarship yesterday…if you missed it – a juice box was involved 👀
“Kind of corny, Ted Lasso-ish probably.” pic.twitter.com/aVG1QvT7WT
— Nathalie Jones (@NathalieABC17) August 19, 2021