As the Florida Gators await word from Lane Kiffin as to whether or not he will be the next head coach in Gainesville, Scott Stricklin and crew have been kicking the tires at potential backup options if Kiffin falls through. Some have viewed this as a sign the Gators don’t think they will land Kiffin, though most would argue it’s just Florida doing its due diligence.
Either way, one of the Plan B options that was seemingly in the mix for the Gators is now off the table.
Eli Drinkwitz signs extension
Missouri announced yesterday that Eli Drinkwitz has signed an extension that pushes his annual salary north of $10.7 million.
Drinkwitz showed up at Missouri in 2020 after one season as the head coach at App State. Prior to that, he was the OC at NC State.
Missouri has been a complicated program to try to evaluate under Drinkwitz. He did not have a winning season in either of his first three years in Columbia, MO, before having back-to-back campaigns of 11-2 and 10-3 in 2023 and 2024.
But the problem for Drinkwitz and the reason we here at Hail Florida Hail have been very much against the idea of hiring him at Florida if Kiffin were to fall through is that Missouri has been built on smoke and mirrors.
And it has shown this season.
The Tigers are 7-4 overall and 3-4 in SEC play. Even though Missouri was ranked for most of the season, they themselves haven’t beaten a ranked team all year and went 0-4 against ranked opponents. Last year, they were 1-3 against ranked opponents, and that one ranked win was against a Boston College squad that only got boosted because it had just beaten a soon-to-be 2-10 FSU squad.
Missouri’s “rise” has been fueled by the fact that it benefited from a super soft schedule by SEC standards, but it has been evident that they were outclassed when it actually had to play someone good.
Even in their 11-2 season, they had to convert 4th and 17 to beat a 5-7 Billy Napier-led Florida squad.
So if Kiffin falls through, Florida will need to look elsewhere besides Drinkwitz.
