Mizzou was patient with a Sun Belt coach. Will it work for Gators?

DALLAS — A former Sun Belt championship coach was middling after his first couple years in the SEC, and hot seat speculation was starting up.

“Not a lot of hope,” Missouri quarterback Brady Cook said. “Not a lot of belief around the program.”

The Tigers are different now as Eliah Drinkwitz enters his fifth season. His success is a lesson in patience that’s worth sharing as his former Sun Belt colleague, Billy Napier, enters a make-or-break Year 3 at Florida.

Drinkwitz won that mid-major league in 2019 in his only year at Appalachian State. The coach he beat for the conference title? Napier at Louisiana.

But the jump to the SEC was big. Drinkwitz won only 11 games in his first two seasons at Mizzou. Napier is 11-14 with the Gators.

Drinkwitz had a losing record in Year 3, too. He lost by 24 to Florida in the 2020 brawl, by 19 to Mississippi State, by 7 to Boston College and in bowls to Army and Wake Forest.

If all that didn’t put him on the hot seat, exactly, it was still fair to wonder why Missouri rewarded his 16-16 record with a contract extension near the end of 2022.

“We all understand there are expectations with this job,” Drinkwitz said Tuesday during the SEC’s media days. “When you’re not meeting them, obviously the noise picks up.”

The noise around Napier will be loud when he and the Gators arrive at the Omni Dallas Hotel for their turn at the stage Wednesday. But the noise around Drinkwitz’s Tigers is pretty loud, too. That’s what happens when you finish in the top 10 and return a roster good enough to vie for a spot in the expanded 12-team playoff.

Missouri’s leap happened, in large part, due to patience. Drinkwitz could only have a breakout fourth season because the school’s powerbrokers gave him a fourth season. That’s not a given in this league, and it might not be guaranteed for Napier.

Looking back, Drinkwitz made some behind-the-scenes growth that took time to show up on the scoreboard and in the standings. In the four years before his arrival, the Tigers’ average recruiting class ranked 42nd in the 247Sports composite. Drinkwitz’s first four full cycles are 18 spots better.

The Tigers have signed five modern-era recruits who were five-star prospects, according to 247Sports. Drinkwitz had two of them, including all-SEC receiver Luther Burden.

Napier’s recruiting upticks are smaller, but you can see them if you squint. His 2024 class was seventh nationally (including transfers) and matched Dan Mullen’s UF total by adding a pair of five-star recruits (quarterback DJ Lagway and defensive lineman LJ McCray).

Last season, Drinkwitz’s better roster finally turned into a better, veteran roster. Last year’s 11-2 team featured 22 players with at least a dozen career starts. They had, crucially, withstood what Drinkwitz called the “letdown games” that teach players about focus and effort and gritting through tough Tuesday practices and everything else that matters in a deep league.

“If you don’t,” Drinkwitz said, “you’re going to be embarrassed in a hurry.”

Like losing at home to Arkansas or surrendering a crushing conversion on fourth and 17, as Florida lived through last season.

That’s relevant to Napier’s Gators, who have 200 more starts than they did last year. This program should have had enough teachable moments by now.

Just because Drinkwitz succeeded after a slow start is no guarantee Napier will, of course. The Gators, justifiably, have higher expectations than Missouri. The Tigers got help from local politicians and an advantageous name, image and likeness law that incentivizes recruits to stay in state. Drinkwitz, unlike Napier, gave up offensive play-calling duties to focus on other responsibilities. And patience can backfire; Florida gave Will Muschamp a fourth year and fired him before the end of it.

But the biggest question around Florida remains whether a Sun Belt coach can raise his game after an unimpressive start in the SEC. You don’t have to look hard to find proof that it can be done.

Just look for Drinkwitz’s Tigers in this preseason’s top 10.

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