Eliah Drinkwitz's New Extension Makes Him One Of College Football's Highest-Paid Coaches

The SEC is often regarded as the best conference in college football, and understandably so. It's got a lot of premier programs among its ranks. Georgia, Alabama, LSU, have all won national titles since 2019. Schools like Texas A&M, Tennessee, and Ole Miss are putting up strong seasons this year and have been solid members of the conference for the past few seasons.

Another school that's quickly becoming a high-quality SEC program is Missouri. The Tigers won 11 games in 2023 and 10 in 2024. Since head coach Eliah Drinkwitz took over in December 2019, the Tigers have reached a bowl game in every season. He's also one of the winningest coaches in college football since 2023.

With his name in the coaching carousel as a possible replacement for James Franklin at Penn State, Drinkwitz doubled down and stuck with Mizzou. The university offered him a six-year contract extension worth $64.5 million; the $10.75 million average annual value makes Drinkwitz among the top-ten highest-paid coaches in college football.

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Drinkwitz's 2026 salary will be $10.25 million. Shortly before signing, he shared a post on X that included a picture of him alongside his wife and four children. The post expressed gratitude to be in Columbia, and included Drinkwitz's saying of "Why Stop Now!"

Perhaps the biggest knock on Drinkwitz has been his inability to consistently win big games. Missouri's record against the AP Top 25 since he took over has been 7-18. That includes seven straight losses in such games.

But Missouri hasn't had much of a storied history on the gridiron. Drinkwitz is just the second coach to win at least 10 games in back-to-back seasons. If the Tigers knock off the Arkansas Razorbacks in both teams' regular season finale, Missouri will have 30 wins over three seasons. That's only been done one other time in program history.

Despite the struggles, Missouri knows it has a talented coach on its hands. And the school is willing to pay to keep him around for the long run.