COLUMBIA, Mo. — Like a cinematic secret agent weaving through one of those mazes of booby-trapped red lasers, Missouri largely dodged the effects of one of college football’s more turbulent offseasons.
Sure, the Tigers lost their highly regarded defensive coordinator, but on the opposite side of the ball, they held on to one of the sport’s rapidly rising young coaches: offensive coordinator Kirby Moore.
His debut season made a considerable impression, not just in Columbia but in broader Southeastern Conference circles. Taking over play-calling duties and promptly leading a top 30 scoring offense to 11 wins and a Cotton Bowl victory will do that.
And when new Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer found himself needing to hire another offensive coordinator earlier in February, a certain Mizzou assistant appeared on more than a few .
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A fear that MU would miss out on a second season with Moore directing the offense began to materialize.
“I was worried he was going to ’Bama or something,†quarterback Brady Cook said.
Moore didn’t, and he’s still around scheming up new tricks for the range of experienced offensive weapons that he’ll have to work with in 2024.
But how close was Moore to getting a shot at another school?
“I’m going to let Kirby answer those questions,†coach Eli Drinkwitz said with a smile.
Fair enough, Coach. To the man himself, then: How much of a decision was there to return for a second season with Missouri?
“My family and I, we love it here in Columbia,†Moore said. “Obviously tremendous staff that I get to work with on a daily basis. Great group of players coming back and just looking forward to getting to work.â€
Nothing too specific, but consider that Moore endorsing his current employer. His players are glad to have him back for another year, too.
“I’m happy about it,†Cook said. “It’s going to be dangerous, for sure.â€
Moore has already pinned down points of emphasis for the Mizzou offense as it begins spring practices focused on individual development, setting a foundation for the scheme-based preseason late in the summer.
“We focus on three areas from an offensive standpoint,†Moore said. “Starts with taking care of the football, which we did a fairly good job of. I think we ended up with nine turnovers on the season. You look at two of the games that didn’t go our way, and unfortunately, we didn’t win the turnover battle. So that’s something we can point to.â€
Moore’s statistical recollection is correct: The Tigers finished with nine turnovers, which was tied for the sixth-fewest in the country. And as he also accurately remembers, late interceptions against Louisiana State and Georgia doomed chances of comebacks in those defeats.
“We got to continue to find ways to be explosive,†Moore continued. “That was something that I thought was a strength.â€
Mizzou wound up with 13.9% of its pass plays classified as explosive in 2023, up from 10.2% in 2022 — in no small part due to Moore’s scheme and play calling.
“And from a scoring — scoring wins games — we got to do a better job,†he concluded. “I got to do a better job calling plays within the red zone. We had a ton of opportunities down there. We just got to focus on scoring touchdowns instead of field goals.â€
MU relied heavily on the run inside the red zone, finding success with zone schemes and quarterback draws. How that evolves will be a focus for coaches in the film room now and practices come the true preseason.
And as the staff looks back on 2023, there’s a sense that a natural learning curve challenged Moore — but made his success look more impressive.
“I think he did an outstanding job in a very tough, challenging situation last year,†Drinkwitz said. “Anybody who’s ever come in and tried to call plays with a head coach who’s on that side of the ball, there are good days and bad days, and the mistakes feel magnified because the guy who’s in charge. Kirby handled it so well all year. Not only did he run it the way he saw fit, he adopted the things that we felt like were really good, and he didn’t have any type of ego about it. But he was very strong in the things that he knew, that he felt convicted about. I think it made for a very good offensive style of football.â€