ROLLA, Mo. — Future Mizzou athletics director, do yourself a favor and read this.
You’re not known yet. You may be one of the candidates who already interviewed. You may be among the candidates who will be interviewed soon.
We’ll learn your name soon enough. My guess is by May.
“Incredible applications,†curator Bob Blitz said Thursday. “It seems like everybody would like to be an athletic director in the SEC.â€
If you are among those coming for the gig, and if you are motivated to become the first person since Mike Alden to turn what has become a turnstile job into a lasting legacy, then know that properly interpreting what just took place in a conference room on the campus of Missouri S&T will go a long way toward helping you thrive. Can’t do it? Maybe cancel your interview.
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First and most important, understand that making Eli Drinkwitz’s Mizzou football program bigger, better and more lucrative than ever before is at the tip-top of the to-do list. This is not a job where you come in and decide how you feel about the football coach. This is a job where you come in and do your damnedest to help Drinkwitz crack the newly expanded College Football Playoff.
Second and perhaps just as important, you should realize the folks you answer to, the ones you want to hire you, are very motivated to help you both succeed and stick around. A big part of your job, and it can be a hard part, will be keeping it that way. But just see Drinkwitz for an example of how lucrative solving the riddle can become. He has been handed everything he’s asked for and more while proving himself and staying true to Mizzou. My advice? Help Drinkwitz help you.
The hurt feelings and differing views left over from the divorce between ex-Tigers athletics director Desiree Reed-Francois, UM system president and chancellor Mun Choi and the UM System Board of Curators is not the new hire’s baggage to carry. No need to sort through it. Leave it to the lawyers who are arguing about whether Mizzou should or should not give Arizona any relief from the Reed-Francois buyout owed. Choi said Thursday, pointedly, that answer is no.
Still, the new AD can and should learn from what went down before Reed-Francois bolted for what was, at best, a lateral move. Better yet, find a way to benefit from it. That’s the best way to succeed. The only way, really. Because while Mizzou’s decision-makers are nearing the hire of a new AD, they reminded here Thursday that not having one will not stop them from pursuing their shared goal of lifting Mizzou football to new heights because they believe everything else will rise with it.
Mizzou didn’t skip a beat in planning, producing and approving plans for a $250 million Memorial Stadium football facelift despite Reed-Francois’ surprising mid-February departure to Arizona. The first person to connect those dots Thursday after curators unanimously moved forward on the project during their previously scheduled trip to Rolla was, of course, Drinkwitz. He put on a tie and drove down to celebrate.
“You know, several weeks ago, we had what seemed like a disruption to our athletic department and our project,†Drinkwitz said while standing in front of glossy renderings he helped brainstorm. “But with strong leadership by the board and our president, we took the opportunity to improve our situation and deliver what I consider to be a big dream and a bold investment.â€
“Desiree leaving did not affect this in any negative way,†added Blitz, the influential ºüÀêÊÓƵ attorney who has since April 2023 gone from a new curator to the one overseeing both the AD search and a new athletics oversight committee. “And if she was thinking of leaving, which nobody knew before she said it, it was probably good for her to leave so we could go on and get things done here.â€
While not quite as spelled out as the “Why Stop Now†plastered across the stadium renderings, the underlying theme was clear: The group in power at Mizzou at this moment believes a football-first vision for Drinkwitz and his program will continue to produce positive returns and also move the entire athletics department toward requiring less financial support from the university side over time. Board of Curators chair Robin Wenneker called the stadium renovations a “momentum investment.†Drinkwitz’s 11-win 2023 season that ended with a Cotton Bowl win against Ohio State, Choi said, resulted in a 17% uptick in freshmen wanting to come to Mizzou. Members of the architect design team referred to the project as renovating the university’s front porch.
Reed-Francois’ hesitation at times about Drinkwitz and/or such a significant football-first focus — she was cooler than the curators toward the 2022 extension of Drinkwitz when he had a 15-17 record, for example — was not the only stress point that developed over time. But it was among them. That should offer valuable information to the next person in the role. Football and funding. Don’t forget it.
“No. 1 on the list is the ability to raise money and get donors,†Blitz said. “Athletics today is more expensive than it’s ever been. Someone who knows fundraising and knows how to recruit people to fundraise, things like that. Second, and I think the thing with this whole press conference has been, we want somebody who wants to build a championship. Somebody who wants to be in the CFP.â€
I’d add another must to the list. The new hire must do something interim AD Marcy Girton has quietly excelled at since she stepped into the role. She’s kept multiple parties working together effectively. That’s not always an easy task at Mizzou, we’ve learned. While curators can bristle about that observation being made, the history is the history, and it’s outlasted any of the curators currently on the board. That doesn’t mean long-desired synergy is impossible to achieve. That doesn’t mean this is not an appealing job.
Mizzou is in the money-drenched SEC. Its most important program is thriving, and it’s led by a still-rising coach who is mastering the lost art of turning the job you have into the one you want. Drinkwitz has the roster and the 2024 schedule that says cracking the expanded College Football Playoff field is not a pipe dream. His spearheading of Mizzou’s aggressive approach to name, image and likeness is fueling a continued recruiting boom on the prep and transfer portal scenes.
And yes, there is a lot of good will available from Choi and the curators for the AD candidate who shares their vision and wants to stay put through thick and thin.
If you’re reading this and you are a person who excels at reading and uniting a room, maybe this is the job for you.