COLUMBIA, Mo. — Mizzou is closing in on a new head football coach, Appalachian State's Eli Drinkwitz.
A source with knowledge of the hiring process confirmed to 5 On Your Side Sports Director Frank Cusumano that Drinkwitz will be the team's new head coach pending approval from the Mizzou board of curators.
The University of Missouri Board of Curators will vote on Tuesday at 8 a.m.
Drinkwitz, 36, led Appalachian State to a 12-1 record and a Sun Belt Conference championship in his first season as the team's head football coach. He has held position coach and coordinator positions at Arkansas State, Boise State and North Carolina State before becoming the head coach at Appalachian State in 2019.
The 36-year-old Drinkwitz will become the second-youngest Power Five coach behind Oklahoma's Lincoln Riley.
He will replace Barry Odom, who was fired late last month. The Tigers finished 6-6 and 3-5 in the conference after beating Arkansas in the final game of the season. That left Odom with a 25-25 record, a perfectly middling mark after Gary Pinkel’s successful run.
The 6-6 record would have qualified the team for a bowl game, but the school lost its appeal of NCAA penalties stemming from an incident involving a rogue tutor. That decision left in place postseason bans, recruiting and scholarship restrictions levied against the football, baseball and softball programs.
