COLUMBIA, Mo. 鈥 Eli Drinkwitz paused for 11 seconds.
Shortly after Saturday鈥檚 preseason practice, Missouri鈥檚 football coach met with reporters for the first time since another blistering round of realignment shook up the state of college athletics, placing schools more than 2,900 miles apart in the same conference, all while Congress is introducing bills to regulate how college athletes can earn compensation for their name, image and likeness.
Asked for his thoughts on the wild past few days that saw five more schools leave behind a carcass of what was once the Pac-12 Conference 鈥 Oregon and Washington are off to the Big Ten, following the path of longtime Pac-12 peers USC and UCLA, while Arizona, Arizona State and Utah joined Colorado鈥檚 exodus to the Big 12 鈥 Drinkwitz couldn鈥檛 resist speaking his mind.
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But first he paused, surely recalling the last time he sounded off and the Twittershpere quickly twisted his words into something else. But this time he couldn鈥檛 resist.
Here is Drinkwitz鈥檚 full response to Saturday鈥檚 question about what unfolded the past few days.
鈥淎ll right, well, I鈥檒l say it,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 thought the transfer window 鈥 the portal was closed. Oh, that鈥檚 just for the student athletes. The adults in the room get to do whatever they want, apparently.
鈥淎nd it鈥檚 just sad that there鈥檚 鈥 Look, my question is, did we count the cost? I鈥檓 not talking about a financial cost. I鈥檓 talking about did we count the cost for the student-athletes involved in this decision? What cost is it to those student-athletes? We鈥檙e talking about a football decision 鈥 they based it off football 鈥 but what about softball and baseball (teams) who have to travel cross country? Do we ask about the cost of them? Do we know what the No. 1 indicator or symptom or cause of mental health is? It鈥檚 lack of rest and sleep. Traveling in those baseball/softball games, those people, they travel commercial and they get done playing at 4 (p.m.) They gotta go to the airport, they come back, it鈥檚 3 or 4 in the morning. They gotta go to class. I mean, did we ask any of them? Are we going to look back 鈥 ?
鈥淚 don鈥檛 worry at all about the game (of football.) The game is going to be strong. Football is going to be fine. We鈥檒l all figure it out. But did we consider the people that we entrusted 鈥 (and) consider the student-athlete? Because then we鈥檙e asking them to go out on their own to get NIL. We didn鈥檛 say we鈥檙e going to revenue share. We鈥檙e not saying they鈥檙e getting a piece of it. So that鈥檚 the thing that鈥檚 bothering me right now in this whole situation is we keep trying to limit what the student-athlete can do, but then we act on our own. And everybody鈥檚 got their own reasons. And I鈥檓 not questioning those. I鈥檓 saying as a collective group have we asked ourselves what鈥檚 it gonna cost the student-athletes?
鈥淚 saw on Twitter, talking about one of the reasons they chose their school was so that their parents didn鈥檛 have to travel. They chose a local school so that they could be regionally associated so their parents could watch them play and not have to travel. Did we ask them if they wanted to travel from the East Coast to the West Coast?
鈥淢an, I love the game. But every game that I coach, I look up in the stands and find my family. I make sure they can be there. Because that鈥檚 what I鈥檓 doing this for. You鈥檙e talking talking about volleyball, baseball, softball, track, all those other sports, man. They don鈥檛 get they鈥檙e not fortunate to travel like the way we do football all the time. Football will be fine. Still did we count the cost of the collateral damage for everybody else? I don鈥檛 know. Only time will tell. But that is my biggest (thought) looking this 24 hours after. I don鈥檛 think we did.鈥
Asked further about the possibility that realignment leaves only three mega-conferences still standing, Drinkwitz declined to address what he called a hypothetical.
鈥淭hat affects nothing about my season this year,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 know what the schedule is this year. I know what the SEC is. So I鈥檓 fine on that aspect of it. I鈥檝e got no real ideas or assumptions on the future of college football. I feel confident that we鈥檙e gonna play in about three and a half weeks.鈥