COLUMN: Head football coach Eliah Drinkwitz should receive consequences for mayoral endorsement of Blair Murphy

Let me start by saying this, University of Missouri’s head football coach Eliah Drinkwitz has done an incredible job of building up MU’s football team in the last five seasons, including back-to-back double digit win seasons and five top 100 selections in the past two NFL Drafts. Despite this success, he is still subject to the standards expected of a head coach.

On the October 22, 2024 episode of Tiger Talk, the live weekly radio show hosted by MU Athletics, Drinkwitz made an appearance to discuss the Missouri football game against Auburn. While in front of a live audience, Drinkwitz made supportive comments of Blair Murphy after noticing he was in the crowd.

“It’s always great to see such a tremendous amount of fans here, but I really want to point out one that I’m really glad to see and that’s Blair Murphy,” Drinkwitz said. “Blair has announced his candidacy for mayor of the city of Columbia, and I cannot wait for him to be able to continue to press upon this city of what he wants to do as a mayor candidate. So, appreciate your support here Murph, and look forward to seeing what you bring to this city of Columbia.”

I have no issue with anyone endorsing a mayoral candidate, but by going on a radio show as the Missouri Tiger’s head football coach, Drinkwitz was afforded a platform to talk about football, not politics. Everyone is free to express their opinions but it’s not appropriate for any University of Missouri employee on a university-sanctioned radio show to share their political opinions with the public. Drinkwitz should face discipline for his public endorsement of Murphy.

I’m not saying he should be fired — that’s an absurdly harsh punishment. However, I do think there should be consequences for his comments. To be clear, when acting as a private citizen, Drinkwitz is free to share his political beliefs, donate to candidates or attend campaign events as he so chooses. But using the position and platform provided to him by the University to share his personal political opinions should not be tolerated. Other private citizens in Columbia are not given the platform Drinkwitz has, a platform that is not supposed to be used to talk about things other than football.

While Murphy lost the mayoral race to the incumbent Mayor Barbara Buffaloe, this result does not change that Drinkwitz violated University rules by endorsing Murphy.

An ethics complaint was filed by Columbia citizen Anthony Willroth in late February, against Murphy for violating state campaigning laws. Willroth also stated that Drinkwitz had violated Section 330.050.A.1.b of the University of Missouri’s Collected Rules and Regulations, which states “[lawful political activities], like any other personal, non-official undertaking, must be done on the individual’s own time and should not interfere with University duties.” The complaint led to a review by the program. I implore the university to not let Drinkwitz’s success absolve him of punishment.

Edited by Kriti Dhaduvai | kdhaduvai@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Chase Pray | cpray@themaneater.com
Edited by Alex Gribb | agribb@themaneater.com