On the 13th day of December, the Mizzou Tigers gave to me— a bunch of shiny new hires (while taking away some old ones)

The new coaching staff is starting to take shape! Santa (Coach Drink) is hauling in some presents, y’all, in the form of new coaches! Several additions were announced today, along with some other rumored ones not “officially-official” just yet, and many of these guys are familiar with the black and gold (of App State, that is). I apologize sincerely for the massive amounts of tweets I’m ‘bout to unload upon you, my friends. Happy (New Coach) Holidays!

Welcome, Associate Head Coach/Defensive dude, Charlie Harbison!

Welcome, Special Teams Coordinator, Erik Link!

(Maybe) welcome, Casey Woods! We’ll see what you end up coaching!

(Maybe) welcome, DJ Smith! We’ll see what you end up coaching, too!

Maybe a new right-hand man is coming? Welcome, Andy Lutz?

Getting rid of older models (in this case, staff) in favor of shiny new gifts is normal with a head coaching switch, but it doesn’t make it any less sad to see former coaching staff heading out the door. Some of these guys, like Andy Hill, have been with Mizzou forever— longer than some of our readers have undoubtedly been alive!

So, things are going to be looking pretty different in CoMo next year, as Coach Drinkwitz has decided not to retain (so far) Andy Hill, Cornell Ford, or AJ Ofadile. Update: Austyn Carta-Samuels, the voice of so much damn Mizzou positivity on Twitter, will also not be retained. I’m particularly saddened to see Coach Ford and Carta-Samuels head out.

Quality gif from the Rock M social media team. (no, I didn’t tweet it)

Onto the links!

---

Yesterday at Rock M

• Dive Cuts Podcast time! Sam & Matt got back together for a much anticipated reunion with a new episode of Dive Cuts, diving deep, deeeeep (for all my Ringer Binge Mode podcast fans out there) into Mizzou’s continual offensive woes. They ain’t lookin great, y’all. As always, I highly recommend this pod. We don’t have the recap up yet (apologies— Producer Mitch & I are reallllly busy this time of year), but here’s the link to the ep on Apple Podcasts.
• Sam posted a new FanPulse, and guess what? Fans weren’t too happy after the last couple games, but support for hoops and confidence in Cuonzo has gone since Temple.
• Sammy wrote about Jim Sterk’s coaching gamble. Here’s to hoping it pays off big time.
• Nate was back with another piece in his absurdly titled series on “that new coach smell.” This time he’s looking at SP+ ratings!
• Josh put up a quick post about the new coaching hire. Welcome, Charles Harbison, Associate Head Coach (and something to do with defense)! The SEC has missed you!

---

More Links:

Football

• The coaching staff (particularly Brick Haley & Coach Drink as shown in pics— Gibbs & Walters have been out as well) has been out recruiting. They checked in with Robert Wooten, Jay Maclin (AND THE LEGEND, JEREMY MACLIN), Brady Cook, Ennis Rakestraw Jr, and Drake Heismeyer. Peter Baugh reported that he had heard from personally - or saw social media posts - about bunches of visitors on campus this weekend. I’m choosing to take that as a good sign.
• Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn, who worked with Drink at several stops, had some great words to say about his former coworker.

• KC Star: Souichi looked at how the offense could function under Coach Drink. He also had the latest on the building of the new staff.
• Columbia Missourian: Nick Kelly examined the coach’s strengths and weaknesses in his latest piece.
• MUTigers.com posted an interview with Coach Drinkwitz & Mizzou Network’s Ben Arnet.
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Dave was back with his weekly chat and covered the hiring of Charlie Harbison. Ever the busy worker bee, he also wrote a story about how Drinkwitz’s deal makes him the 2nd youngest coach to join the “4 million” club. Question: How can I join that club?
• (More) STL Today: BenFred’s Quick Hits addressed a few Mizzou-related topics.
• Additionally, Mr Matter had some interesting notes on what Mizzou paid for the search firm’s services.

• PowerMizzou (free): Former Rock M writer, Pete Scantlebury, talked about how there is no “Old Missouri” anymore in his new Voice of Fantlebury piece. Gabe posted a Staff Update and updated it religiously throughout the day. Gabe and Mitchell also put out a new episode of their PowerMizzou Podcast, talking about — you guessed it— Eli Drinkwitz!
• PowerMizzou (subscribers): Sean Williams of Rivals provided a list of App State commits to keep an eye on.
• Columbia Tribune: Kevin Graeler wrote about Drinkwitz’s new coaching hires being some of his closest confidants.
• Saturday Down South: Adam Spencer uncovered Mizzou’s All-Decade Team on defense. He also posted the All-Decade Team on offense. Check them out! Spencer also told readers what they needed to know about the 2020 recruiting class.
• The Athletic (subscribers): Peter Baugh posted some takeaways, specifically: Drink’s track record with QBs, roster building, valuing special teams, versus P5 schools, and recruiting. Give it a read... Peter also hosted a live Q&A, of which you can read the recap here. Here’s a link to a seven day free trial, and no, I don’t get a kickback! This is a general link, everyone.
• Richaud Floyd has accepted an invite to play in the FBS All Americans Tropical Bowl on January 12 in Daytona Beach. Good for him!

Hoops

• Great, great, GREAT news for former assistant coach Brad Loos’ daughter, Rhyan! Always elated to see this.

• Look at you, Hannah Schuchts! Up to 100 career blocks!

• You can check out your Missouri Tigers on the SEC Network at 3pm on Sunday when they take on SIU!

If you’re attending the game, don’t forget that it’s the TEDDY BEAR TOSS!

Other Mizzou Sports/News

• Mizzou Gymnastics is ranked 16th in a preseason poll, according to reports from Owen Krucoff at the Columbia Missourian.
• MUTigers.com has more info on the women’s gymnastics rankings. 16th is the highest preseason ranking for the Tigers since 2011!
• In older news that I hadn’t yet seen reported, Mizzou Soccer’s Julissa Cisneros is rejoining Mexico’s U20 National Team. You can read more info at MUTigers.com.
• No. 18 Mizzou Wrestling opens their MAC season on Sunday against Buffalo. You can read more info at MUTigers.com. Tiger Style has won 14 consecutive MAC duals, so let’s hope it continues!

Former Mizzou Player News

• USA Today’s new For the Win column by Steven Ruiz said that Drew Lock is probably going to break Denver’s hearts. Warning: it really goes off the rails after a few nice, pleasant paragraphs.
• DenverBroncos.com says that Drew Lock has a fan in Chiefs head coach, Andy Reid.
• SB Nation’s Mile High Report passed along four observations of Drew’s second game.
• Nick Jhvabala at The Athletic looked at Drew’s upcoming test in Kansas City. ($$)
• Mike played 10 minutes in the Nuggets win over the Trailblazers on Thursday evening, scoring 6 points, including 2-4 from 3. Coach Malone was pleased with his minutes— yay! I’m always here for the MPJ content, especially from The Denver Post’s Mike Singer.

(Shout out to my friend Evan for retweeting/commenting on literally every piece of MPJ twitter content out there, so I rarely miss anything. Thanks for your obnoxiousness/dedication, Ev!)

• Former Mizzou players/new teammates on the St. Louis Battle Hawks XFL team, L’Damian Washington and Marcus Lucas, interviewed each other. Check it out!

• Drew reminisced about Pat Mahomes’ MVP season a long time ago... when he was a senior at Mizzou... last year. Drew’s getting so old, you guys. (wipes tear away)

• Yesterday was former Mizzou QB (and my personal fave— yes, even above Chase & Drew), Brad Smith’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Brad!

• If you’re looking to sign up for ESPN+, Rock M Nation now has an affiliate link: click Here for ESPN+ Now! (** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)