Tigers’ Drinkwitz takes side in mask debate
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Eli Drinkwitz has been the head coach at Missouri for just over seven months.
He has yet to lead the Tigers onto the football field, much less win a game, yet his role in the community already has forced him to take some important stands.
First, it was supporting his new players as they pushed for equality amid the Black Lives Matter movement. Now, it is encouraging folks to wear masks when they are out in public, which health experts insist is among the best ways to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus — even though, much like social justice, it has become a highly politicized issue.
“I don’t believe I have power. I have influence,” Drinkwitz explained during a Zoom meeting Wednesday, which he began by wearing a mask with the Tigers’ logo on it.
“There is a certain amount of influence being a head coach of an SEC school, being the head coach of Missouri, having the logo on your chest. It gives you a certain amount of credibility when you make conversations. What we are trying to do is encourage people that it’s OK to wear a mask. It’s OK to do it.
“I get that there are arguments on both sides. I get that for some reason it’s been politicized,” Drinkwitz continued. “I just happen to believe that is good public health policy. Does it solve all the problems? I don’t know. I’m a football coach. But I know that to get things done we have to buy into a collective mission. Is it a perfect plan? Seldom plans are perfect. But they have a plan in place. Let’s work the plan. That’s what were trying to do. Let’s see if it works.”