SEC football: Which first-year head coach will have the best 2020 season?

At just 36 years old, Eli Drinkwitz doesn’t quite have as much overall experience as Pittman, but he does have one year as a head coach under his belt, and his one season as the Appalachian State head coach was pretty successful.

That said, like Pittman at Arkansas, Drinkwitz is inheriting a dearth of talent at many key positions and will need to find a way to get some top-flight players to Columbia. Four years of Barry Odom has left the cupboard rather bare at Mizzou.

This is another case of a coach needing to do a rebuilding job while establishing his own identity and learning a lot on the job. One year in the Sun Belt conference isn’t quite as daunting as taking on an SEC program.

The one thing on Drinkwitz’s side this year is the schedule. Aside from the SEC East opponents, Mizzou is avoiding the LSU, Alabama, and Auburn landmines in their inter-division schedule this year, and their toughest out-of-conference matchup is with Louisiana on Nov. 21.