Eliah Drinkwitz
The numbers
$10,250,000
January 16, 2026 – January 15, 2027
Sum of printed components; the contract does not print a single total.
USA TODAY reports $9.00M (FY2025). That is $1.25M less than the contract's figure for this period.
What the document says
“Base Salary ... Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00) [Section 3.1.1, page 2] + Non-Salary Compensation [table, Section 3.1.2, page 3] + Publicity Rights Fee ... Five Million Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($5,700,000.00) [Section 3.2.1, page 6]”Sections 3.1.1, 3.1.2 and 3.2.1 · Missouri — Eli Drinkwitz 2nd amended and restated employment agreement · Page 3
80% of remaining Base Salary + Non-Salary Compensation + Publicity Rights Fee
full term
The document states a formula, not a dollar figure.
USA TODAY reports a buyout of $28.88M (FY2025) — a single figure as of that year rather than the formula this contract carries.
What the document says
“University shall pay Coach 80% of the Base Salary, Non-Salary Compensation, and Publicity Rights Fee due pursuant to Sections 3.1.1, 3.1.2, and 3.2.1 from the date of termination through the end of the Term ("Liquidated Damages Amount").”Section 6.4.2.3 Termination by the University Without Cause · Missouri — Eli Drinkwitz 2nd amended and restated employment agreement · Page 16
Through January 15, 2032
full term
Running from December 10, 2019.
What the document says
“The Term of this Agreement shall be for the period beginning on December 10, 2019 (the "Start Date"), and ending on the later of: (i) January 15, 2032, or (ii) the day after the date of the Team's last game of the 2031-2032 season”Section 2.1 Length of Term · Missouri — Eli Drinkwitz 2nd amended and restated employment agreement · Page 2
Figures on these cards are read off the cited document at the cited page. USA TODAY's row is reported alongside as a cross-check, not merged into them: a contract states scheduled pay for a contract year, USA TODAY reports one fiscal year of pay to whoever held the job, and the two are expected to differ. USA TODAY also lists a maximum bonus of $1.57M. Source ↗
The fine print
A dollar cap, not an hour grant: up to $250,000 a year reimbursed for personal flying, receipts required, nothing carried over.
“The University agrees to reimburse Coach in an amount up to a maximum of $250,000 per Contract Year for Coach's expenses for personal, non-business air travel for Coach, Coach's spouse, and members of Coach's immediate family ("Flight Expenses"). To receive reimbursement, Coach shall be required to submit documentation substantiating the Flight Expenses and showing that they were incurred for air travel for Coach, Coach's spouse, or Coach's immediate family. Flight Expenses incurred in one Contract Year shall apply to that Contract Year's maximum, and neither any incurred Flight Expenses nor any amount remaining below the Contract Year's maximum shall be carried over to any subsequent Contract Year.”Missouri — Eli Drinkwitz 2nd amended and restated employment agreement · Page 5View the document →
Every clause here is quoted from the document it cites. A clause that cannot be re-checked against the scan is not published.
Read the contract
The flights
Published reporting on Missouri Tigers aircraft during this tenure:
A jet clause is eligibility; a tracked flight is evidence; the join is presented as contract-next-to-reporting, never as proof the coach was aboard.
How this page is sourced
Where a contract for this coach is in the corpus, the headline figures are read off that document at the page each card cites, and USA TODAY's figure runs alongside as a cross-check. Where no contract is held, the figures are school-reported contract terms from USA TODAY's coaches salary database for the most recent fiscal year on file. Neither is W-2 compensation, and neither is comparable to Form 990 totals for private schools.
Clause text is transcribed verbatim from the cited document at the cited page. Where a term is attributed to published reporting rather than a document we hold, the card says so explicitly.
Flight reports linked here are attributed to the program and the date, not to a passenger. Nothing on this page claims a coach exercised a clause or was aboard an aircraft.