Missouri opens the season Thursday night against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and Eli Drinkwitz still can't tell you for certain who is eligible to play in it. He is not happy about it, and he said so at his Saturday press conference.
"We're four days away from kicking off, and we do not know what the rules are for eligibility? That's embarrassing, man. This is the second-biggest sport in the world, in the United States," Drinkwitz said. "For us to be operating like this is a complete clown show, and it's disappointing. And coaches have been on the forefront of saying this, and it's been ignored. It's been ignored, and I would say now this is what they get."
As most all of us are aware, the NCAA moved to an age-based, five-years-to-play-five model, and that shift opened the door to a wave of eligibility fights, including former pros trying to return to college rosters and fourth-year players chasing a fifth season through the courts. The SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 have moved to block former professionals from coming back, but temporary restraining orders and injunctions keep scrambling the picture.
On August 21, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit stayed a nationwide injunction that had cracked open a fifth year for certain players, pausing the lower court's ruling while the appeal plays out. A separate fifth-year case in Nashville is still hanging over the sport. Drinkwitz pointed right at it.
"I think we're all waiting with bated breath trying to wait on what's going to happen with this fifth-year lawsuit in Nashville, where you could have a flurry of fifth-year guys now being eligible," he said.
For a coach, this is not an abstract policy debate. It's roster management. You cannot build a depth chart, plan a two-deep, or tell a young player where he stands when a courtroom in another state might change the count on your roster the week of a game. Drinkwitz has been consistent that the system underneath all of it is breaking down.
"The system that we're in is really sick right now," he said. "College football is sick and showing signs of this thing really cracking moving forward."
His answer is the same one a growing number of coaches have landed on and voiced their displeasure with. Drinkwitz has backed the Save College Sports Act, the bill introduced by Ted Cruz, Maria Cantwell and Eric Schmitt, arguing the sport needs a defined framework instead of rules that get set by tweets and TROs.
Whether Washington moves fast enough to matter is another question - but that's something no one is holding their breath on.
Missouri kicks off Thursday at 8p EST at Memorial Stadium on SEC Network.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.