COLUMBIA, Mo. — Next year could be a breakthrough one for Missouri athletics.
There’s an unprecedented and very real possibility MU football winds up in the College Football Playoff. After last-place finishes in the Southeastern Conference, gains seem to be in order for both men’s and women’s hoops. And a handful of other teams look to be a favorable run away from a shot at national titles in their own right, too.
After the Post-Dispatch has recapped the biggest storylines of the 2023-24 Mizzou sports year that was, the intrigue for the 2024-25 sports year to come has a lot to do with the Tigers contending on college athletics’ biggest stages.
CFP appearance on menu?
When Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz addressed a crowd of donors at a golf tournament in St. Charles last week, he was direct about where his program stands.
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“We understand that the expectations are at an all-time high,” he said. “They should be.”
There are times when the coach entering his fifth year in Columbia has tried to cool and quash the idea of Mizzou’s bar being raised for the 2024 season. But he’s also admitted what’s obvious to fans, analysts and even algorithms: The Tigers have a real shot at making the 12-team College Football Playoff.
The 11th year of the CFP will be MU’s best chance yet of making it due to the the expanded field at a time when the program is on its strongest upswing in years. The possibility of a title run, of course, would be remarkable for the Tigers. But there are broader benefits to making it into the postseason field.
The first round of CFP games will be played at home sites on Dec. 20 and 21, meaning the teams that wind up seeded Nos. 5 through 8 will, for the first time, host a College Football Playoff matchup. Even in the middle of December, a playoff atmosphere at Memorial Stadium sounds like the sort of thing that would rally the Mizzou fan base in a way that could surpass even last season’s sellout streak.
There’s a financial windfall that would also come from a CFP appearance, regardless of whether Missouri hosts a playoff game. The CFP pays conferences when their teams make it in, and there are other revenue bumps from exposure, merchandise sales and interest in MU that trickles over to the academic side of the university.
With new athletics director Laird Veatch and UM System leaders banking on football revenue to buoy the rest of the athletics department — including the $250 million renovation of Memorial Stadium’s north concourse, which will take some its first strides forward next year — what the postseason looks like for Mizzou football could define the whole sports year.
Bouncing out of SEC hoops cellar
The expectation for both the men’s and women’s basketball programs will be that they climb out of the SEC’s basement, at a minimum.
Dennis Gates has reloaded his roster with highly rated freshman and transfer portal classes, which was an achievement after the stain of an 0-18 season in conference play last year. Early — well, way-too-early — projections suggest the Tigers are on the bubble of potential NCAA Tournament teams next year, which is more an indication of the talent assembled within Mizzou Arena than anything else.
How Gates deploys another deep and varied roster will show plenty about his coaching ability — as well as what he learned from a grueling previous season. At a minimum, the next basketball season will see Mizzou win its first men’s hoops game in 2024, with its last victory coming against Central Arkansas on Dec. 30, 2023.
The future of the women’s team will also be clearer during the next academic year, which is the last on coach Robin Pingeton’s contract. A new deal will have to be issued to someone at that point, whether it’s the coach who has been around since Missouri’s Big 12 days or a new face.
Other sports a strong run away?
It seems like it might only be a matter of time before one of the other MU athletic programs that has been strong in recent years breaks through to push for a national title.
At the same golf event where Drinkwitz spoke, gymnastics coach Shannon Welker said he’s closing in on a transfer class that will rank among the best in the country — on top of returning talent. The Tigers placed fifth at the NCAA Championships in 2022 and have been close to making it back in each of the past two seasons, suggesting another shot at hardware might not be far off.
Losing seniors Laurin Krings, Alex Honnold and Jenna Laird will be difficult for Missouri softball to replace, especially as the SEC gets more difficult with the addition of Women’s College World Series championship game participants Oklahoma and Texas entering the fray. But coach Larissa Anderson has some young pitching talent that can step up, though the Tigers may need to find some more prowess at the plate to make a run.
Heading into her second season, volleyball coach Dawn Sullivan has targeted experienced players in the transfer portal after last season’s NCAA Tournament appearance. And wrestling coach Brian Smith seems likely, barring more bad luck with injuries and illnesses, to have MU back to perennial contender status on the mats next year.