as told to me, on Mizzou’s hiring of Drink. A lot is paraphrased here and obviously I may be off on a few details.
Drink’s first HC offer after App St bowl game was from Boston College to the tune of 2 mil / year. Drink and his wife were ecstatic. He was just offered a life changing amount of money to do what he loved. They were beside themselves.
The morning after the excitement of finding out he’ll be an annual millionaire , Jimmy Sexton calls Drink. He basically says, “I’m really busy right now, I’m about to hop on a plane and have a full day of meetings. Bottom line, we’re not taking the BC job. Also, from here out, unless it’s your wife calling you, don’t answer the phone. Not your boss, not the newspapers, no one. Trust me to do my job.” And that was all he said. No further explanation.
Drink was confused. Turn down 2 mil? “Is he crazy? We should take that.” Nonetheless, that was all Sexton said. The entire day passed in confusion. All day that convo hung in there. Turning down 2 mil....
Finally that night Sexton calls back, “Hey, I’m sorry I was just extremely busy and the day got away from me. Here it is. You’re not going to Boston College. You’re going to Missouri or Arkansas.”
And that was that.
So after that is when I think the interviews happen. Missouri and Arkansas both fly out to NC to throw their pitch. Arkansas went first. Then Missouri. Missouri gets back on the plane and flies home that night. Arkansas acts all bravado and says they’re not leaving til Drink signs.
Next day, Sexton informs Sterk he’d like to have a conference call with Sterk and the curator’s attorney (or someone along those lines). Before hand, he sent over their contract proposal. At this point I’ll mention I’m not sure what happened with Arkansas’s negotiation.
“Jim, good morning, have you received our contract?
“Yes, we’ve gone over it. (4 mil, 6 years, boatload of guaranteed money) Missouri doesn’t traditionally hand out guaranteed contracts. But we’d love to work something out.”
Long Pause...
Sexton addresses the Attorney, “....listen I’m not sure you’re aware of how this search has gone down for Missouri, but if this negotiation falls through, your AD is most likely going to be fired.” Mind you, Sterk is sitting there right with them. Some other small talk, the parties hang up.
Thirty minutes later, they call Sexton back.
“Jimmy, we’ve signed the contract.
Tell Coach Drinkwitz welcome to Mizzou.”
Jimmy Sexton is one of the most powerful men in college football.
Drink’s first HC offer after App St bowl game was from Boston College to the tune of 2 mil / year. Drink and his wife were ecstatic. He was just offered a life changing amount of money to do what he loved. They were beside themselves.
The morning after the excitement of finding out he’ll be an annual millionaire , Jimmy Sexton calls Drink. He basically says, “I’m really busy right now, I’m about to hop on a plane and have a full day of meetings. Bottom line, we’re not taking the BC job. Also, from here out, unless it’s your wife calling you, don’t answer the phone. Not your boss, not the newspapers, no one. Trust me to do my job.” And that was all he said. No further explanation.
Drink was confused. Turn down 2 mil? “Is he crazy? We should take that.” Nonetheless, that was all Sexton said. The entire day passed in confusion. All day that convo hung in there. Turning down 2 mil....
Finally that night Sexton calls back, “Hey, I’m sorry I was just extremely busy and the day got away from me. Here it is. You’re not going to Boston College. You’re going to Missouri or Arkansas.”
And that was that.
So after that is when I think the interviews happen. Missouri and Arkansas both fly out to NC to throw their pitch. Arkansas went first. Then Missouri. Missouri gets back on the plane and flies home that night. Arkansas acts all bravado and says they’re not leaving til Drink signs.
Next day, Sexton informs Sterk he’d like to have a conference call with Sterk and the curator’s attorney (or someone along those lines). Before hand, he sent over their contract proposal. At this point I’ll mention I’m not sure what happened with Arkansas’s negotiation.
“Jim, good morning, have you received our contract?
“Yes, we’ve gone over it. (4 mil, 6 years, boatload of guaranteed money) Missouri doesn’t traditionally hand out guaranteed contracts. But we’d love to work something out.”
Long Pause...
Sexton addresses the Attorney, “....listen I’m not sure you’re aware of how this search has gone down for Missouri, but if this negotiation falls through, your AD is most likely going to be fired.” Mind you, Sterk is sitting there right with them. Some other small talk, the parties hang up.
Thirty minutes later, they call Sexton back.
“Jimmy, we’ve signed the contract.
Tell Coach Drinkwitz welcome to Mizzou.”
Jimmy Sexton is one of the most powerful men in college football.
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