Don’t be surprised if a few Appalachian State banners start popping up at Alma, home of the Airedales.
Alma is also home for Eli Drinkwitz, who was named head football coach at Appalachian State, a Division I program located in Boone, N.C. It is the first college head coaching job for Drinkwitz, who has spent the past three seasons as the offensive coordinator at North Carolina State.
Drinkwitz, 35, has strong ties to Arkansas, beginning at Alma where he grew up. He graduated from Alma in 2001 after helping the Airedales to a 9-3 record in 2000.
“I coached Eli in T-ball when he was 6 years old,” said Alma Athletic Director Mike McSpadden. “Even then, he was a leader, a tough competitor who hated losing, and he was a great teammate. Hesetagoalatanearlyagetobe a head football coach at the college level, and he’s worked extremely hard to achieve that goal.”
Drinkwitz replaces Scott Satterfield, who was hired to replace Bobby Petrino at Louisville after leading Appalachian State to a 10-2 record. He’ll be introduced on Monday as coach at Appalachian State after the Mountaineers faced Middle Tennessee Saturday night in the New Orleans Bowl.
Former Alma football coach Frankie Vines remembers Drinkwitz as an undersized but all-state linebacker for the Airedales. Vines later hired him as the 7th-grade football coach at Alma.
“Eli was smart, he paid attention to his coaches, and he studied on his own about football,” Vines said of Drinkwitz, who was class president at both Alma High School and later at Arkansas Tech University. “He wasn’t very big or very fast, but he was a competitor and dedicated to whatever he was doing. He was the type of player you love to coach.”
Drinkwitz has close ties to Gus Malzahn, who spent 14 years as a high school coach in Arkansas before becoming head coach at Arkansas State and then Auburn. Like Malzahn, Drinkwitz earned a reputation as a play-caller, most recently at North Carolina State, where the Wolfpack averaged 35.6 points per game and 471.3 in total offense per game, which ranked No. 16 nationally this season.
Drinkwitz spent four years as an assistant coach at Springdale High from 2006-2009. He spent the first year as the offensive line coach for the Bulldogs before being promoted to offensive coordinator after Jared McBride left the program.
Drinkwitz spent two years at Auburn when Malzahn was offensive coordinator with the Tigers and he joined Malzahn’s staff as running backs coach and later offensive coordinator when Malzahn returned to the state as head coach of the Red Wolves.
“I knew when Eli went down to Auburn with Gus as a graduate assistant, he was on his way,” said Dennis DeBusk, who replaced Kevin Johnson as head coach on interim basis at Springdale in 2009. “Eli understands offenses and defenses, and he has a knack, a vision, for what plays to call on offense. He was one of my boys, and I’m extremely happy for him.”
Drinkwitz also coached for two years at Boise State before joining North Carolina State as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2016.
“My career,” Drinkwitz said, “is a testament to God’s faithfulness and grit.”
Appalachian State is a member of the Sun Belt Conference, which includes Arkansas State. Appalachian State opens the 2019 season at home on Aug. 31 against East Tennessee State. The Mountaineers will play “money” games on the road at North Carolina on Sept. 21 and South Carolina on Nov. 9.
Those games will draw interest from football fans in Arkansas, especially at Alma, where Drinkwitz has plenty of supporters.
“Everyone affiliated with the Airedale athletic program, our school and community are extremely proud of him,” McSpadden said. “We all just became Appalachian State Mountaineers football fans.”
Rick Fires can be reached at r res@ nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWARick.