Social media roasted Mizzou football coach for NIL comment. Here’s what he actually said

Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz was asked during a news conference Tuesday about his approach when talking to his team about gambling.

Drinkwitz let out a deep sigh and then joked that reporters were trying to get him in trouble. And sure enough, when a snippet of his answer was shared on Twitter, there was quite a bit of criticism.

This tweet from Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger went viral quickly on Tuesday: “Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz says college players, thru NIL, are making more money than his brother-in-law, who is a pediatrician. ‘He saves lives.’”

Fans responded in large numbers to that tweet.

“The national average salary for pediatricians is $183,240 (per Forbes),” wrote one fan. “If Mizzou’s players are averaging more than $184,000 a year, they really should be better (than) 6-7.”

Another shared this: “Sounds like he should agree to a pretty massive pay cut then… I won’t hold my breath on that tho.”

Other fans pointed out Drinkwitz’s $6 million salary for the upcoming year.

Here is what other fans were saying about Drinkwitz’s comment.

For context, here is the full quote from Drinkwitz, who was talking about gambling.

“Y’all really are trying to get me in trouble here,” Drinkwitz said. “Actually Deion Sanders had a really good quote the other day talking about (how) young men are joining a business, but we want to treat them like kids. We’re giving guys — 18-, 19-, 20-, 21-, 22-year-olds — life-changing money. People are making more money in NIL than my brother in law, who is a pediatrician, who saves lives, and we kinda do it cavalier and we think that there’s not going to be any side effects or there’s not going to be issues.

“There’s information out there, there’s bad actors out there always trying to make a dollar. ... I think it’s going to become one of the key issues that we face in our locker rooms. The NFL has faced it more high-profile than I’ve seen it in the last 15 years in the recent two years. I think it’s more prevalent because there’s more money involved. And everyone is looking for a quick way to make a dollar.

“I’ve been known to play blackjack myself. It’s a tough deal. These young men are getting a lot of money. ... Other than trying to hand out advice and provide some parameters to it — you know, we talk about in recruiting, you recruit your own problems. With this NIL situation we’ve created our own problems in college sports.”