Central goes an unconventional route for their latest head man, plucking an assistant from a fellow Group of Five school.
Central Michigan has found their next head coach, naming Army West Point offensive line coach Matt Drinkall to the position on Monday morning.
Drinkall will replace the retiring Jim McElwain, who finished his tenure in Mt. Pleasant with a 33-36 (23-23 MAC) record over six years.
247Sports’ Matt Zenitz was first to report on Sunday night, with ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg independently confirming the report later the same night.
“Matt has been successful everywhere he’s been,” Central Michigan athletic director Amy Folan said via press release. “He is very innovative, he’s been a student of the game, and has a passion for college football. He’s coming from an institution in Army West Point that puts a premium on leadership. He has had success as a head coach and has a reputation as a player’s coach. With Matt’s background and abilities, he is the perfect fit to lead us into the next chapter of Central Michigan Football.”
Drinkall has most recently coached Army’s offensive line, but was co-offensive coordinator in 2023 and also coached tight ends from 2020-22. Drinkall has been on staff at West Point since 2019, initially joining Jeff Monken’s staff as an offensive quality control coach.
Under his tutelage, Drinkall helped Army transition from a pure flexbone offense to a power-run option attack, a look which emerged to be one of the most intriguing in the NCAA in 2024. Army currently sits seventh in the NCAA this season with 208.0 rushing yards per game, with quarterback Bryson Dailey sitting at 913 yards and seven touchdowns as of publication. (Army plays rival Navy this upcoming Saturday and a bowl game later December.) With Drinkall as co-offensive coordinator in 2023, the Black Knights averaged 310 yards of total offense per game, scoring 20.6 points per game on average.
Prior to his time at Army under Monken, Drinkall made his hay at the NAIA level as a head coach, leading Kansas Wesleyean to a peak of #6 in the NAIA Top 25 in 2018 and winning no less than eight games after his first season. The Coyotes reached the NAIA Playoffs twice (2015 and 2018), reaching the semifinals in the latter season.
His KWU teams shattered program and conference records for offensive output, setting over 20 new marks in 2018 alone, including points scored per game (54.3) offensive yards per game (530.8), points in a game (83), points in a half (69), and points in a quarter (49). KWU’s starting quarterback Johnny Feauto collected 3,739 yards and 47 touchdowns and won KCAC Offensive Player of the Year, while running back Demarco Prewitt won KCAC Most Valuable Player honors after finishing with 2,788 yards and 41 total touchdowns.
Drinkall departed KWU in 2019 with an overall record of 41-17 (34-12 KCAC) over five seasons— with nine of those losses in his first campaign.
Drinkall, a Bettendorf, Iowa native, also has coaching experience at NAIA St. Ambrose University [IA] as an offensive coordinator, where his teams finished fourth in the country in all major offensive categories in 2013, as a tight ends coach at Western Illinois (2006-08), and at the high school level in Iowa. Drinkall’s coaching career began at the University of Iowa under Kirk Ferentz as a student-coach in 2002.
“My wife Kim and I are deeply humbled and honored to join the Central Michigan University family,” Drinkall said via press release. “We are so excited to get back to our Midwest roots and to be a part of this passionate community. We cannot wait to build meaningful relationships and help contribute to the success of this storied program. We are also honored to follow in the footsteps of the McElwains, who have meant so much to college football. Fire Up Chips!”
Drinkall will be introduced to the Central Michigan community on Tuesday at noon Eastern time via public forum in the atrium of the John G. Kulhavi Events Center/McGuirk Arena.