Another Mizzou football assistant leaves staff | Mizzou Sports News
University of Missouri secondary coach Aaron Fletcher watches drills on Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, on the first day of practice for the 2021-22 season at the Missouri Athletics Training Complex in Columbia, Mo. Photo by Christian Gooden, cgooden@post-dispatch.com
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The staff turnover continues for Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz.
Aaron Fletcher, hired last spring to coach the team’s cornerbacks, is leaving Mizzou for Arizona State, a team source confirmed Thursday. Fletcher is the fourth change among MU’s 10 on-field assistants that started the 2021 season.
Drinkwitz fired defensive line coach Jethro Franklin five games into the season. Late in the year, tight ends coach Casey Woods left for the offensive coordinator position at SMU. Secondary coach Charlie Harbison is moving into an undefined role on the staff this year but will not count as one of the team’s 10 on-field assistants.
Drinkwitz promoted defensive analyst Al Davis to coach the team’s defensive tackles and hired Indiana assistant Kevin Peoples to coach the defensive ends. MU shuffled some assignments around the staff to fulfill Woods’ duties: Special teams coordinator Erik Link will also coach tight ends, while linebackers coach D.J. Smith will take on Woods’ role as recruiting coordinator. That leaves Drinkwitz with two positions to fill, presumably one for each side of the ball.
Fletcher joined the staff last February from Tulsa, after which the Tigers added two of his cornerbacks from the Tulsa roster, senior transfers Akayleb Evans and Allie Green IV. It turned out to be a one-and-done year for all three Tulsa imports. Fletcher had another year on his original two-year contract and was set to make $320,000 in 2022.
