Report: Central Michigan targeting Army OL coach Matt Drinkall for head coach job

Central Michigan has a reported target for their head coaching search.

Per Matt Zenitz, Army’s Matt Drinkall, their offensive line coach, is now a candidate for the Chippewa’s job.

“Central Michigan is targeting Army offensive line coach Matt Drinkall for its head coaching job, sources tell @CBSSports/@247Sports,” Zenitz tweeted on Sunday night.

Drinkall has served several roles on the Black Knights’ staff over his six seasons at West Point. He’s currently coaching their offensive line but has also worked as a co-offensive coordinator and a tight ends coach.

Since 2019, Army is 46-28 (.623) overall under Jeff Monken. This current season is the best of his decade-long tenure there at 11-1 overall in their first season in the American, including winning the AAC Championship on Friday. They’ll now face Navy this weekend before playing Marshall in the  Independence Bowl two weeks later.

Drinkall also has previous coaching experience as the head coach and offensive coordinator for five years at Kansas Wesleyan University, as the offensive coordinator at St. Ambrose University, and a coach for the defensive backs and wide receivers at Bettendorf High School. He was once a student assistant at Iowa, his alma mater, as well.

This comes following the retirement of Jim McElwain following the end of this season with that report coming out back two and a half weeks ago. That decision ended a six-year run in Mount Pleasant where he was 33-36 (.448) overall, including being 4-8 in 2024. He spent the other half of his career as a collegiate head coach at Colorado State and Florida where, in total, he has posted a record of 77-64 (.546).