When Ryan Walters jumped ship to join Bret Beliema at the University of Illinois, one of his assistants at Mizzou seemed like an early favorite to replace him — secondary coach David Gibbs.
Gibbs, a former defensive coordinator at Texas Tech, remained one of Eli Drinkwitz’s top candidates throughout the course of the search, but was ultimately passed over for Steve Wilks. While the hiring didn’t seem to crush Gibbs’ spirits — he was posting about position group meetings within the week — it cemented the fact that if he wanted a promotion, it would have to be somewhere else.