Erik Link joined the Tigers football program in December 2019, and serves as the special teams coordinator. Link also spent time as Mizzou’s special teams coordinator and tight ends coach from 2021-22.
Mizzou is the third coaching stop in which Link and head coach Eliah Drinkwitz have been on staff together (2010 Auburn University and 2019 Appalachian State University).
As a 20-plus year coaching veteran, Link has mentored nine student-athletes to postseason honors, including 2021 All-America kicker Harrison Mevis. The Warsaw, Indiana, native added two-time All-SEC (2021 and 2023) and Lou Groza Award Semifinalist (2021 and 2022) honors to his resume after concluding his career setting the program record for field goals (86), field goal percentage (.869), points (405), and 50-plus made field goals (13). One of Mevis’ biggest boots came against No. 15 Kansas State in 2023 when he drilled the game-winning, 61-yard field goal as time expired to lift Mizzou to a 30-27 victory. His kick broke the SEC record for the longest field goal in the conference’s history, edging three previous 60-yard kicks.
Link also mentored Blake Craig during his first year as the Tigers’ primary kicker in 2024. Craig became the first freshman in program history and the 13th student-athlete overall to eclipse the century mark in season points (108). His total is tied for the 11th-most in a single season in program lore. Craig posted six makes from 50-plus years to tie with Tom Whelihan for the second-most conversions from 50-plus yards in school history. Additionally, he made 24 field goals to set the Mizzou freshman record and tie with Tucker McCann (2018) and Mevis (2023) for second in program lore for a single season.
In four of Link’s five seasons in Columbia, the Tigers’ special teams unit posted one-plus blocked kick and one-plus blocked punt. Mizzou also only allowed two blocked kicks and one blocked punt during his tenure at the helm. Additionally, Link’s kickoff return defense ranked in the top-10 in three consecutive seasons (2020-21-22), including leading the nation in 2022 with a mark of 13.64.
Link came to Columbia after a one-year stint (2019) on Drinkwitz’s staff at Appalachian State, where he served as the special teams coordinator. While in Boone, Link helped the 20th-ranked Mountaineers to a 12-1 season that culminated with a Sun Belt Championship.
Under his guidance, Appalachian State ranked in the nation’s top 30 in numerous special teams categories, including a national-best seven blocked kicks (five kicks and two punts), without allowing a single blocked kick or punt. The Mountaineers finished the year ranked in the top-30 in punt return coverage (15th), kickoff returns (16th) and kickoff return coverage (28th).
Prior to his time at App State, Link spent the 2018 season as the special teams coordinator at Louisiana Tech University. While there, he helped the Bulldogs cap an eight-win season with a SoFi Hawaii Bowl title after defeating Hawai’i, 31-14. During that lone year, Link had the Bulldogs fourth nationally with four blocked kicks.
Before that, Link spent two seasons (2016-17) back in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, as the head coach and assistant athletics director at Roosevelt High School. The Riders went winless the season before he arrived, but Link coached them to an eventual city championship two years later in 2017.
Link served two stints at Auburn as the Tigers’ special teams and offensive analyst (2013-15) and as a special teams quality control coach (2010), where he and Drinkwitz were first on staff together. In 2010, Link helped the Tigers finish with a perfect 14-0 mark, including an SEC and BCS National Championship behind quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton. Link later contributed to another SEC title and BCS Championship game appearance in 2013, where the Tigers fell to No. 1 Florida State to conclude the season at 12-2.
In between his time at Auburn, Link spent two years (2011-12) as the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach at Montana State University, where he helped the Bobcats win consecutive Big Sky Conference titles and reach the FCS quarterfinals in back-to-back seasons.
Prior to a brief one-year tenure (2009) at Keller High School in Keller, Texas, as the Indians’ offensive line coach, Link served three years (2006-08) on staff at Iowa State University in a variety of different roles. For the 2006 season, Link was a graduate assistant working with the offensive line before being promoted to the Cyclones’ director of high school relations and assistant director of football operations his final two years (2007-08).
Link began his collegiate coaching career at his alma mater Drake University for two seasons (2004-05). He first served as a graduate assistant coach (2004) working with the defensive line before being elevated the following year (2005) to the defensive line coach. Under his mentorship, defensive tackle Chris Daniels earned Second-Team All-America honors in 2005.
Link earned his first start in coaching in 2003 at Des Moines North High School in Des Moines, Iowa, as their offensive line coach.
A 2003 graduate of Drake with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education, Link was a three-year letterman (2000-01-02) and two-year (2001-02) starter along the offensive line. He helped the Bulldogs to a Pioneer Football League Championship in 2000 and earned Honorable Mention All-Pioneer League honors in 2002 to cap his career. He went on to earn a master’s degree from the University in public administration in executive leadership in 2008.
Link is married to the former Jill Flaherty of Minnetonka, Minn., and they are the parents of daughter, Evelyn.
THE ERIK LINK FILE
Hometown: Des Moines, Iowa
Education: Drake, 2003 (secondary education) and 2008 (public administration)
Wife: Jill
Children: Evelyn
Birthday: April 4, 1981
LINK’S COACHING CAREER
- 2024-pres. – Missouri (Special Teams Coordinator)
- 2022-23 – Missouri (Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends)
- 2020-21 – Missouri (Special Teams Coordinator)
- 2019 – Appalachian State (Special Teams Coordinator)
- 2018 – Louisiana Tech (Special Teams Coordinator)
- 2016-17 – Roosevelt High School [Iowa] (Head Coach/Assistant Athletic Director)
- 2013-15 – Auburn (Special Teams and Offensive Analyst)
- 2011-12 – Montana State (Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends)
- 2010 – Auburn (Special Teams Quality Control)
- 2009 – Keller High School [Texas] (Offensive Line)
- 2007-08 – Iowa State (Director of High School Relations and Assistant Director of Football Operations)
- 2006 – Iowa State (Offensive Graduate Assistant/Offensive Line)
- 2005 – Drake (Defensive Line)
- 2004 – Drake (Defensive Graduate Assistant/Defensive Line)
- 2003 – Des Moines North High School [Iowa] (Offensive Line)
