Our 100-Day Countdown to Kickoff series continues: We are, officially, 82 days away from Missouri football's 2026 season-opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, set for Thursday, Sept. 3 at Faurot Field (7 p.m., SEC Network).
The college football offseason is a long one. This is our attempt to make it shorter and more bearable, even if only a little bit.
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82 Days To Kickoff
We've all heard the story of Brad Pitt, right? Born in Oklahoma, grew up in Springfield, went to Missouri, studied journalism. Nearly finished his coursework, but just two weeks before graduation, he dropped out and moved to Los Angeles. Neat stuff.
But can I interest you in another Mizzou-to-Hollywood story?
Or, perhaps more accurately, a Mizzou football-to-NFL-to-Hollywood story?
His name is Conrad Goode. He was a 6-foot-6, 246-pound offensive tackle for the Tigers under Warren Powers. He was a three-time All-Big 8 player — including a Second-Team pick in 1982, for our countdown here — and an All-American in 1983.
Goode — pronounced GOOD-ee — was raised on football. His father, Conrad Hitchler, was an All-American for Mizzou in 1961. His stepdad, Irv Goode, was a Pro Bowler with the St. Louis Cardinals and won a Super Bowl with the Miami Dolphins (he was also drafted by the AFL's Dallas Texans, who later became the Kansas City Chiefs).
Born in Columbia but raised in Chesterfield, Goode starred at Parkway Central. He chose the Tigers over the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, and Notre Dame. During his four years, Mizzou went a combined 28-17-2 overall, 15-11-2 in Big 8 play, and 1-2 in bowl games. (The Tigers endured 13 consecutive losing seasons after 1983.)
"I loved going to Mizzou," Goode told the Columbia Daily Tribune in 2014. "The falls in Columbia were four of the best years of my life — and I've had some really good years … we were a family bleeding black and gold."
Goode was selected in the fourth round, 87th overall, of the 1984 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. He was one of five Mizzou players selected that year. He did not have a long pro career, playing in just 35 total games, with four starts, over three seasons: two with the Giants, in 1984-85, and one final year with Tampa Bay, in 1987.
"I've told this story many times: it was in the middle of a game, and I just had this epiphany, like, what am I doing out here?" Goode said on the Inside the Hoosier Mind podcast. "You can't play football half-ass … I had accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish playing football, then just kind of fell out of it. I was just checked out."
From there, Goode pivoted to the entertainment industry, where he's worked for nearly four decades. He's an actor, screenwriter, film producer, musician, and artist. He's appeared in movies, commercials, TV shows, and has written and produced music.
Goode got his acting start by debuting in a 1986 Miller Lite commercial alongside comedian Joe Piscopo. That led to a role as Big Red on "Saturday Night Live" in 1988. In 1992, he grabbed Bugs Bunny's neck in the Air Jordan VII commercial — the one that features "Hare Jordan" teaming up with "Air Jordan."
In 1991, Goode moved to Los Angeles and networked his connections to find roles.
He was Lars 'Viking' Olsson in "Con Air" (1997); the softball player, 'ringworm,' in "Me, Myself & Irene" (2000); Max in "Don't Say A Word" (2001); the Bailiff • Lexus Man in "Anger Management" (2003); and one of the guards in "The Longest Yard" (2005). He's also in "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2" (2015) and appeared in four episodes of "One Tree Hill."
"What football did give me was a work ethic," Goode said on Inside the Hoosier Mind. "If you put your mind to something and you go after it, you can achieve it. I thought that'd be the same way in the entertainment business. Turns out, it's not. You can be one of the best actors in the world, but if no one sees it, who's going to know?
"Fortunately, I was young and dumb enough to not pay attention to that. I just felt like, if I kept working, I'll find a way into this."
On the side, Goode composed, wrote, and produced music. He released a single, "Sometime Tomorrow," in 2016. Three years later, he dropped a whole album, "Never Break," a 9-song, 38-minute set. Both are available on Spotify and Apple Music.
But he is most proud of his 2014 feature-length film titled "Watercolor Postcards," a movie that he wrote, produced, and acted in. (It is also called "Home Is Where The Heart Is.") Directed by Rajeev Dassani, it's a familiar romantic drama filled with redemption. The tagline reads: "It's never too late for a new start."
The movie stars a young Bailee Madison; Laura Bell Bundy, a Tony Award-nominated actress and singer-songwriter; as well as John C. McGinley, of "Scrubs" fame, and Jonathan Banks, the award-winning actor from "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul."
Goode plays Butch, a central character in the film. Butch is a local who plays his guitar and sells postcards on the side of the road.
Before all of that, Butch was also a football player.
Cody Goodwin covers the Missouri Tigers for PowerMizzou and 247Sports. Follow him on Twitter/X at@codygoodwin.
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