Missouri's Gary Pinkel reveals lymphoma diagnosis, to retire after season
Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel will retire at the end of the 2015 season due to health-related issues, the school announced Friday.
"I don't know how many years I have left, but I want to turn my focus to life outside of the daily grind of football," Pinkel said in a statement.
Pinkel was diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancer of the blood, in May and received multiple treatments in May and June. Following doctor's assurances that his health would not affect his coaching duties, he decided to continue coaching the Tigers in 2015, but things changed after the Oct. 24 game against Vanderbilt.
"After we played Vanderbilt, I had a scheduled PET scan on Oct. 26 for reassessment, and then visited with my family and came to the decision on Oct. 27th that this would be my last year coaching," Pinkel said. "I still feel good physically, but I decided I that I want to focus my remaining years with my family and friends, and also have proper time to battle the disease and give full attention to that."
The 63-year-old was instrumental in transforming Missouri into a nationally relevant program, taking over in 2000 and posting five conference divisional titles in his 15 years. The Tigers hadn't posted a 10-plus win season since 1960, and Pinkel accomplished that feat five different times.
He will leave the Tigers as the winningest coach in school history, with the program in much better shape than when he debuted.
"Obviously I'm so appreciative to all of my coaches and athletes. Leaving them makes this decision so tough, but I do so feeling good that the Mizzou football program is in a better place than it was when we came in 15 years ago," said the Ohio native. "I feel that Mizzou is a great job at a great school and has so much going for it that they'll find an outstanding coach to move the program forward."
Under Pinkel's guidance, Missouri became a factory for professional talent, with 32 Tigers being drafted into the NFL during his tenure. One of those players was Michael Sam, 2013 SEC co-Defensive Player of the Year. Sam shared his thoughts about his former coach via Twitter on Friday.
@GaryPinkel thank you for everything you have done for me. You gave me a family that I so desperately needed and for that I am grateful.
— Michael Sam (@MichaelSamNFL) November 13, 2015
The Tigers have three games remaining in the regular season and host BYU on Saturday.