Coming off of a week in which the University of Missouri football team was in the news for a much different reason, they now have found out that they will soon be without a coach, as Gary Pinkel is retiring at the end of the season due to the fact that he has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Pinkel was diagnosed with the disease in May, but after receiving treatment and being told it would not affect his ability to coach, he decided to continue to coach. Obviously, that decision has now changed.
A statement by Pinkel on the Missouri athletics website reads in part:
“I made the decision in May, after visiting with my family, that I wanted to keep coaching, as long as I felt good and had the energy I needed,” Pinkel said. “I felt great going into the season, but also knew that I would need to re-assess things at some point, and I set our bye week as the time when I would take stock of the future. After we played Vanderbilt (October 24), I had a scheduled PET scan on October 26 for reassessment, and then visited with my family and came to the decision on October 27 that this would be my last year coaching. I still feel good physically, but I decided that I want to focus on enjoying my remaining years with my family and friends, and also have proper time to battle the disease and give full attention to that.”
Pinkel has been the coach of Missouri since the 2001 season and has led them to 10 bowl games. He was the SEC Coach of the Year in 2014.