| Gary Pinkel |
|
|
|
| RECORD: 132-78-3 overall in 18 seasons; 59-41 at MU in 8 seasons |
|
| 2001-Present |
Head Coach, Missouri |
| 1991-2000 |
Head Coach, Toledo |
| 1984-90 |
Offensive Coordinator, Washington |
| 1979-83 |
Receivers, Washington |
| 1977-78 |
Receivers, Bowling Green |
| 1976 |
Tight Ends, Washington |
| 1975 |
Graduate Assistant, Kent State |
| 1974 |
Student Assistant, Kent State |
|
- Tight End at Kent State (1971-73)
- A.P. Honorable Mention All-American (1973)
|
In eight years at Missouri, Gary Pinkel has clearly put his mark on the Tigers football program. With back-to-back Big 12 North Championships and four bowls in five years (including two straight bowl winners), Gary Pinkel's vision for success at the University of Missouri has come to fruition, and is pointed toward a bright future.
Pinkel ranks third on Mizzou's all-time coaching wins list with a 59-41 record. He is in a select group of MU coaches that includes College Football Hall of Famers Don Faurot and Dan Devine, as well as Warren Poweres, as the only coaches to have an MU record above .500 dating back to 1935.
Pinkel has guided Mizzou to five bowl games, joining Dan Devine and Warren Powers as the only coaches to do that, and after MU's thrilling 30-23 overtime Alamo Bowl win over Northwestern this past December, Pinkel is the first coach to lead the Tigers to bowl victories in consecutive seasons since Powers did the trick in 1981 and 1982.
|
| (18 years, 132-78-3, .627) |
|
| Year |
Overall |
Pct. |
MAC (Place) |
Pct. |
| 1991 |
5-5-1 |
.500 |
4-3-1 (T-3rd) |
.563 |
| 1992 |
8-3 |
.727 |
5-3 (T-3rd) |
.625 |
| 1993 |
4-7 |
.364 |
3-5 (T-7th) |
.375 |
| 1994 |
6-4-1 |
.591 |
4-3-1 (6th) |
.563 |
| 1995 |
11-0-1 |
.958 |
7-0-1 (1st) |
.938 |
| 1996 |
7-4 |
.636 |
6-2 (T-2nd) |
.750 |
| 1997 |
9-3 |
.750 |
7-1 (1st/West) |
.875 |
| 1998 |
7-5 |
.583 |
6-2 (1st/West) |
.750 |
| 1999 |
6-5 |
.545 |
5-3 (T-2nd/West) |
.625 |
| 2000 |
10-1 |
.909 |
6-1 (1st/West) |
.857 |
| 10 yrs. |
73-37-3 |
.646 |
53-23-3 |
.689 |
|
| Year |
Overall |
Pct. |
Big 12 (Place) |
Pct. |
| 2001 |
4-7 |
.363 |
3-5 (5th) |
.375 |
| 2002 |
5-7 |
.417 |
2-6 (5th) |
.250 |
| 2003 |
8-5 |
.615 |
4-4 (3rd) |
.500 |
| 2004 |
5-6 |
.455 |
3-5 (2nd) |
.375 |
| 2005 |
7-5 |
.583 |
4-4 (2nd) |
.500 |
| 2006 |
8-4 |
.667 |
4-4 (2nd) |
.500 |
| 2007 |
12-2 |
.857 |
7-1 (1st) |
.875 |
| 2008 |
10-4 |
.714 |
5-3 (1st) |
.625 |
8 yrs. |
59-41 |
.590 |
32-32 |
.500 |
Over the past six seasons, Pinkel has led Missouri to a 50-27 record (64.9%) and to bowl games in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Dating back to the 2005 Independence Bowl, Pinkel has won 31 of his last 42 games overall. His four-straight bowl appearances ties an MU record, and if he can lead the Tigers back to the post-season in 2009, he would become the first coach in school history to earn five straight bowl berths.
With a school-record 12 wins in 2007 and 10 more in 2008, MU's two-year win total of 22 is third-most in the nation during that time, trailing only USC (23) and Oklahoma (23). The back-to-back 10-win seasons marked the first such occurrence in Mizzou history, and Pinkel has now directed two of the three double-digit win seasons in school annals.
The Tigers continued to break down barriers in 2008. Missouri picked up a resounding 52-17 win over Nebraska in Lincoln, its first road victory over the Huskers since 1978.
Missouri also maintained its dominance in the Big 12 North in 2008, going 4-1 against division opponents. The Tigers are 10-1 in their last 11 games against Big 12 North teams.
In 2007, Pinkel guided Mizzou to arguably the greatest season in school history. Among the myriad achievements that year included winning a school-record 12 games, claiming MU's first New Year's Day bowl victory since 1966, getting the program's first-ever Big 12 North Division crown, and earning a No. 1 Associated Press national ranking for the first time since 1960 and coming up one win shy of playing for the national championship ... and he's not done yet.
To simply list the highlights surrounding Pinkel's renaissance in Columbia would not do his body of work justice. After all, Mizzou's consecutive 10-win seasons have been the culmination of hard work and determination that began after his hiring on Nov. 30, 2000.
While Pinkel himself would say that it is still a work in progress, his program's numerous accomplishments can be highlighted, which helps to tell this story of football success in Mid-Missouri.
In achieving the program's first No. 1 national ranking since 1960, Missouri raced to a 5-0 start in 2007, including wins over a Rose Bowl bound Illinois team and perennial nemesis Nebraska. The Tigers averaged nearly 42 points per game in those five wins and only a late flurry of points by the Fighting Illini kept any of those games in doubt.
While eventual Big 12 Champion Oklahoma was the lone stumbling block for Pinkel's squad in 2007, the Tigers set numerous school records, including school marks for wins (12), points per game (39.9), total points (558) and total offense (6,864 yards). Most of the offensive records were broken again one year later, as the Tigers' potent spread attack upped those marks to 42.2 points per game, 591 total points in 2008.
For his outstanding achievements both on and off the field in 2007, Pinkel was a finalist for several national coach of the year awards, including the Robinson, Bryant and Munger awards. He also was named the National Coach of the Year by FieldTurf in 2007.
In winning a school-record 12 games in 2007, Mizzou clearly caught the attention of the national football community, as the Tigers began the season unranked but quickly darted up the charts with wins over bowl teams such as Illinois, Texas Tech and Colorado. And after the Tigers defeated arch rival and 2nd-ranked Kansas on Nov. 24th, Mizzou stood atop the college football world, ranked number one for the first and only time since 1960. Mizzou was featured on every college football television show after, and also graced the covers of virtually every prominent national sporting publication, including Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News and USA Today.
While the 2007 Tigers cashed in on the steady growth of the program over the previous six seasons, the Tigers also enjoyed an exciting 2006 campaign that saw them win eight regular-season games for just the 10th time in school history, and Missouri's appearance in the Brut Sun Bowl marked MU's third bowl game in four seasons - the first time in 25 years that Mizzou had reached three bowls in four years.
His success has led to an increased commitment to his program from the University, as Pinkel was awarded with a new seven-year contract in November 2008 that will keep him on the Tiger sidelines through the 2015 season. With winning seasons in 2003 (8-5), 2005 (7-5), 2006 (8-5), 2007 (12-2) and 2008 (10-4), Pinkel is the first MU coach to achieve five winning seasons since Warren Powers.
Pinkel and his program successfully built on the momentum created from a scintillating 38-31 win over South Carolina in the 2005 Independence Bowl that saw his Tigers overcome a 21-point deficit. The thrilling win marked the largest come-from-behind win in school history, and it gave Mizzou only its second bowl win in the previous 24 years.
His eight-year Mizzou record stands at 59-41, and in 18 years overall as a head coach, his record is 132-78-3 overall. The win over Nebraska in 2005 was the 100th of his head coaching career.
After taking over a program that had fallen on hard times in 2001, Pinkel had increased success in each of his first three seasons, improving from four wins in 2001 to five wins in 2002, to the 2003 squad which went 8-5 and made the school's third bowl appearance since 1983.
Long considered a "sleeping giant" of a program, Mizzou had a memorable 2003 season under Pinkel's guidance, as he showed that Tiger Nation can indeed roar again.
The list of accomplishments turned in by the 2003 team was impressive:
The eight regular-season wins marked the first time since 1980 - and only the 4th time since 1960 - that MU had amassed that many wins in the regular season. The team became only the 9th in MU's history to accomplish the feat...
MU went a perfect 6-0 at Faurot Field that season, with the win total marking a school record for one season at home. Mizzou had never won more than five games at Faurot, which opened as Memorial Stadium in 1926. It also marked MU's first unblemished home season since the 1974 team went 5-0...
Mizzou's 41-24 win over #10 Nebraska on Oct. 11th was one for the history books, as it broke a 24-game losing streak to the Huskers for MU, making Pinkel the first Tiger coach to beat Nebraska since Warren Powers in 1978...
The Nebraska win also marked MU's first win over a top-10 opponent since 1981, breaking a string of 45 straight losses to top-10 foes for the school...
Mizzou led the Big 12 Conference, and ranked 6th in the NCAA, in rushing, with an average of 237.46 yards per game. That marked the first time since 1960 that Mizzou has won a conference rushing team title...
The 31st head coach in the program's history, Pinkel was hired on Nov. 30, 2000, and in his short time on board, he has proven to his colleagues, alumni, fans and student-athletes that Tiger Football is on the upswing.
After a rebuilding year in 2001, Pinkel had Mizzou much improved in his 2nd campaign -- and playing for bowl eligibility entering the Tigers' final game of the season. Tough losses to 3rd-ranked Oklahoma (on a late fourth quarter fake field goal), to 18th-ranked Colorado (in overtime) and a last-second loss at 22nd-ranked Iowa State were all that kept Mizzou out of a bowl game.
Pinkel opened the 2002 campaign by leading MU to one of the program's most impressive season-opening wins in recent history when Mizzou dismantled Illinois -- the defending Big Ten Conference champions and a 2001 BCS Bowl team -- 33-20 in St. Louis, Mo. He later defeated Mizzou's heated rival, the Kansas Jayhawks, as MU downed Kansas 36-12 to give him a 2-0 record vs. KU -- making him only the third coach in school history to win his first two encounters against Kansas.
Pinkel came to Missouri after spending 10 very successful years as head coach at Toledo, where he amassed an impressive 73-37-3 record (65.9%).
The school's alltime winningest coach, Pinkel's last six teams there went a combined 50-18-1 overall. Three of those teams advanced to play in the post-season, capturing one Mid-American Conference championship and three MAC West Division titles. Three of his last five teams at Toledo were ranked in the nation's top 25. His 1995 squad went 11-0-1, and was one of just two schools (national champ Nebraska was the other) to finish the season without a loss.
For his accomplishments at Toledo, Pinkel was inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame in February of 2009.
Prior to becoming a head coach, Pinkel learned the trade from one of the alltime great coaches, the legendary Don James. For 12 years as an assistant under James at Washington (1979-90), Pinkel helped guide the Huskies to a combined record of 104-37-2 (73.4%) and three Pac-10 Conference titles. He served as UW's offensive coordinator for seven seasons (1984-90), and helped mold one of the nation's most potent offensive attacks.
Pinkel played under James at Kent State University, where he was an all-conference and honorable mention All-American tight end. He graduated in 1973.
Pinkel graduated from Kenmore High School in Akron, Ohio, and received his bachelor of science degree in education from Kent in 1973. He did post-graduate studies at Kent and Bowling Green, and in 1997 was inducted into the Kent Athletic Hall of Fame. He was born April 27, 1952. Pinkel and his wife, Vicki, have a daughter, Erin, and sons Geoff and Blake.
