Watch Gary Pinkel’s emotional postgame speech after victory over BYU

Pinkel said his decision had nothing to do with the events on campus, nor with the difficulties the Tigers have had this season.

Missouri Tigers head coach Gary Pinkel walks on to the field before a college football game against …

“After we played Vanderbilt (Oct. 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 previous year coaching”. “I’m going to miss them, scolding them when I had to scold them, hugging and touching them every day”.

“He was so committed and emotional after a loss like that”.

University of Missouri head football coach Gary Pinkel wipes his… Pinkel, 63, was diagnosed with a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in May and underwent treatments in May and June, the school announced. “I felt great going into the season but also knew that I would need to reassess things at a few point, and I set our bye week as the time when I would take stock of the future”.

The 63-year-old coach announced on Friday he will retire at the end of the season. When asked about it after Saturday’s 20-16 win over BYU, Pinkel paused and his voice dipped as he pondered life without Faurot Field.

While saying he’s been blessed with good health throughout his life, Pinkel said he will turn his attention to fighting the lymphoma that was discovered in May.

By the end of the week, the furor on their Columbia campus had slowly begun to wane.

“I have to do something”, said the high energy Pinkel, who will continue to work, but have hours more like a normal person. Under Pinkel, Missouri took home five division titles in two different conferences, winning at least 10 games in each of those seasons. He plans to stay involved in a few way with Mizzou.

The tumultuous week began when players tweeted they would boycott Saturday’s game against BYU unless the university system president resigned. “We wanted to do it for coach”.

“I did the right thing and I would do it again”, Pinkel said Monday, hours after the boycott ended with Wolfe’s resignation. After consulting with his family in late October he decided this would be his last season as head coach. As Pinkel shook hands with a group of media members, Sam slipped past a group of Missouri public relations representatives to do the same.

Not playing the game could have cost Missouri $1 million or more.

“I think our team was resilient, we fought hard, but had a few critical mistakes. We are extremely appreciative of all that he has done for Mizzou”.

Pinkel’s now record at Mizzou is 118-71 and he stands as the winningest coach at both Missouri and Toledo.

The game can be maddening, but after a transforming a dormant Missouri program into a perennial top-25 power, we wouldn’t put it past Pinkel to shave a few strokes off the handicap. It was current Chiefs wide receiver Jeremy Maclin. His Tigers played in the Big 12 Championship Game and SEC Championship Game twice each.

“It wasn’t like we even said, ‘Let’s get this one for G.P.’ It was just in the back of everybody’s mind to go and get it done for him”.