Former Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel selected to CFB Hall of Fame

Long-time Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel has been selected as a member of the 2022 College Football Hall of Fame class.

Longtime Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel has been named as one of three head coaches to be selected as members of the 2022 College Football Hall of Fame class. After a 12-year stint as an assistant to Don James at Washington, including his last six seasons as offensive coordinator, Gary Pinkel departed for the head coaching position at Toledo.

In 10 seasons as head coach at Toledo, Pinkel recorded a 73-37-3 record, winning the MAC West three times, a conference championship in 1995, and two bowl games.

In two of those seasons, the Rockets finished with double-digit wins. Its 11-0-1 record in 1995 was the winningest in school history. They were also only one of two schools in Division 1-A to complete the season unbeaten. Only national champion Nebraska had a better record, 12-0. In 2000, Pinkel’s last season at Toledo, the Rockets went 10-1, including a 24-6 drubbing of Penn State in State College.

At the time that Pinkel had taken over as the Missouri head coach in 2001, the football program was on a downslope as the Tigers had failed to capitalize on the momentum from its first two winning seasons (1997, 1998) and bowl appearances since 1983.

After two lackluster seasons, the Tigers finally found success, finishing 8-5 with an appearance in the Independence Bowl. A 41-24 thrashing of No. 10 Nebraska broke a 24-game losing streak to Nebraska that dated back to 1978. Expectations were high entering the 2004 season. However, the program witnessed a setback. A puzzling double-digit loss at Troy and a five-game losing streak that included a blowout home loss to the rival Kansas Jayhawks led to many questioning the direction of the football program.

But the 2004 season became known as the setback for the comeback.

The years from 2005-2014 made up a decade of sustained success unseen in Missouri football program history with 85 regular-season victories, six bowl victories, nine winning seasons, nine bowl appearances, four division titles, a Top 25 ranking in nine seasons, and two top-five finishes.

In 2005, sporting a new spread attack offense, the Tigers won six regular-season games, one being another 41-24 victory over Nebraska. The come-from-behind victory against South Carolina in the Independence Bowl was the first bowl victory by Missouri since 1998. The Tigers got off to a fast start in 2006, winning their first six games. The 6-0 start was the first by a Missouri team since 1973.

In 2007, the Tigers reached new heights.

Their No. 1 ranking after defeating Kansas in the regular-season finale at Arrowhead Stadium marked the first time in 47 years that Mizzou sat at the top of the AP poll. After crushing Arkansas 38-7 in the Cotton Bowl, the Tigers finished 12-2, the first 12-win season in school history. As a result, they concluded the season ranked No. 4 in the country, the highest season-ending ranking in school history. In 2008, the Tigers won their second consecutive Big 12 North title. They would reach the 10-win plateau by defeating Northwestern in the Alamo Bowl. The 10-3 record was the second consecutive double-digit win season for Missouri.

The 2010 season was one filled with its peaks and valleys. After defeating No. 1 Oklahoma, Missouri’s record stood at 7-0, its best start to a season in 50 years. It was also the first victory against a No. 1 ranked team in the program’s history. However, the team would go 3-3 the rest of the way, ending the season with a disappointing loss to Iowa in the Insight Bowl.

By 2012, Missouri was no longer in the Big 12, making the move to the SEC. After a very rough transitional season where they went 2-6 in conference play and did not qualify for a bowl game, it all came together for the Tigers. Back-to-back SEC division titles, a 23-5 overall record, 14-2 in conference play, and both seasons ending with bowl victories — Cotton Bowl and Citrus Bowl, respectively. The 2013 team finished No. 5 in the country, making Pinkel the only coach in school history to have multiple top-five ranked teams to end the season.

During the midst of a 2015 season filled with its share of drama on and off the field, Pinkel announced publicly that he was battling a cancer diagnosis and would retire at the conclusion of the season. At the time of his retirement, Pinkel’s 191 victories rank 21st on the all-time list of FBS head coaches, ahead of names such as Jackie Sherrill, Johnny Majors, Urban Meyer, Bob Stoops, Dan Devine, and mentor Don James. He is currently the winningest head coach in Toledo and Missouri football history.

The Tigers reached double-digit wins in a season five times during Pinkel’s 15 seasons as head coach. It is a feat only accomplished once in the program’s history (1960) prior to Pinkel’s arrival.

The complete 2022 College Football Hall of Fame class is scheduled to be inducted on Dec. 6 with the location being determined at a future date.