By the time he could process Friday’s stunning news, Mike Alden thought back to November 3, 2001. Missouri, Hansbrough 26-117, Witter 13-34, Lock 3-26, Hunt 10-14, Wingo 1-1, Team 2-(minus 2). It will be another emotional week at the Tigers prepare for a date with Tennessee on Saturday, which will also double as Senior Day and Gary Pinkel’s final home game. “Coach Pinkel was a father figure to me…I know he will fight!!”
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And now, the end is in sight.
That’s when Pinkel, who had stood by his striking players, announced that he would step down at season’s end.
“I made a 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”.
“When he told us, we were kind of jumbled in the head”, said freshman quarterback Drew Lock, who threw for 244 yards and the go-ahead TD pass. “But that’s one thing we talk about a lot, move on to the next play”. He says he feels pretty good now.
That’s also what produced a 20-16 win against Brigham Young in Kansas City Saturday night.
Pinkel was diagnosed with lymphoma in May and received multiple treatments in May and June. Multiple sources confirmed that timetable and refuted that Pinkel’s resignation is related to the tumultuous news on Mizzou’s campus the last week.
I want to make very clear that I’m not doing poorly, and that this is a manageable disease, but it’s one that will never go away.
For the record, my choice was Joe’s Kansas City – formerly known as Oklahoma Joe’s – and apparently my suggestion carried a few weight, as I did indeed see those same two guys later that afternoon at the popular gas station eatery, along with dozens of other BYU football fans. I’m proud as hell of you. “I think the ability to basically participate as student athletes involves an awareness of campus politics and the fact that the players were so willing to walk out, I think was a big thing”. “And then visited with my family and came to the decision on October 27th that this would be my past year coaching”.
All that before the team’s 15-year coach announced he was battling blood cancer.
“It hasn’t set in”, Pinkel said. The president resigned on Monday, less than 48 hours after the team joined the cause.
On the field, Pinkel’s accomplishments at Missouri have been unmatched. But at the University of Missouri, its football team took the extraordinary step of banding together, standing in solidarity while refusing to play any more games until its school president was removed from office.
The Tigers’ all-time winningest football coach will roam the sidelines for two more regular-season games and, should they win one of those, potentially a bowl game.
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Sam went on to become the first openly gay player to be drafted by an National Football League team.
