The vocal leader of the group, Jonathan Butler, spoke to a few Missouri football players about his hunger strike and the demands that he and protesters known as Concerned Student 1950 had of the university.
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Pinkel might not say it, but throughout his 15 years of coaching, this week meant the most to him and his family – the entire Missouri family.
“Prayers for Gary Pinkel”, Mullen said.
“I decided at that time I was going to embrace the healthy times and battle when the tough times come”.
“I’m gonna miss the interaction, being around them. With all they’ve had to deal with, it was the last thing they wanted to hear, nor I wanted to tell them”. When you get cancer, it’s so numbing.
Pinkel’s news might have been the galvanizing factor for the Tigers, since he has been a very successful coach at Missouri.
In a letter to Pinkel, former wide receiver T.J. Moe wrote on Saturday, “Thank you for showing me what it looks like to be a man. You taught us that regardless of circumstances, regardless of what we felt like, regardless of adversity, our job was to fight like hell and find a way to be successful”. “It’s an honor and a privilege to be coaching in this game with him”.
“Maybe”, Scherer said, “the city of Columbia, Mizzou can rally the same way we did”.
The main message from the press conference, though, was the relationship between Pinkel and his players past and present. “There’s a lot of people who have cancer that’s a whole lot worse than the cancer I’ve got”. They’ve said a few of the nicest things to me. It’s overwhelming. It really is. “He said to me, ‘Coach are you OK?’ He came over put his arm around me and told me he loved me”. I’ll read it a few day. “I’m not going to get there, but I planned to coach for a long time”.
Pinkel also revealed the timeline that led to his decision to resign. He underwent treatments in May and June.
“My players and my coaches had to be the first one to know”, Pinkel said.
Pinkel’s resignation was a stunning conclusion to a week of furor on the Missouri campus.
“It hasn’t set in”, Pinkel said. But, God, I love those kids.
Athletic director Mack Rhoades said he told Pinkel’s players that they’ll be alright, and the team will move forward.
A statement from the school said Pinkel informed his staff and the team on Friday that this would be his last season. Pinkel’s emotions came out when he talked about missing his players. It was remarkably emotional for me.
“They are really hurt”, Mendenhall said about his players after the game.
Pinkel was reluctant to say a lot about his decision Saturday night after Mizzou’s win over BYU at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. In 2012, Missouri’s first season in the SEC, the Tigers struggled finishing the season 5-7.
That’s the situation for Pinkel and his Tigers (5-5, 1-5 SEC). 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.
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The two are discussing a role that would keep Pinkel associated with the athletics department once he steps away from coaching duties. He has said he wants to return to the NFL. “I’ll just be able to be like … a normal person (instead of being) gone all the time working all the time”.
