Gary Pinkel to be inducted into the Missouri Hall of Fame
A little over two months away from being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame former Mizzou head coach Gary Pinkel will be honored during the first timeout of the first quarter in the week five matchup between Georgia and Missouri at Faurot Field.
On Sept. 23, it was announced that Pinkel would be joining Yusuf Alli (track and field), J'den Cox (wrestling), Jennifer (Sand) DeVine (gymnastics), Lynn (Biggs) Malir (track and field) and Pete Woods (football and baseball) as inductees into the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame for the class of 2022.
The official induction ceremony will take place on Friday, Nov. 18 at the Missouri Theater.
"Well, we put a lot into this, and it was difficult when I got here," Pinkel said. "I remember Nick Saban told me don't go there. I had a bunch of guys tell me don't do it. ... It was honestly so much more difficult than I thought it was gonna because you're, you're changing a culture. You're changing how people think. And you're now uniting people as you do this."
During his tenure at Mizzou (2001-2015), Pinkel led the Tigers to a 118-73 record, 10 winning seasons, six bowl wins and five division titles.
Prior to his 15-year stint in Columbia, Pinkel was the coach at Toledo (1991-2000) where he led the Rockets to a 73-37-3 record and led them to three Mid-American West Division titles as well as the 1995 Mid-American championship.
At the time of his retirement, Pinkel had the 20th most wins in FBS history and is currently the winningest coach in both programs' history.
"This is something that you don't get," Pinkel said. "You don't get into the College Football Hall of Fame, it's almost impossible to get into it. So, I'm honored. I want to pass it out to so many people. ... And I'm just glad when I came to Missouri, I left it left a lot better place when I got there."
The 2022 College Football Hall of Fame Class will officially be inducted on Dec. 6 at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
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