Missouri women’s basketball coach Robin Pingeton announced Wednesday that she will step down at the end of the 2024-25 season.
Pingeton has been the Tigers head coach since 2010 and made four NCAA Tournament berths and 10 total postseason appearances in her 15 years at the helm in Columbia.
“After a lot of reflection, I have decided it’s time for a new voice to lead Mizzou women’s basketball,” Pingeton said. “This is a decision I arrived at after initiating conversations with (athletic director) Laird Veatch. And I am incredibly grateful for his leadership and support throughout this process. I love Columbia, Mizzou and the amazing community that has supported my family and this program for so many years. This is the end of this chapter. I’m looking forward to the next one.”
She ranked third among active SEC head coaches with 584 career wins and was one of just 16 power-conference coaches entering the 2024-25 season who had at least 500.
The TIgers went just 13-18 in the first two years of Pingeton’s tenure and just 5-11 and 2-16 in the final two years of Missouri’s time in the Big 12, but along with the transition to the SEC came an improvement for the Tigers.
Missouri went 17-15, 6-10 in its first year in its new conference, then 17-14, 5-10 in its second before going 19-14, 7-9 in 2014-15.
Then came Sophie Cunningham.
The future WNBA guard helped lead Pingeton’s teams to their first winning records in conference play and all four NCAA appearances the Tigers would have, as well as regular rankings in the AP Poll.
In Cunningham’s freshman season, the Tigers went 22-10, 8-8 and maxed out at No. 20 in the AP Poll before making it to the NCAA Tournament second round.
In her sophomore season, The Tigers went 22-11, 11-5 and once against appeared in the second round of the NCAA Tournament while topping out at No. 23.
In 2017-18, Missouri improved to 24-8, 11-5 and topped out at No. 11 overall, but was bounced in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 6 seed.
Then the Tigers went 24-11, 10-6 in Cunningham’s senior season and reached No. 16 and the second round of the NCAA Tournament once again.
“I love this 2024-25 Mizzou team and could not be prouder of the way these young ladies have competed and represented this university. I’ll always be grateful for my time at Mizzou and will close this chapter just as I opened it, with profound gratitude for the opportunity to lead this program. I know Laird will do amazing things for this athletics department moving forward.”
But after Cunningham left, the Tigers dropped back to sub-.500 seasons quickly.
Pingeton and the Tigers went just 9-22, 5-11 the next season, then 9-13, 5-9 in a shortened 2020-21 season.
Missouri improved to 18-14, 7-9 in 2021-22, then went 18-14, 6-10 in 2022-23.
But the past two seasons, the Tigers have been sub-.500 overall and won just two conference games in the 2023-24 season at 11-19, 2-14 while currently sitting at 13-16, 2-12 with two regular-season games left this year.
Pingeton oversaw the second-longest NCAA Tournament streak in Missouri women’s basketball history at four years, just behind the five years the Tigers made it from 1981-82 through 1985-86, but also helmed two stretches of at least five years without appearing in the tournament, with the current stretch at six seasons, which is tied for the third longest in Tiger history behind just a seven-year stint from 1986-87 through 1992-93 and a nine-year stretch from 2006-07 through 2014-15 (which included Pingeton’s five-year stretch).
Pingeton exits as the second-longest tenured Tiger women’s basketball coach at 15 years behind just Joann Rutherford’s 23-year stint.
“Robin Pingeton has poured her heart into Mizzou women’s basketball for the past 15 years and we are tremendously grateful for her leadership, character and dedication to our student-athletes,” Veatch said. “She has built a program that has competed at a high level, developed young women on and off the court and represented Mizzou with class. We respect her decision and appreciate her commitment to finishing this season strong.”
The Tigers will now begin the search for their fifth women’s basketball coach who will take the helm in the 51st season of Missouri women’s basketball and 44th since women’s basketball was added as an NCAA sport.
Pingeton currently has a record of 249-215, 93-147 with two regular-season games left to play.
“A national search for our next head coach will begin soon,” Veatch said. “We are incredibly excited about the future of Mizzou women’s basketball.”
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