From the Kansas City Star:
Pinkel has received overtures from Washington and Michigan and is on most lists of possible replacements for Jim Tressel at Ohio State. But Pinkel — born in Ohio, a tight end at Kent State and coach at Toledo for a decade — is now a Missouri Man.
Pinkel contends he became that “the day I got the job.”
Other reference points hold more importance.
Long-time Missouri booster and Kansas City attorney Paul Blackman points to the aftermath of July 2005, when Missouri linebacker Aaron O’Neal collapsed during a voluntary workout at Memorial Stadium and died at University Hospital.
Pinkel opened up to his remaining players, reassured and listened to them.
“That galvanized him and the program,” Blackman said.
Others point to February 2010, when Pinkel refused to sit down with Michigan officials to talk about that job. Others reflect on what Pinkel has said over the past seven days about the Ohio State vacancy. Several times.
“I’m the head football coach at the University of Missouri,” Pinkel said. “I’m committed.”
...
Pinkel’s wife, Vicki, pointed out what Pinkel needed to hear.
“I want to remind you of one thing,” Vicki said. “You told me to.”
In his first four seasons of the rebuilding process at Mizzou, Pinkel told her, “Don’t ever, ever let me do this again.”
“She reminded me of that,” he said on Tuesday.
I was less than enthused when AD Mike Alden hired Pinkel out of Toledo. Sure, he had some nice seasons as the Rockets' head coach and he had just beaten Penn State. But he was a MAC coach. How good could he be?
Travelling back home to Columbia from Kansas City, I listened to the radio broadcast of Pinkel's press conference the day he was officially announced as coach. His comments sounded like the typical new coach boilerplate: "I'm here to win the championships." "We do things our way." "We'll keep Missouri kids at home". Nothing he said stood out.
Then came his first game against Bowling Green in 2000, at home at Faurot Field. The Tigers lost that game and went on to a losing season. The following season was no better. Sure, there was some reason for optimism, particularly the emergence of Brad Smith as an offensive threat in the Illinois game. But taken as a whole, the season was another disappointment; the same ol', same ol'. More disappointments would surely follow over the next few years, and Mizzou would again be on the market for a new coach.
Boy, was my assessment wrong. 11 years later, Mizzou is a perennial top 25 program. It came within one game of playing for the national championship. It's preparing NFL-potential talent and it is going about the process in the right way. What about those losses to Bowling Green? The Falcons were coached by somebody named Urban Meyer. His name rings a bell. Anyways, Pinkel has the potential to become one of the all-time greats at Mizzou, right up there with Don Faurot, Norm Stewart, John "Hi" Simmons, and Dan Devine.
The economist in me tells me that everyone has a price, and that's true. Can tOSU meet that price considering the garbage any new coach is going to have to deal with? I doubt it.