Gary Pinkel Has Lymphoma, Is Resigning From Missouri
— -- Gary Pinkel is resigning from his post as Missouri Tigers head coach due to health reasons.
Pinkel was diagnosed in May 2015 with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, the school said on its website.
He will coach the rest of the season through Dec. 31 unless a new coach is found.
"I made the 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," Pinkel said in the statement. "I felt great going into the season, but also knew that I would need to re-assess things at some point, and I set our bye week as the time when I would take stock of the future."
The news comes four days after Missouri's president, Tim Wolfe, resigned amid campus-based protests calling for his ouster as controversy swelled over allegations the school hadn't done enough to address a culture of apparent racism. The school chose an interim replacement, Michael Middleton, on Thursday.
The announcement also follows a threatened boycott by some of his players of Saturday's game against BYU over the apparent racial strife.
Pinkel, who said he had made the decision before this week, supported his players.
"After we played Vanderbilt (Oct. 24), I had a scheduled PET scan on Oct. 26th for reassessment," Pinkel said. "And then visited with my family and came to the decision on October 27th that this would be my last year coaching. I still feel good physically, but I decided that I want to focus on enjoying my remaining years with my family and friends, and also have proper time to battle the disease and give full attention to that."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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