COLUMBIA, Mo. • On Nov. 30, 2000, 23-year-old Erin Pinkel had just flown here with her parents from Toledo, Ohio. She sat on a stage at the Reynolds Alumni Center on Missouri’s campus and watched her dad become the head coach of the Mizzou football program, a job that had chewed up and spit out five straight head coaches since 1977.
On Monday, two weeks shy of the 15th anniversary of Gary Pinkel’s first day on the job, Erin sat on the floor of Mizzou Arena and watched with her husband and three daughters as her dad began his farewell tour.