When Gary Pinkel arrived after the 2000 season, Missouri football was a mess. The Tigers were a mess on the football field, but even more so on the recruiting trail.
The Tigers were coming off the Larry Smith era when the program went 33-46 over a six-year span and watched high-profile recruit after high-profile recruit in the talent-rich local areas of Kansas City and St. Louis flock to other programs.
It just wasn’t cool to go to MIZ-ZOU.
But Pinkel saw first-hand the importance of keeping the best local players at home working with legendary Washington Huskies coach Don James for more than a decade.