Gary Pinkel will step down as the head coach of the Missouri Tigers for health reasons at the end of the season.
Pinkel who is 117-71 as head coach of the Tigers, was diagnosed with lymphoma earlier this year. He started treatments for the disease during the off-season and was given the green light to continue coaching. However, Friday Pinkel released a statement saying that he would retire at the end of the year.
"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," Pinkel said in the statement. "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."
Pinkel went on to say that while he felt the illness was manageable, he believed that quality of life issues, such as spending more time with his family, were more important than the daily demands of being a D-1 football coach.
