Gary Pinkel
Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 7-4
Toledo’95WMissouri’03L’05W’06L’07W’08W’09L’10L’11W’13W’14W
Show all 11 games
1995Las Vegas BowlW 40-37Missouri
2003Independence BowlL 14-27
2005Independence BowlW 38-31
2006Sun BowlL 38-39
2007Cotton BowlW 38-7
2008Alamo BowlW 30-23
2009Texas BowlL 13-35
2010Insight BowlL 24-27
2011Independence BowlW 41-24
2013Cotton Bowl ClassicW 41-31
2014Citrus BowlW 33-17
Report card
Defense carries it: 95th percentile defense, above the median offense at 64th.
Missouri, every completed season graded against the whole field, then averaged.
Offense
Defense
Each season is his team’s percentile among every team with that stat (the share it beat), averaged over his completed seasons here; a mid-season takeover year and the season in progress aren’t graded. Letters: A+ 90th percentile and up, A 80, B+ 70, B 60, B− 50, C+ 45, C 40, C− 30, D 15, F below.
Fans
No fan talk about him on our list yet. His record is on Career.
Stats
Big games
Pick a job to see its years on their own.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
11-5 against his rivals at Toledo. Winless in 3 tries against Herb Deromedi.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
11-8 against his rivals at Missouri. Just 1-7 against Bob Stoops.
Signature games
Tags describe each game; they aren’t scores. The weighting that picks these games is still being tested.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
22-13 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Herb Deromedi.
Signature games
Tags describe each game; they aren’t scores. The weighting that picks these games is still being tested.
ATS is his record against the spread: did his team beat the closing betting line, winning by more than it or losing by less? Lines start in 2013; a dash means fewer than 6 of those games had one. One-score games carry no spread record: a big favorite that wins a close game has almost always failed to cover, so that number would say nothing about the coach.
Defining games during this era
From our list of the 50 most defining games of the Playoff era, ranked by how much each game mattered, not by date.
How he plays
Run/pass mix, by field position
Called about what the situation called for under every play-caller.
7,550 run and pass snaps at Missouri, 2004–2015, his own games, one row per offensive coordinator. Each cell is how much more often he passed than the rest of FBS did in the same situation (field zone, down, distance, score, quarter, same season), in percentage points. Play-by-play starts in 2004, so his earlier seasons there aren’t in it.
Pass rate, stint by stint
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next, against the FBS-wide average of 41% pass. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 449 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2004–2025.
Building the roster
Five numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Toledo→
Missouri2001Players who transferred from his old program to his new one through the portal in the same year he made the move. Name-matching across data sources misses some, so every count is a floor, not an exact number.
Roster ownership
Roster ownership
of his 2015 roster arrived on his watch — 134 of 134 players. Nobody is left from before he was hired.
This coach's entire tenure (2001-2015) predates 2021, when transfer-portal tracking begins in this database. Portal usage cannot be measured for this tenure at all -- this is not the same as '0% portal'.
“His own” means the player arrived while he was head coach; “inherited” means a predecessor brought him in.
Size up front
Size up front
Offensive linemen on his Missouri rosters have averaged within a few pounds of the FBS average (2010–2015 rosters on record).
Average listed weight of every offensive lineman on each season’s roster, holdovers included, against every FBS roster that season (2010 on; a program needs 3+ seasons under him to appear). Weights are the ones programs publish, and programs list differently. This describes size only — not scheme, and not quality.
Where he recruits
is his biggest recruiting state: 62 of 208 signees (30%) across his 2001–2015 tenure, drawn from 21 states in all. Next: TX (55).
47% of his signees come from MO and its 8 border states (KS 12, OK 9, IL 5, TN 5, AR 2, IA 2).
- median hometown distance
- 290 mi
- within 100 mi
- 12%
- within 500 mi
- 66%
- beyond 1,000 mi
- 4%
The map counts signed recruits across his tenure; the distance figures cover his current roster, transfers and walk-ons included. Two different groups, kept separate on purpose.
The NFL pipeline
The NFL pipeline
players drafted into the NFL off his teams here. He brought in 13 of them himself. 23 more can’t be traced to who brought them in (no roster record). 7 went in the first round.
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | R4.30 | Evan Boehm | Offensive Guard |  Arizona Cardinals | |
| 2016 | R5.05 | Connor Mcgovern | Offensive Guard |  Denver Broncos | |
| 2016 | R5.21 | Kentrell Brothers | Inside Linebacker |  Minnesota Vikings | |
| 2015 | R1.23 | Shane Ray | Outside Linebacker | Denver Broncos | |
| 2015 | R2.08 | Dorial Green-Beckham | Wide Receiver |  Tennessee Titans | Estimated |
| 2015 | R2.17 | Mitch Morse | Offensive Guard |  Kansas City Chiefs | |
| 2015 | R2.26 | Markus Golden | Defensive End | Arizona Cardinals | |
| 2015 | R6.25 | Bud Sasser | Wide Receiver |  St. Louis Rams |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | R7.13 | Marcus Murphy | Running Back |  New Orleans Saints | |
| 2014 | R2.28 | Kony Ealy | Defensive End |  Carolina Panthers | |
| 2014 | R2.32 | Justin Britt | Offensive Tackle |  Seattle Seahawks | |
| 2014 | R6.12 | E.J. Gaines | Cornerback | St. Louis Rams | |
| 2014 | R7.34 | Michael Sam | Defensive End | St. Louis Rams | |
| 2013 | R1.13 | Sheldon Richardson | Defensive Tackle |  New York Jets | |
| 2013 | R3.35 | Zaviar Gooden | Outside Linebacker | Tennessee Titans | Estimated |
| 2012 | R3.15 | Michael Egnew | Tight End |  Miami Dolphins | Estimated |
| 2011 | R1.07 | Aldon Smith | Defensive End |  San Francisco 49ers | Estimated |
| 2011 | R1.10 | Blaine Gabbert | Quarterback |  Jacksonville Jaguars | Estimated |
| 2011 | R7.31 | Andrew Gachkar | Outside Linebacker |  San Diego Chargers | Estimated |
| 2010 | R1.19 | Sean Weatherspoon | Outside Linebacker |  Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 2009 | R1.19 | Jeremy Maclin | Wide Receiver |  Philadelphia Eagles | Estimated |
| 2009 | R1.32 | Evander Hood | Defensive Tackle |  Pittsburgh Steelers | Estimated |
| 2009 | R2.23 | William Moore | Safety | Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 2009 | R3.34 | Chase Coffman | Tight End |  Cincinnati Bengals | Estimated |
| 2009 | R5.03 | Colin Brown | Offensive Tackle | Kansas City Chiefs | Estimated |
| 2009 | R6.26 | Stryker Sulak | Defensive End |  Oakland Raiders | Estimated |
| 2008 | R4.06 | Will Franklin | Wide Receiver | Kansas City Chiefs | Estimated |
| 2008 | R4.12 | Martin Rucker | Tight End |  Cleveland Browns | Estimated |
| 2007 | R4.14 | Brian Smith | Defensive End | Jacksonville Jaguars | Estimated |
| 2006 | R4.06 | Brad Smith | Wide Receiver | New York Jets | Estimated |
| 2006 | R7.35 | Tony Palmer | Offensive Guard | St. Louis Rams | Estimated |
| 2005 | R3.25 | Atiyyah Ellison | Defensive Tackle |  Carolina Panthers | Estimated |
| 2005 | R5.06 | Damien Nash | Running Back | Tennessee Titans | Estimated |
| 2005 | R6.17 | C.J. Mosley | Defensive Tackle |  Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 2003 | R5.08 | Justin Gage | Wide Receiver |  Chicago Bears | Estimated |
| 2003 | R6.41 | Keith Wright | Defensive Tackle |  Houston Texans | Estimated |
A pick counts toward his tenure when the player’s final college season was one he coached, a checkable rule rather than a claim about who developed the player. A blank note means the player is on a verified roster and arrived on his watch. “Estimated” means no roster record, so the final season is assumed to be the year before the draft.
News
No outlet on our list has written about him by name yet. His record is on Career.
Career
Coaching career
The arc of his career is on Now.
Builder meaningfully raised a program that wasn't one · Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder
3rd-best Missouri tenure of 12 by the numbers.
Followed Larry Smith (1994–2000) · succeeded by Barry Odom (2016–2019).
| Season | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||||||||||
| Record | 4-7 | 5-7 | 8-5 | 5-6 | 7-5 | 8-5 | 12-2 | 10-4 | 8-5 | 10-3 | 8-5 | 5-7 | 12-2 | 11-3 | 5-7 | |
| Postseason | — | — | L bowl | — | W bowl | L bowl | W bowl | W bowl | L bowl | L bowl | W bowl | — | W bowl | W bowl | — | |
| Coordinators | ||||||||||||||||
| OC | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Josh Henson | Josh Henson | |
| DC | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Dave Steckel | Barry Odom | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||||||||||||||
| Offense | — | — | — | 23 | 43 | 88 | 93 | 88 | 49 | 55 | 92 | 17 | 72 | 62 | 4 | |
| Defense | — | — | — | 83 | 42 | 59 | 67 | 17 | 29 | 70 | 73 | 50 | 24 | 82 | 93 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script | ||||||||||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | — | — | — | 42.0 | 42.9 | 47.9 | 49.1 | 55.5 | 49.0 | 52.3 | 38.9 | 43.4 | 45.4 | 42.6 | 43.3 | |
| Red-zone pass% | — | — | — | 29.9 | 31.7 | 44.1 | 45.0 | 47.2 | 40.0 | 41.2 | 33.9 | 43.2 | 46.2 | 44.6 | 43.8 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | — | — | — | 50.0 | 34.2 | 25.0 | 19.5 | 26.9 | 38.8 | 26.2 | 28.6 | 24.5 | 17.6 | 23.9 | 15.0 | |
Underperforms his recruiting talent on offense and outperforms his recruiting talent on defense.
8th-best Toledo tenure of 13 by the numbers.
Followed Nick Saban (1990) · succeeded by Tom Amstutz (2001–2008).
| Season | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||||||
| Record | 5-5-1 | 8-3 | 4-7 | 6-4-1 | 11-0-1 | 7-4 | 9-3 | 7-5 | 6-5 | 10-1 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | W bowl | — | L bowl | L bowl | — | — | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||||||||||
| Offense | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Defense | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script | |||||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Red-zone pass% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
3 NFL Draft picks: Darren Anderson (1992), Dan Williams (1993), Clarence Love (1998)
All-time wins
Wins at programs this site tracks, 1936–present — one consistent count for every coach, not each program’s own historically reported total.
1st all-time at Missouri
Was he good?
A mixed record — ahead of expectations by some measures here, behind by others. The honest read is that it depends which lens you use.
+24.1 pts at Missouri · #45 of 1290 · top quarterModel fit as of 2026-09-04.