November 22, 2004
Add Mizzou's Pinkel to the "Hot Seat" Lists
Missouri fans are shocked and angry about their team's nosedive in 2004. A team that returned most impact players from a bowl season in 2003, that entered the season ranked #17 in the Coaches' Poll, that features what was once considered to be a Heisman candidate in quarterback Brad Smith, and was blessed with a weak schedule in a ridiculously weak (Big XII North) division should not be limping into the season's final game with a 4-6 record, riding a five-game losing streak.
Most fingers are pointed squarely at MU head coach Gary Pinkel for this disaster of a season. Mizzou is widely considered to be a talented squad and has remained virtually injury-free, so the classic excuses are unavailable.
Columnist John Henderson of the Denver Post asks, "Was there a worse coaching job in the country than by Missouri's Gary Pinkel?" Another Columnist, Joe Posnanski of the Kansas City Star, writes that Pinkel "lost the team". Dan O'Neill of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch describes the state of the football program as, "really sad."
As ominous as those columnists sound, their words are very mild compared to the rantings of common fans. Tigerboard.com, an internet hot-spot for MU fans, has been overflowing with cries of "fire Pinkel!" and other anti-Pinkel sentiments. A new site, FirePinkel.com, is under development.
It is unclear whether or not a win over Iowa State next Saturday would douse the enflamed opinions of Tiger supporters. (The way MU is playing these days, a win seems improbable, anyway.) Pinkel remains under contract for at least three more seasons, and athletic director Mike Alden has yet to weigh in on his coach's future. Should Pinkel return for the 2005 season (which I anticipate), expect his name to appear on every "hot seat" list across the land.
Comments:
posted on November 22, 2004 1:12 PM — 168.166.54.11 — link — abuse?Robert Knodell said:
It's easy to claim a writer or fan "knows nothing about college football", but you fail to do any heavy lifting yourself when you fail to say what I've written that is so dumb.
Mike said:
posted on November 22, 2004 1:55 PM — 199.44.241.20 — link — abuse?
Easy Big Rob, I didn't mean you. I meant to say that to expect Mizzou to have a great season every year is unrealistic. I don't want you to think I was getting on your case, but I will do the heavy lifting anyway.
Brad Smith's completion percentage has plummeted 9 points since last season, while his rushing yards have fallen off by almost a full 1000 yards. No one can replace that production, not even with the heralded recruiting classes the Tigers have been inking. Pinkel made a mistake by trying to rein in Brad's natural ability and turn him into a pocket quarterback. Why in the world would you ever do that? We've seen that Brad Smith is never going to be that kind of quarterback, he just can't do it. They should've let him run all he wanted. But not all the blame falls on Smith and Pinkel. The offensive line has played awfully bad at times (6 sacks against Kansas? 4 to Nebraska?), and the defense gave up a 50+ yard run against Troy to an offensive lineman. Finally, the schedule was much tougher this year with Texas and Oklahoma State replacing Texas Tech and Texas A&M. They have been in alot of games this year, and it's too bad that Pinkel may have to pay the price for his team's underperformance.
posted on November 22, 2004 2:12 PM — 168.166.54.11 — link — abuse?
As a non-biased observer pretty close to the situation, I think Pinkel deserves a fair amount of blame for the trainwreck this season. As you mention, the decision to turn Smith into a pocket passer was a disaster, costing them the Troy game for sure and a shot at an upset of Texas. Blowing large leads as they did against Oklahoma State and Kansas State had a lot to do with halftime adjustments (or lack thereof). As for the schedule, Missouri traded Oklahoma for Texas, Texas Tech for Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M for Baylor. I would actually consider that easier than the year before.
I wouldn't advocate firing Pinkel at this time. However, I don't see much hope for an improvement of much significance next year. Pinkel needs to make some staff changes and shake things up. He basically brought in his whole staff from Toledo (they all owe their stature in college football to him). He needs some top-level assistants with big-time experience that could offer some diverse alternative ideas rather than the groupthink of a staff that has been together for years. Just my opinion.
TiredMUfan said:
posted on November 26, 2004 7:31 PM — 68.187.13.204 — link — abuse?
When fans, just your "watch games every week" type of fans can call the next play-based soley on watching the line of scrimage; you can bet the other side line can. I have never seen such poor ,unimaginative, predicatable play calling in 4A High School, much less Division 1A.
No adjustments @ half time have cost many games. Isn't that what you have a coach for? He seems to want to prove that he can & will make B Smith something he is not, while doing this, he is killing a great athlete and his future.
He has had his chance-fire himStuart Coe said:
posted on November 28, 2004 11:14 AM — 64.136.26.227 — link — abuse?
I say give Pinkel one more year with two stipulations--He must win 8 games next year (with no losses as a result of 2nd half comebacks by the opposing team) AND change the offense to revolve totally around Brad Smith who must rush for over 1000 and pass for over 2000. I guess that's more than two (stipulations), but Pinkel deserves it. What a horrendous coaching job!!!!
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Mike said:
posted on November 22, 2004 1:03 PM — 199.44.241.20 — link — abuse?Add Pinkel to the Tommy Bowden Club for coaches victimized by rabid fans who know nothing about football.