Gary Pinkel joins College Football Hall of Fame with 2022 Class

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (KMIZ)

Gary Pinkel joined fellow Mizzou coaching legends Don Faurot and Dan Devine in the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday, becoming the third MU coach to be inducted.

Pinkel spoke at a press conference in the morning in Las Vegas. He said the key to his career is that he's always been surrounded by great people.

"I didn't ever have a goal to be in this Hall of Fame. My goal was just to win enough games to keep my job," he joked.

The Hall of Famer's busy schedule continued throughout the day, as a group from Mizzou Athletics flew to Nevada to help honor Pinkel. Current MU Athletics Director Desiree Reed-Francois will host a luncheon for Pinkel and all of the people who came to Las Vegas to support him.

Current Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz also made the trip to Vegas to support the Tiger coaching legend.

"We're really excited about that," he said. "I'm just really pleased that they have kind of embraced this thing too. That's what I want everybody to do. I'm a part of this, but I want everybody to embrace this. Everybody's got a little chunk of this."

Pinkel is the all-time winningest coach at both Mizzou and Toledo. The Rockets were Pinkel's first head coaching stop. He coached at Toledo from 1991-2000, compiling a 118-73 overall record. After leaving Ohio, Pinkel took the helm of Tiger football in Columbia.

In his time in black and gold, Pinkel won five conference titles, earned 10 bowl bids and finished ranked five different times.

"I've been surrounded by good people my life," he said. "Our plan worked."