93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
Gary Pinkel calls the postseason ban and other sanctions handed down by the NCAA against Mizzou “remarkably extreme.”
Football, baseball, and softball all got punished because an academic tutor did the course work for some players a few years ago. It happened when Pinkel was still head football coach.
He says on Wake Up Columbia his staff never even talked to tutors.
“I just think it’s absolutely ridiculous. I think often the NCAA is very inconsistent in how they do things.”
The NCAA said when it announced the punishments in January that Mizzou fully cooperated with the investigation, and the tutor acted on her own.
“I probably shouldn’t say this…but if the same thing I believe happened at Ohio State or Alabama or Oklahoma I don’t think it would have got that far.”
Pinkel launched a foundation this week to help children, GP M.A.D.E. The goal is to provide support and research for kids battling cancer, help kids with physical challenges, and provide mentoring and scholarships for kids facing economic and social challenges.
“If we really want to help these kids, we bring them in, they earn their degree here at the University of Missouri, they marry a gal at the University of Missouri that has her degree, they have children and they send their kids to college, and you’ve changed a generation of family. Now that’s significant.”
Click the box below for the full Wake Up Columbia interview with Pinkel. He covers his foundation (:50), the NCAA punishments (11:00), the South End Zone project (13:30), and his former recruits who will probably hear their names called during this week’s NFL Draft (15:15):
