One could argue that the last ten years for Mizzou sports may have been one of the best periods in their entire history. Gary Pinkel took this team to levels they have never been to and a couple of times sniffed national championships.
2006-2011: From Zero to Hero
In Gary Pinkel’s first five years at the Zou he went just 29-30, making the Independence Bowl twice and winning it once. This was less than impressive to start his Mizzou career, however, 2006 began the change of things. In this season the Tigers were only able to go 8-5, but this was a step up for the program. The next season in 2007, Missouri was 11-1 heading into the Big 12 Championship. Since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996, Mizzou had never even won their division. Unfortunately, the tandem of Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin came up short against the Sam Bradford led Sooners and would never reach this plateau again.
For the next four seasons, Mizzou would rip off two 10 win seasons and two more 8 win seasons, showing that the program was going in the right direction and establishing themselves as a perineal top 25 team.
2012: Move to the SEC
Following the great six year run, Missouri decided to take their talents to the SEC East. Many were skeptical of this move and believed that Mizzou would fail to compete in the much tougher SEC. They were right. In the first year as Mizzou managed to go just 5-7 with only two conference wins. The new jerseys and field redesign were the best things to happen in Columbia that season.
2013-2014: The Ships
It’s irrelevant that they ended up losing both years. The surprise here is that Mizzou was able to run the SEC East two years in a row, beating out the likes of Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee to claim back to back division titles. Unfortunately the Tigers would run into the buzz saws of Auburn and Alabama in back to back years, but that should not underscore what Gary Pinkel had accomplished.
2015: Columbia Has Fallen
2015 for Mizzou was a year from hell. They were supposed to be contenders for a division title once again but this was derailed rather quickly. First, starting quarterback Maty Mauk was kicked off the team for supposedly being addicted to cocaine. Next, Mizzou would gain national attention for the racially-charged protests and incidents occurring on campus, eventually forcing the president of the university to resign and the football team to threaten to sit out of their game against BYU. In addition, in November Gary Pinkel would announce that he had been diagnosed with cancer and would step down as head coach. This would seem to be a sad end to an era of Mizzou football.
2016: On the upswing?
With a new head coach, athletic director, president, and a sophomore quarterback Mizzou will start rebuilding. Even at 1-2 right now, the program is already showing some signs of life, possibly signaling that the next reboot is not that far away. This program should return to being a contender in the near future.. but until then, MIZ-ZOU!
