Former Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel is being treated for the recurrence of his cancer, he revealed Sunday during an interview on SportsZone.
"I'm doing good. I had to get treatment again for the first time in four years. My cancer came out of remission, and so I had treatment last month. I'm doing fine," Pinkel told KMIZ-TV.
"With my type of lymphoma, you'll never be healed. But that's kind of why I retired when I did — I just wanted to not go back and regret working 85 hours a week, 35 weeks out of the year when I could be doing other things with my family and my eight grandkids."
Pinkel, 67, was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in May of 2015. He confirmed a year later that the cancer was in remission, but said it now requires more treatment, though he remains optimistic about tackling the disease once and for all.
"You keep battling it. I'm going to battle it," Pinkel said. "I've got a very positive approach to it, and I'm around a lot of good people that are helping me. There's a lot of people out there with a lot worse cancers than Gary Pinkel has, and so prayers to all of them."
Pinkel, who also served as head coach at Toledo from 1991-2000, landed with the Tigers in 2001 and remained with the team until he retired from coaching after the 2015 season.
He guided Missouri to 10 bowl appearances and his 118-73 record includes the most wins by a Tigers football coach.