Great coaches take their program has far as the Iron Laws allow. Pinkel has taken Missouri far higher than any coach has taken that program since Dan Devine left 40 years ago. UW is a historic top 25 program, Missouri is not.
Pinkel would not have been 7-5 at UW. He would not have been a .500 coach. He would've taken Lambo's recruits to Rose Bowls in 1999, 2000, and 2001 (you realize Skippy was one win away in '99, 01) and the program would never have fallen off.
If he would leave Missouri I would take him in a heartbeat.
First of all this isn't factual. In 2001 the Rose Bowl was the national title game and UW was 8-3 in the regular season while Oregon was 10-1. UW had no shot at a BCS game.
In 1999 the team started off 0-2 then Rick decided to switch his entire offense to the option as he tried to win the worst Pac-10 ever.
I don't think Pinkel would have done what Rick did in 2000. That wasn't a great talented team. It had good talent but we saw teams like 1994, 1996 and 1997 achieve less with much talent.
I think Pinkel would have been exactly what Lambo was. Have a solid W-L record but would always have some bad losses.
Like Lambright had a 9-2 regular season but mostly he was a 7-4 coach. That's Gary Pinkel IMO.