Why Missouri womens basketball's Robin Pingeton is grounded in the face of pressure

Looking around Missouri athletics in the fall of 2023 becomes an interesting study if you focus on the Missouri women's basketball team.

The football team is 6-1, seemingly becoming a revelation after two 6-7 seasons. The men's basketball team is flourishing under Dennis Gates, coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance where he earned a win.

Missouri volleyball has a winning record under first-year coach Dawn Sullivan, too.

Of all the teams that call the University of Missouri home, none of them have the pressure that Robin Pingeton does in the women's basketball offices.

In a sitdown with the Tribune, Pingeton discussed the challenges in the upcoming season, the pieces she added through the transfer portal and the pressure in coaching on defined expectations in 2023-2024.

Pingeton was grounded. She wasn't looking ahead at anything, nor was she reflecting on much that happened in the past.

"It's been an unbelievable offseason, obviously added quite a few new faces," Pingeton said. "You have a vision, but you never know for sure the dynamics of what that would look like."

Those new faces are five true freshmen and three graduate transfers. Those spots opened due to a handful of departures - Lauren Hansen, Jayla Kelly, Sara-Rose Smith, Katlyn Gilbert and Haley Troup - after a tumultuous end to the 2022-2023 season.

A second-straight WNIT berth after struggles in SEC play culminated in a blowout loss to Kansas, of all teams, in the WNIT second round.

That led to defined expectations from MU director of athletes Desiree Reed-Francois: make the NCAA Tournament. Reed-Francois told multiple outlets those expectations are to make the tournament, which hasn't happened for MU after appearing in four straight tournaments from 2016-19.

Those expectations do not equal pressure, however. Pingeton said, in her eyes, it isn't any different from past years.

"I don't look at it as pressure," Pingeton said. "I don't think it's anything different than I've felt any year in my 30-some years of coaching. What I'm really proud of, though, is the way we've shown up on a daily basis all summer long and so far consistently this fall."

To get to the summer and the fall, Missouri needed to fill out its roster. That was easier said than done, considering all the departures.

Pingeton's offseason included adding to her coaching staff, as well as to the player roster. Assistant coach Jenny Putnam became MU's director of basketball operations, recruiting coordinator Kate Frerking stepped away from basketball to focus on law school and former director of basketball operations Heather Buechter departed, too.

Pingeton said she wanted to find players who fit her core values of respect, responsibility, discovery and excellence, and curated her staff to fit these requirements, too. Pingeton found bench additions that fit in assistant Preston Beverly and assistant to the head coach Julia Ford.

Those additions have a heavy background in player development, too.

"Let's evaluate everything and let's respond in a way that's going to make a positive difference," Pingeton said. "To model that behavior is really important for our players, and I thought everybody rolled up their sleeves and went to work."

Then, the player additions could begin.

Now, Pingeton and her staff needed immediate help to balance out the talent that the incoming freshmen bring.

De'Myla Brown, Angelique Ngalakulondi and Abby Feit are those players. The biggest question is can those transfers, and the freshmen who will see playing time, hold up in SEC play? Pingeton is not thinking anywhere close to December.

She's not even thinking about the non-conference slate, which comes first.

Pingeton doesn't want to talk too much about the future. She's doing her best to stay grounded and go day by day.

"We're all going in the same direction," Pingeton said. "I have a feeling this season's going to fly by and I really want to be mindful of being where my 10 toes are and just enjoying this journey with them."

That direction will take Missouri to plenty of different places where different opportunities can shape this season.

There are neutral site games in St. Joseph, Missouri, and Daytona Beach, Florida, plus road games in St. Louis, Charlottesville, Virginia, and Champaign, Illinois.

That neutral site game in St. Joseph is against Kansas State, and it allows MU to expand its footprint to the greater Kansas City area, which already exists in a significant way this season.

The biggest-name recruit joining Missouri this season is true freshman Grace Slaughter, who was rated as the No. 53 overall recruit in the nation and hails from Grain Valley, Missouri. Slaughter has the talent to make an immediate impact after one of the best prep careers in Missouri since maybe former Tigers star Sophie Cunningham.

"I've been really impressed with her one-on-one accountability defensively, It's further along than I thought it would be," Pingeton said. "I love the fact that she can stretch the court, but she's also pretty darn good around the basket."

How much Slaughter plays early on remains to be seen, especially as Pingeton said she has no idea what a starting five will look like, but the work she's put in over the summer has impressed the newer staff.

That staff will have to find ways to work a lineup together while also building chemistry with a newer roster to become a team that can fit the expectations placed on the program this season. That comes in those early November games, but that's not what Pingeton will say is important right now.

That's not to say those games aren't important. It's just not time for Pingeton to think about those moments.

She's concerned with what's in front in what is her most significant season at Missouri.

"I'm not too concerned about K-State and Illinois, and the SEC," Pingeton said. "Our first game is Belmont."

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Why Missouri womens basketball's Robin Pingeton is grounded in the face of pressure