Pingel: One part player, one part coach

The record-breaking receiver looks to also make his mark in the coaching profession.

Scott Pingel admittedly never had the speed NFL scouts covet, but that hasn't prevented the Perryville native from excelling at many levels of football.

Pingel, a 1995 St. Vincent High School graduate, recently completed another sensational season as the top receiver in the National Indoor Football League.

But he's perhaps more excited about his new job -- his full-time job -- as a mathematics teacher and assistant football coach at CBC High School in St. Louis, where he will work under legendary St. Louis-area head coach Bob Shannon.

"I'm pretty excited about it," said Pingel, who spent the past five seasons as an assistant coach at Westminster College, his alma mater. "I'm coming to St. Louis for relocation reasons because my wife [Jodi, a clinical psychologist] got a job there, but I'm looking forward to it.

"Coach Shannon really knows his stuff, and I'm going to listen to everything he says to try and absorb as much as possible."

Aspiring wide receivers could probably absorb plenty by watching Pingel, a 6-foot-1, 187-pounder who has long been known for gobbling up just about every pass thrown his way.

Over the last three seasons in the NIFL, Pingel -- who plays for the River City Rage in St. Charles, Mo. -- has averaged 93 receptions, 1,039 receiving yards and 25 touchdowns.

This year, he led the NIFL -- whose players earn only a handful of dollars per contest -- in receiving for the second straight season, catching 83 passes for 819 yards and 23 touchdowns.

Last year, Pingel set NIFL records -- the league was formed in 2001 -- with 118 receptions for 1,415 yards. He also scored 26 touchdowns.

"It's nice to have them, but records never meant that much to me," Pingel said. "I just always wanted to win a championship."

Pingel thought he had a shot this year, as the Rage won the NIFL's Atlantic East Division title and entered the playoffs as the top seed in the Atlantic Division. But they were upset by the Cincinnati Marshals in a first-round game July 10.

"It was disappointing, especially the way we went out," Pingel said. "They came back from 16 points down with 5 minutes to go to beat us."

Pingel has broken more than professional records. At Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., he set seven all-division receiving marks. The 1999 NCAA Division III player of the year had 436 career receptions, which at the time shattered the previous record of 301 that had been set by NFL great Jerry Rice.

But Pingel somewhat regrets that he never got an adequate chance to prove himself on football's biggest stage. He was in the Buffalo Bills' training camp in 2000 as a free agent but was cut and never received another NFL opportunity, mainly because of his 40-yard dash speed that hovers around 4.7 seconds.

"I think it does bother me that I never got another shot or more of an opportunity [in the NFL], but I know how it works up there," Pingel said. "I think because of my speed, I never really got a chance.

"I had my one opportunity, and I think I was a little naive. It was a learning experience for me. I thought other opportunities would come along, but they never did."

Pingel had an impressive season in a German pro league in 2001, then took a year off from football before settling into the NIFL.

"I've enjoyed the indoor game," he said. "It's been a lot of fun."

Whether that fun will continue for Pingel -- whose parents still live in Perryville -- is up for debate.

Although Pingel said he still feels more than good enough physically to keep playing, he's not sure if he will.

"I've been in this league three years, and I was hoping an opportunity [in a higher league] would come out of it, but it never did," he said. "I really don't know about next year."

Asked whether he still had designs on giving the NFL a shot at the relatively young age of 28, Pingel laughed and extinguished that thought quickly.

"I'm relatively young in the media's eyes, but not by football standards," he said.

As for his future, Pingel -- who spent the past three seasons as the Westminster College offensive coordinator -- has designs on being a head coach before too long, either at the high school or collegiate level.

"That's where I eventually want to get to," he said.

And Pingel said he was absolutely thrilled last year when St. Vincent's Indians captured the school's first state football championship.

"I was pretty fired up for them, because when I was playing we weren't that good, but my senior year we turned it around and won the first district title in a while," Pingel said. "Now they've really got the program going great."