Pinkett was born in Washington, D.C.; he grew up in the Sterling, Virginia, area and attended Park View High School from 1978 to 1982.
[1][6] Pinkett served as the color commentator for Notre Dame's football games broadcast by IMG College from 2006 to 2017.
He was also a sideline reporter for the NFL on Westwood One and did color analyzing with Jim Henderson on radio broadcasts for the New Orleans Saints.
On August 29, 2012, Pinkett appeared on WSCR in Chicago and said that there's nothing wrong with having "a few bad citizens" on Notre Dame's roster, and that a team "full of choirboys" wouldn't win many games.
Notre Dame's athletic department harshly condemned Pinkett's remarks, and IMG suspended him for three games.