After being fired by Florida, Pell was unable to secure another coaching job, a frustration that was a factor in a suicide attempt in 1994. Pell was treated for clinical depression and became a spokesman for depression awareness. He coached one season of high school football at the newly built Lake Region High School in Eagle Lake, Florida, but his new players were undersized and inexperienced, and the team finished 1–9. He worked as a real estate broker and auctioneer for several years before dying of lung cancer in 2001.