Duke Assistant Head Coach, Jeff Capel has agreed to terms to become the next Head Coach at the University of Pittsburgh.
Right church, wrong pew.
Days after it was reported that Pittsburgh had offered its head coaching position to Jon Scheyer, Jeff Capel has accepted the job at Pitt, according to Evan Daniels of 247 Sports.
Capel, a Duke star, was a Head Coach at VCU and Oklahoma before coming back to Duke as an Assistant Coach in 2011.
Capel was always considered the next in line for Duke Basketball, once Coach K retired.
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Two things come to mind about this hire regarding Duke and Capel.
Maybe Capel wasn’t going to be the successor to Coach K, maybe we all just assumed that since he took the head coaching duties when Coach K could not coach due to sickness or health issues.
Or, Coach K informed Capel that he should seek other opportunities because he does not plan to retire anytime soon. This would be the option that most Duke fans should hope for but as a 71-year-old coach, it’s hard to see him sticking around more than five years.
Not only a great influence on the team and the program, Capel was an excellent recruiter for Duke. Naturally, Coach K was the driving influence behind Duke recent string of stellar recruiting classes, but Capel was the one who laid the groundwork.
The same sentiments we started about Pittsburgh job when talking about Scheyer remain the same about Capel.
Eight Pittsburgh players requested their release from the university due to the firing of Kevin Stallings. Now, this does not mean all eight are going to leave, but the hiring of Capel should make that decision interesting.
Capel now joins the ranks of Mike Brey, Johnny Dawkins, Chris Collins, and Steve Wojciehowski as former Duke assistants that have landed a head coaching job.
Duke fans will still get to see Capel at least once every year, but it will be strange to see him on the opposing side considering his major contributions to the Duke program over the past six years.