While things are going great for Duke on the hardwood this season, as former Blue Devils guard Jon Scheyer has led the team to a 26-2 mark and is the favorite to be the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, it hasn't been as seamless for two other Duke guards coaching at other programs.
Both Bobby Hurley (Arizona State) and Jeff Capel (Pittsburgh) are on the hottest of hot seats as we near the end of the college basketball regular season.
Arizona State sits just 14-14 overall and 5-10 in the Big 12 in Hurley's 11th season on the bench in Tempe. After leading the Sun Devils to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments in 2017 and 2018, Hurley bounced back from three straight missed tournaments to bring ASU back to the Big Dance in 2023.
But in all those years, Hurley hasn't gotten out of the first round. And now the Sun Devils are staring another three-year streak of missing the tournament in the face, and could finish with a losing overall record for the third straight year, too.
Capel is in his eighth season on the bench at Pitt, and the Panthers, a once proud program, have only made the NCAA Tournament one time during that span, and that was back in 2023. Barring a stunning ACC Tournament Championship, Pittsburgh, at 10-17, will miss the tournament again this year.
Neither Hurley nor Capel is expected to return to their respective programs next season, according to ESPN's Jeff Borzello.
ESPN projects Bobby Hurley and Jeff Capel to be fired at season's end
Borzello cites Hurley's contract being up at the end of this season as an obvious sign that Arizona State will move on.
"When the dust settles on this cycle, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Hurley land on his feet closer to the Northeast," Borzello writes.
Hurley, a legendary former Duke player, found quick success as a head coach at Buffalo before taking the Arizona State job, where he hasn't quite found the recipe to sustain it.
Capel's situation at Pitt is a bit more complicated. He signed a contract extension in 2024 that runs through the 2029-30 season, and Borzello projects his buyout as an eight-figure number. But with only one tournament appearance to his name, it seems likely that the Panthers will be ready to move on.
Capel parlayed a successful run as the head coach at VCU in the early-to-mid 2000s into the Oklahoma job, where he led the Sooners to the 2009 Elite Eight, led by future No. 1 overall pick Blake Griffin.
Capel was let go by the Sooners after back-to-back losing seasons and returned to Duke as an assistant coach under Mike Krzyzewski from 2011-2018 before getting another opportunity as a head coach at Pitt.
Perhaps a return to the Duke bench under Scheyer could be in the cards for Capel if the Panthers decide to let him go at season's end.