ACCBasketballHiring

Jeff Capel III hired as the new Pittsburgh head coach

Duke associate head coach and former VCU and Oklahoma head coach Jeff Capel III has agreed to become the new head coach at Pittsburgh. Capel, who returned to alma mater Duke in 2011, is 162-110 in his career as a head coach.

The Pitt head coaching search has been a wild one to say the least. Kevin Stallings, who was considered by many to be a strange choice two years ago, was fired earlier this month after leading the Panthers to an embarrassing 0-18 ACC record.

A number of notable names have been linked to the Pitt job in the last couple weeks, including Rhode Island‘s Dan Hurley – who took the UConn job instead – and St. Bonaventure‘s Mark Schmidt – who elected to stay put.

Capel gives Pitt an experienced head coach and recruiter. At Oklahoma, he coached eventual #1 overall pick Blake Giffin, but at Duke he has built up a stellar reputation on the recruiting trail.

In the seven years that Capel has been on Mike Krzyzewski‘s staff, the Blue Devils have made a noticeable shift towards one-and-done players thanks to huge recruiting victories. Duke has been at the top of the 247Sports recruiting class rankings for three straight years.

When Krzyzewski had to have back surgery in 2017, Capel coached the Blue Devils to a 4-3 record as interim HC.

One thought on “Jeff Capel III hired as the new Pittsburgh head coach

Comments are closed.