Episode Details

Jeff Capel enters his sixth season at the University of Pittsburgh after being announced as the 16th men’s basketball head coach in program history March 28, 2018. Capel owns a 237-191 record as a head coach at Pitt (2018-present), Oklahoma (2006-11), and VCU (2002-06) with four NCAA Tournament appearances, including an Elite Eight trip with Oklahoma in 2008. He has been instrumental in the development of 18 first-round picks in the NBA Draft during his coaching tenure, including 10 lottery picks. Capel has also recruited 23 McDonald’s All-America selections and helped build six top-10 recruiting classes. Capel began his coaching career as an assistant to his father, Jeff Capel, at Old Dominion for the 2000-01 season. His father had a distinguished coaching career in the NBA with the Charlotte Bobcats (2004-11) and Philadelphia 76ers (2011-13), as well as in the college ranks at Wake Forest (1986-89), Fayetteville State (1989-93), North Carolina A&T (1993-94) and Old Dominion (1994-2001). Following his collegiate career at Duke, Capel played professionally for two years. He spent the 1997-98 season with the CBA’s Grand Rapids Hoops. In 1999-00, he played in France before returning to Grand Rapids. Capel served as a team captain in both 1996 and 1997 and earned third team All-ACC accolades as a junior in 1996. He made an immediate impact at Duke and was a four-year starter for the Blue Devils, leading the team to 83 wins and a trip to the 1994 national championship game. He racked up 1,601 points, 433 assists and 220 three-point field goals, finishing among Duke’s career leaders in minutes played, three-point field goals made, three-point field goal percentage and assists. A standout prep performer, Capel was named the 1993 North Carolina High School Player of the Year after leading Fayetteville South View to a 31-1 record and a state championship. Capel graduated from Duke with a B.A. in history in 1997. He and his wife, Kanika, married in 2003. They have two daughters, Cameron and Sydney, and a son, Elijah.