As he starts to kick his Panthers program into high gear
When former Duke star and Mike Krzyzewski assistant Jeff Capel took the Pitt job, he didn’t get off to a fast start. His first four years the Panthers were 14-19, 16-17, 10-12 and 11-21. And at one point, several players left or were asked to leave and it seemed like the wheels might be coming off of his program.
Didn’t quite turn out that way - over the last two seasons, Pitt has finished 24-12 and 22-11 and on Wednesday, A.D. Heather Lyke, who publicly expressed confidence in Capel after his 11-21 season in 2021-22, rewarded him with an extension Wednesday that should keep him at Pitt through 2029-30.
Capel said this when the news broke: “There were some things that I said after year four that I really regretted. I regret it now. I apologized to the guys who came back from that team. We believed in each other and we believed in what we were doing.”
“I love the fact that we stayed the course, put our head down and we worked. We were able to get the right pieces and coach them really hard and show them love.”
For her part, Lyke said this about Capel: “When Coach Capel initially arrived at Pitt in 2018, he was tasked with one of the most difficult rebuilding jobs in all of college basketball. Jeff fully embraced that challenge from the outset and never wavered from his lofty vision for our players and program. Brick-by-brick, he built a rock-solid foundation that has Pitt basketball poised for a championship future. Jeff is an outstanding leader well beyond the court and we are highly fortunate to have him representing the University of Pittsburgh. I’m incredibly pleased to announce this extension of his contract and look forward to the continued ascendance of Pitt basketball under his direction.”
It took a little while to turn the ship around but he has it moving in the right direction now. It’s going to be exciting to see what the Capels - Jeff and his brother Jason - can do now.
