The Mike Krzyzewski coaching tree will extend to the Pittsburgh Panthers after all. Reports broke on Tuesday that top Duke assistant Jeff Capel will be hired as the next coach of the Panthers, concluding an extended coaching search in Pittsburgh.
Hours after reports that two potential hires — St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt and Buffalo coach Nate Oates — were out of the running, reports from various sources pointed to Capel as the next coach of the Panthers. Evan Daniels of 247Sports reported it’s a 7-year deal for the now-former Blue Devils coach, giving him ample job security.
In Capel, the Panthers get Duke’s top assistant and someone who stepped in as interim head coach for Duke when Coach K missed time with back surgery. Capel has been at Duke for seven seasons and his experience in the ACC figures to be a help for a Pitt team that went winless in conference this past season.
As many have pointed out, the hire lands Pitt one of the top recruiters in the country and forces Coach K to shuffle his staff to try and replace his best recruiter. Duke has landed the top class in the country four out of the last five years, per 247 Sports’ class rankings including the monstrous and historic 2018 class, and Capel has had his hand in much of that success.
He’ll have plenty of work to do, as former Pitt coach Kevin Stallings has essentially sent the program adrift. Capel replaces Stallings, who was fired after two seasons at the helm. Stallings went 16-17 in his first year with the Panthers, but finished 8-24 this season and didn’t win an conference game in 2017-18.
