T1B

Posted: **Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:41 am**

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2404508

Oklahoma is expected to name Virginia Commonwealth coach Jeff Capel as its next men's basketball coach, multiple sources told ESPN.com on Monday night.

A news conference is expected either late Tuesday or Wednesday.

AP Photo/Scott K. Brown
Jeff Capel led Virginia Commonwealth to the CAA title and an NCAA Tournament berth in 2004.
Capel was scheduled to meet with his team Tuesday morning to tell them he has accepted the Sooners job.

Capel was the stealth candidate Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione had been working the past 10 days. Earlier Monday, Wichita State's Mark Turgeon and Miami's Frank Haith, thought to be front-runners for the position, both made it clear they were staying at their respective schools. Regardless, Capel was a target of Castiglione's since Kelvin Sampson announced he was leaving for Indiana two weeks ago.

Capel, 31, led the Rams to the NCAA Tournament in 2004 and the NIT in 2005. The fourth-year VCU coach is considered a rising star in the business and was selected last summer to be an assistant coach with Manhattan's Bobby Gonzalez on the USA World University Games staff led by Villanova's Jay Wright. The United States won the gold medal in Turkey.

VCU finished 19-10, 11-7 in the Colonial Athletic Association this past season.

After the season, Capel agreed to a two-year contract extension that gave him six years on his VCU deal. His record at the school was was 79-41.

Multiple sources told ESPN.com that Capel rated very high when Castiglione and other Oklahoma officials checked him out with high-profile basketball-related people. Oklahoma was looking for a person to lead the Sooners' program long term and was willing to think "out of the box" with Sampson's successor.

Oklahoma's program is at an all-time high with some of the top facilities in the country. Sampson signed his highest-rated recruiting class before he left for Indiana. The Sooners lose seniors Taj Gray, Terrell Everett and Kevin Bookout -- three of their top four scorers. But they return Michael Neal (12.4 points per game), Nate Carter (6 points) and David Godbold (5.7 points), three of the top four guards from last season's 20-9 team (11-5 in the Big 12 and a first-round loser to Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the NCAA Tournament).

Oklahoma is still waiting for an April 21 NCAA infractions hearing on rules violations from 2000-04 dealing with excessive phone calls under Sampson. The school already self-imposed penalties on Sampson (freezing his salary, no July recruiting) as well as cutting scholarships and recruiting visits from the past year.

Capel played at Duke from 1994-97 and is the son of Charlotte Bobcats assistant Jeff Capel, a former head coach at Old Dominion and North Carolina A&T.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.

Posted: **Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:56 am**

I agree.

I heard every name you could throw out there and never his.

Does this mean I have to root for Duke somewhat now? :cry:

Posted: **Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:58 am**

Actually I think it is exciting, Capel is less than a year older than me.

Posted: **Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:08 am**

OUMO wrote:I agree.

I heard every name you could throw out there and never his.

Does this mean I have to root for Duke somewhat now? :cry:

Yes it does.

The North Carolina Oklahoma basketball connection continues as well. :twisted:

Posted: **Tue Apr 11, 2006 10:23 am**

at least Vitale will love us. just like he loves Mis-tah Tommy Amma-keh.

Posted: **Tue Apr 11, 2006 10:25 am**

Believe the Heupel wrote:
OUMO wrote:Actually I think it is exciting, Capel is less than a year older than me.
Yeah, this is the first time a head coach at my alma mater was younger than I am.

Fuckin' A.

<--Charter Member of the Jeff Capel Sunshine Pumper Club.

[rolling stones] what a drag it is getting old[/rolling stones]

Posted: **Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:14 pm**

:P Great Hire

Posted: **Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:38 pm**

Believe the Heupel wrote:
OUMO wrote:Actually I think it is exciting, Capel is less than a year older than me.
Yeah, this is the first time a head coach at my alma mater was younger than I am.

Fuckin' A.

<--Charter Member of the Jeff Capel Sunshine Pumper Club.

Yeah I read you sayin' that elsewhere. :P. My employee asked me just a few minutes ago if Frozen was the guy from my board as well. We discuss the boards at work

. I think we talk about them more than actual work. :?

Posted: **Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:45 pm**

Good for Jeff. The Big 12 must have silently instituted a mandatory rule for one Dukie head coach every year.

Posted: **Tue Apr 11, 2006 2:49 pm**

Beware....just because you play/coach for a legend does not make you a good coach. Bob Knight has one successful protege.....and that guy doesn't really have any. Amaker? Quin? Brey? Now Capel. We'll see. I'll always pull for those guys, though.

Now.....question for the Okies.... I'm a big fan of Rick Barnes and UT (not to worry, I'm always for OU when when the game's at the Cotton Bowl) but now with Duke boy at OU, I'm not sure who to root for.

Posted: **Tue Apr 11, 2006 2:53 pm**

Mustang wrote:Beware....just because you play/coach for a legend does not make you a good coach. Bob Knight has one successful protege.....and that guy doesn't really have any. Amaker? Quin? Brey? Now Capel. We'll see. I'll always pull for those guys, though.

Now.....question for the Okies.... I'm a big fan of Rick Barnes and UT (not to worry, I'm always for OU when when the game's at the Cotton Bowl) but now with Duke boy at OU, I'm not sure who to root for.

This is like the choice between Satan and God man. There should be no question!!!! :wink:

Posted: **Tue Apr 11, 2006 4:15 pm**

Wow...just wow.

This makes no sense to me. Capel has no ties to the Big 12 recruiting base, has never coached in a major conference and, oh by the way, has only six years of coaching experience period. This hiring is so unexpected it's almost like Joe outsourced the coaching search to M. Night Shyamalan.

I'll take a wait-and-see approach because there's no doubt Capel has potential. But I think that our best-case scenario is that he has success and bolts for greener pastures in five to seven years.

Would have liked Turgeon better but in Joe C. I trust.

Posted: **Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:14 pm**

I kinda like the hire. there will be a lot of learning on the job stuff, which means some conference L's for sure. i thkn it will have upside with recruiting and keeping the players we have in the 2006 class.

i'm actually glad it's not Turgeon....so i go back to uncomplicated, untrammelled hatred of KU 80's hoops.

as an aside, now that it's out....my dad who is a longtime donor said he felt that Joe C. was definitely going to try and hire a minority coach. last week he said this. FWIW.

Posted: **Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:18 am**

Believe the Heupel wrote:BTW, according to Rivals Darrell Arthur is now either an OU lean or a "heavy" OU lean and really likes the Capel hiring.

That'd be kind of nice way for Coach Capel to start off his tenure-a commitment from a McD's AA.

Arthur would be a real steal.

Posted: **Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:23 pm**

Coach K's disciples havent been up to snuff. They became Head Coaches a little to early. I think they left the womb to quickly. I think Jeff will do well. He has prior coaching experience and has taken a lesser know school to the dance.

Posted: **Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:47 pm**

Cicero wrote:Coach K's disciples havent been up to snuff. They became Head Coaches a little to early. I think they left the womb to quickly. I think Jeff will do well. He has prior coaching experience and has taken a lesser know school to the dance.

I wouldn't exactly call Capel a Coach K disciple. I would think that his father had more of an influence over his coaching than Coach K. Just sayin'.

Posted: **Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:52 pm**

True. Jeff was never an assistant under Coach K.

Posted: **Wed Apr 12, 2006 3:42 pm**

Cicero wrote:True. Jeff was never an assistant under Coach K.

Father is an assistant for the Bobcats and coached at a number of North Carloina colleges over the years. They are also friends with the Sampsons.

Posted: **Thu Apr 13, 2006 1:25 pm**

Believe the Heupel wrote:
King Crimson wrote:
Believe the Heupel wrote:BTW, according to Rivals Darrell Arthur is now either an OU lean or a "heavy" OU lean and really likes the Capel hiring.

That'd be kind of nice way for Coach Capel to start off his tenure-a commitment from a McD's AA.

Arthur would be a real steal.
Some pretty good news on Arthur from Damion James' mouth tonight. Not "Hot Damn!" news but still pretty good.

Haven't heard it. Clue me in.

Posted: **Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:39 pm**

SunCoastSooner wrote:
Mustang wrote:Beware....just because you play/coach for a legend does not make you a good coach. Bob Knight has one successful protege.....and that guy doesn't really have any. Amaker? Quin? Brey? Now Capel. We'll see. I'll always pull for those guys, though.

Now.....question for the Okies.... I'm a big fan of Rick Barnes and UT (not to worry, I'm always for OU when when the game's at the Cotton Bowl) but now with Duke boy at OU, I'm not sure who to root for.

This is like the choice between Satan and God man. There should be no question!!!! :wink:

Heh.....ok. We'll see. I just like Barnes because he nearly duked it out with Dean Smith once. Anyhow, Capel's dad was coach at Old Dominion and Jeff at VCU...both in Virginia. I don't think they coached any in NC (except Bobcats). But I hope Jeff does well. He was a great player as a freshman and almost peaked too early and didn't live up to expectations. His experience at Duke was not always pleasant. But Castiglione taking a bit of a risk here. Pretty gutty call. Best of luck.

Posted: **Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:41 pm**

I think Capel Sr was at NC A&T or UNC-Greensboro for a bit. I can't remember which one.

T1B

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