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April 12, 2018

After waiting for something, anything regarding Jeff Capel’s coaching staff; two assistants named at last. Jason Capel and Tim O’Toole.

O’Toole joins Pitt after spending the last two seasons as an associate head coach at University of California, Berkeley. He has also worked as an assistant coach at eight different programs over the last 30 years. Before California, O’Toole was an assistant at Stanford from 2014 to 2016 and spent the 2013-14 season in the same position at Syracuse under Jim Boeheim.

In his only head coaching stint at Fairfield from 1998 to 2006, O’Toole amassed a 112-120 record and made one appearance in the NIT tournament in 2003.

Capel’s brother, Jason, first came to prominence during his college career playing at North Carolina. In his time at Chapel Hill, Capel averaged at least nine points per game in each of his four seasons. He starred for the Tar Heels in his senior season averaging 15.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.

After spending time playing professionally overseas, Capel spent time as an assistant coach at Appalachian State during the 2009-2010 season, then as head coach of the program from 2010-2014. He hasn’t held a coaching position since Appalachian State decided not to renew his contract in 2014.

I’m sure the hiring of his younger brother will raise some eyebrows.

Jeff Capel has been working for ESPNU and Raycom calling ACC basketball games for the last few years. Something he had also been doing prior to joining the staff at Appalachian State. His time at ASU wasn’t a rousing success, but it wasn’t an abject disaster. He was only 30 when he became the head coach at ASU. He was fired at ASU as much because the Mountaineers were moving from the Southern Conference up to the Sun Belt Conference — where they have yet to finish above .500.

Jason Capel should be a very good recruiter for Pitt. Given the family coaching history, there’s no reason to think he won’t be a solid asset for the program. Plus, he is very familiar with the entire ACC.

O’Toole is the interesting and sneaky good one. He’s 54, but with 30 years of coaching experience. He has coached at Duke, Syracuse and for the last few years on the West Coast at Stanford and Cal.

The frenetic, energetic O’Toole has coached the Bears’ big men since being brought over from Stanford in the wake of the firing of Yann Hufnagel following the 2015-16 season. Once the head coach at his alma mater, Fairfield, from 1998 to 2006, O’Toole became Wyking Jones’s associate head coach when he took over for Cuonzo Martin a year ago.

O’Toole was very well-liked among Cal players for not only his experience and insight, but his tireless energy on the court during practice. He was also dogged on the recruiting trail. Losing O’Toole is a big blow, as the Bears are looking for another pair of big men to fill out the 2018 class…

While O’Toole is clearly the experienced, older coach who will be vital to both the development and advising Capel in-game situations. The fact that he is a hard-working recruiter should not be overlooked. Fans of Cal — which actually was behind Pitt in the KenPom rankings after the season — are not thrilled to be losing O’Toole, who seemed to be one of the few good things in that program.

O’Toole was an assistant at Duke when Capel played there, and was one of the last assistants hired by Krzyzewski who wasn’t a former Duke player.

Final thing to toss in, from The Athletic:

MARK [GODICH] It wouldn’t be the offseason without coaching news. Chris Mack at Louisville, Jeff Capel at Pitt, Tom Crean at Georgia, just to name three. Which hire are you must intrigued by?

BRIAN [HAMILTON] I’m fascinated to see how swiftly Capel can build something out of almost nothing at Pitt. You’re recruiting to a place that just went an entire ACC season without winning a league game, but that means you can sell copious playing time right from the start.

DANA [O’NEIL] I’m with Brian — Capel is starting from dust — but I’m also curious to see how Chris Mack does at Louisville. There’s still so much unsettled with the Cardinals that he deserves a mulligan, but the fan base doesn’t do patience well.

 

 





I’m a little squeamish about the brother thing but I think we give the guy a chance to set up the staff the way he wants it. Ultimately, he’s responsible for the success or failure of the team so he’d better choose wisely. I figure they’ve got some development ahead with the young leftovers and new recruits.

I sure hope these guys can recruit like a banshee…

Comment by The Hagen 04.12.18 @ 8:44 am

Hagen – Why? Dan Hurley had his brother on his staff at RI too, with even less experience coaching than Jason. I love families where coaching runs thru their veins. It’s in their blood.

Comment by Tossing Thabeets 04.12.18 @ 9:34 am

I’m intrigued by these assistants and guess the plan might be the Capel Brothers working the East ( and ACC turf ) for future and fill-in players for this upcoming season while Coach O’Toole might cover the West and specialize in BIG men………… something Pitt has had a shortage of.

I believe Coach Capel still has one other spot to fill on his Staff. Am I correct??

In these cases…… I follow my own cliche: “In Coach We Trust”

Comment by Mtoolmn 04.12.18 @ 9:41 am

TT, I am old school and sometimes the nepotism thing can backfire. I did remember the Capel post regarding his father and the basketball heritage in that house. That gives me hope. This is hios 3rd go-round and I have to have faith that he learned some stuff on the 1st 2 and from Coach K so I’m good with the brother. O’Toole is a very intriguing hire.

Comment by The Hagen 04.12.18 @ 10:12 am

Like the O’toole hire, should help us against Notre Dame.

Comment by spiritofsec22 04.12.18 @ 12:00 pm

Suzie M. hired her sister, how did that work out?
Who is our new coach looking out for, the team or his brother?
This should not have been allowed to happen.

Comment by Pitt Dreamer 04.12.18 @ 2:04 pm

LOL – So dramatic. What does women’s basketball have to do with men’s basketball or Suzie have to do with Capel or Suzie’s sister have to do with Capel’s brother?

It’s not uncommon to have family members on the same staff. Jason Capel has coaching experience and several years playing in and covering the ACC. If it wasn’t a coaching family, I’d be a little more hesitant but this appears on the up and up.

Seth Greenburg said Capel should hire Jay Williams. That would be a great addition.

Comment by Tossing Thabeets 04.12.18 @ 2:17 pm

Hagen – Capel was successful at both VCU and OK. His record dipped at OK when his assistant was implicated in the scandal and he lost a recruiting class. Some of the anti-Capel crowd are a little too concerned about that dip being associated with coaching acumen when it had more to do with the fall out of NCAA violations. That, I feel, is fair game a legit concern. At this point all you can do is hope that he learned his lessons and that Heather, with her compliance background, did her due diligence to ensure it won’t happen again. With regards to on the court coaching ability, I don’t have any concerns based on his track record.

Comment by Tossing Thabeets 04.12.18 @ 2:25 pm

Tossing, you are absolutely right again, nothing will happen here, I am sorry I got so dramatic.
We are on our way to the NCAA’s.

Comment by Pitt Dreamer 04.12.18 @ 2:51 pm

I like the hires. Both check off a lot of boxes with experience and recruiting. If you were ok with hiring Capel in the first place, you’ve got to give him some space to hire who he thinks will help him be successful. Both have good experience in top programs either with coaching or playing, both know our current recruiting area and should be able to expand it. If he just wanted to give his brother a job he would make him the video editor or something like that. Pitt Dreamer – there are days you make it real hard to believe you just aren’t a troll. Why search so hard for the negatives?

Comment by AnotherClancyrebound 04.12.18 @ 3:25 pm

If my math is correct, Pitt has 7 scholarships for this year.
Peace, Samson, Frame, Davis, Stevenson, Brown are on board.
2 recruits have been released and the rest of last year’s team has graduated or requested transfer. It is time to move on.

After a quick look at a list of this years transfers I saw a few interesting names:

Michael Finke (IL, grad transfer) 6’10” stretch 4/5
Sacha Killeya-Jones (KY, SO) 6’10” 4/5
Malik Martin (USF, grad transfer) 6’11” 4/5
Trey Porter (ODU, grad transfer) 6’11” C
Kassoum Yakwe (SJU, grad transfer) 6’7” PF
Jalyn Patterson (LSU, grad transfer) 6’1” PG
Davion Mitchell (Aub, FR) 6’1” PG
Brady Ellingson (Iowa, grad transfer) 6’4″ SG
Kameron McGusty (OK, SO) 6’5″ SG
Xavian Stapleton (Miss St, grad transfer) 6’6″ SG
Dion Wiley (MD, grad transfer) 6’4″ SG
DeSean Murray (Aub, grad transfer) 6’4″ SF

Comment by xfmrman 04.12.18 @ 4:04 pm

Why is Capel allowing the returning players so long to make up their mind? he needs to start adding some talent as August is not far off.

Comment by Biff 04.12.18 @ 6:55 pm

I guess this means Knight is staying put good for him and good for us. We need proven recruiters. Hopefully that is what we are getting.

Comment by gc 04.12.18 @ 8:16 pm

Biff – My guess is the players in limbo have until he hires a complete staff to make a fully informed decision.

Comment by Tossing Thabeets 04.12.18 @ 8:30 pm

Please don’t knock Knight’s recruiting. Rutgers is a clean program as was PITT while Knight was with Dixon. Guys, Rutgers is winning games with the recruits Knight and the coaching staff are bringing in!!!!

With all the cheating going on, winning is not easy when you are honest.

Comment by The Grandfather 04.12.18 @ 10:38 pm

Anotherclancyrebound–
I am not a fan of nepotism and initially was put off by the hire. In the regular work place it usually causes big problems but Tossing pointed out thoughts that made me think it may not be so bad and could work out well for the program.

Comment by Pitt Dreamer 04.12.18 @ 11:45 pm

Comment by xfmrman 04.13.18 @ 2:19 pm

I was initially underwelmed by the hires, but after reading a little about Tim O’Toole and Jason Capel I’m warming up to things. First and foremost, whoever is on the staff has to be good at recruiting. Rebuilding the Pitt basketball program is not something that going to happen overnight.

Comment by Justinian 04.13.18 @ 9:30 pm

I just hope Capel’s brother can recruit and that he has some good ACC high school ties.

Comment by Jackagain 04.14.18 @ 12:57 pm

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