Jeff Capel III

Felton Jeffrey Capel III (born February 12, 1975) is an American college basketball coach and former player who is currently the head men's basketball coach at the University of Pittsburgh. He played for Duke University and was a head coach at Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Oklahoma.

Youth Capel is from a basketball family. His father was the late basketball coach Jeff Capel II, former assistant coach for the Charlotte Bobcats and former head coach at Old Dominion University, and his younger brother Jason played basketball at Duke's biggest rival, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was the head basketball coach at Appalachian State University. As a senior at South View High School in Hope Mills, North Carolina, Jeff led his team to the 1993 state championship defeating Charlotte powerhouse South Mecklenburg 53–52 with a last second lay-up. He also set school career records in points (2,066), rebounds (668), and assists (663). He was selected to the CBA All-Rookie Team in 1998. Capel was also drafted in 1997 by the Raleigh Cougars of the USBL. and had another 33 outings for the Grand Rapids Hoops, scoring 8.1 points a contest in the CBA. ), the first losing season at Oklahoma since 1981. The Sooners ended the season with nine straight losses, the longest losing streak at Oklahoma in 41 years.

2010–11 In April 2010, Oklahoma announced the resignation of Capel's assistant Oronde Taliaferro without specifying the reason. There was speculation that it might be related to media reports that Tiny Gallon had received an impermissible extra benefit from Merrill Lynch employee and this was confirmed when subsequently released phone records tied him and Taliaferro and the NCAA confirmed it was investigating.

Five underclassmen left the program in the offseason and Capel was forced to play mostly unheralded leftovers and newcomers. Oklahoma went 14–18, attendance dropped significantly, and Capel was fired in March 2011 after two of the worst back-to-back losing seasons in Oklahoma basketball history. While enjoying a 30-win season and an Elite 8 appearance, Capel's tenure at Oklahoma is generally regarded by Sooner fans as a disappointment. In August 2011, Oklahoma admitted that Taliaferro had committed 2 NCAA violations in the Gallon case; Capel was not implicated in the violations.

Duke University

On May 8, 2011, it was announced that Jeff Capel would be joining the staff of Mike Krzyzewski at his alma mater, Duke University, as an assistant coach. In April 2014, Capel was promoted by Krzyzewski to associate head coach.

On February 2, 2016, Jeff Capel stepped in as head coach for Duke University for one game versus Georgia Tech, due to an illness to Mike Kryzewski, and guided Duke to an 80–71 victory. In January 2017, Capel served as Duke's Acting Head Coach, filling in for Krzyzewski who underwent back surgery.

University of Pittsburgh On March 27, 2018, the University of Pittsburgh announced the hiring of Capel to be the 16th head coach of their men's basketball program. Capel replaced former head coach Kevin Stallings, who led the Panthers to an 0–18 Atlantic Coast Conference record in 2017–18.

On March 6, 2023, Jeff Capel won the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year award after leading Pitt to a 21–10 record with 14 conference wins.

Broadcasting During the 2019 NCAA tournament, Capel signed on with CBS and Turner as a guest TV studio analyst for the first round of the tournament.

Personal life Capel is married to Duke alumna Kanika Réale Blue, daughter of Daniel T. Blue, Jr. They were married in 2003 and have three children.

Head coaching record Oklahoma vacated 13 regular season wins (and 4 conference wins) due to use of an ineligible player during the 2009–10 season.