With the Pirates Opening Day game in Detroit postponed a day, let's talk about basketball, specifically, basketball at the University of Pittsburgh.
Pitt introduced its new Head Basketball Coach, Jeff Capel, at a news conference yesterday. Capel was a player at Duke University under Mike Krzyzewski, and head coach at both Oklahoma and Virginia Commonwealth, and, for the last seven years, the Associate Head Coach under Krzyzewski at Duke. The announcement has been greeted positively by the media and even by the unbelievably finicky Pitt Hoops Fan Base, although I have not checked into the comments on some of the more radical Pitt fan sites on social media.
When it was first reported that it was going to be Capel, I expected that the reaction would be "Euww, who wants anybody associated with Duke?" You know, all the people who who reside outside of Durham NC who can't stomach Coach K, Jay Bilas, and just about anyone else associated with what is arguably the best and most successful collage basketball program over the last thirty years. Yeah, who would want that?
Surprisingly, though, this hire seems to be well received and AD Heather Lyke deserves much credit for being able to pull this one off. Apparently, neither she nor the rest of the University athletic department were behaving like the Keystone Kops as many people in the talk radio world were portraying them. And I give much credit to Pitt for staying away from the guy that "the fans" seemed to really want most: Sean Miller. It says something good about Pitt that they chose not to go that particular route.
As we all know, though, being an assistant under a great head coach does not necessarily guarantee success, but it's a good place to start, so let us all hope that this works out well for both Pitt and Jeff Capel.
I will close with an absolute classic call that I heard on The Fan yesterday morning. Morning host Colin Dunlap was talking to "Sam from New Castle" who was, of course bitching and moaning about the hiring of Capel. Among the many of Capel's shortcomings, according to Sam, was that he, Capel, was "known cheater" while at Oklahoma. When Dunlap then asked who Pitt should have hired, Sam's first choice was Rick Pittino. How's that for logic?
Welcome to Pittsburgh, Coach. Enjoy the Primanti sammitches and Iron City's n'at.
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