NCAA Basketball: Top 10 head coaching hires from the year 2002

9. Jeff Capel III (VCU)

Programs change over time; this is something we’ve seen time and time again. VCU wasn’t a bad program two decades ago, but were certainly not a top-tier mid-major program, nor were they even in the A-10 yet. In 2002, needing to replace Mack McCarthy, who had done decent work across four years, the Rams hadn’t sniffed the NCAA Tournament in six years and were certainly not a regular participant.

The decision was made to promote young assistant Jeff Capel III to the top job. Capel had played at Duke under Mike Krzyzewski less than a decade earlier and was really only beginning his coaching career. After a very brief international playing career, he served under his father as an assistant at Old Dominion before spending a year on the VCU staff. The Rams took a chance on a raw young coach and he set them on the path towards greatness.

In his four seasons at the helm, VCU won nearly 70% of their CAA conference games, winning the regular season and tournament titles in 2004. Capel won 79 games in his four seasons and got the Rams back to the NCAA Tournament. Successors like Anthony Grant and Shaka Smart would build on this success, but Capel certainly helped lay the framework in establishing this program. Meanwhile, Capel departed for Oklahoma to make headlines with Blake Griffin several years later.