NCAA Basketball: Ohio State and George Mason headlines latest Sunday Mailbag

Will Jeff Capel make it through the season? – Erik Mauro (@mauro_erik)

I am really against firing coaches during the season and that goes for Jeff Capel at Pittsburgh. Let’s not pretend like Capel is going to be able to save his job. I guess, at least barring a miracle Pitt is going to be looking for a new coach as the team has been dreadful under Capel. The Panthers have not been good under their current regime and the most telling sign is that Capel is having a heck of a time keeping players in the program.

Full disclosure is I was much higher on Pitt than really anyone else in the country as I really liked their backcourt rotation with budding star Femi Odukale, Nike Sibande, and Ithiel Horton. I also liked the two centers this team has in John Hughley and Mo Gueye. Sibande was lost for the year and Horton was suspended before the season even started. That crushed Pitt’s depth and they currently have on scholarship guard on the roster in Odukale. Firing Capel at mid-season is not going to fix those problems.

It is not yet known if Horton will ever come back and play for the Panthers. If he did that would help massively but Pitt is learning to play with the guys they have on the floor and while they may not win a lot anything, they can get out of this year would be a success. I still think they are better than Boston College and Wake Forest overall. They may even be better than Notre Dame. If they can somehow finish around .500 which is possible then Capel may get another year. It would be a bad decision to fire him mid-season.