NCAA Basketball: 5 head coaches that could be the next Scott Frost in 2022-23
By Joey Loose
Jeff Capel III
To younger or newer college basketball fans, it may be surprised to hear that Pittsburgh was recently one of the better programs in the nation. Under former coach Jamie Dixon, the Panthers appeared in eleven NCAA Tournaments in thirteen years, including an Elite Eight and a pair of Sweet Sixteen runs. Successor Kevin Stallings really struggled before being fired in 2018, but the program hasn’t exactly rebounded in the years since that happened.
Capel is a very good recruiter, having spent time playing and coaching at Duke and having recruited Blake Griffin to Oklahoma. Capel led the Sooners to an Elite Eight in 2009 and also had success as head coach at VCU. The success has not continued at Pittsburgh. Capel is just 51-69 in these last four seasons at the helm, finishing below .500 in each of those years. A team once regularly in the Big Dance hasn’t been higher than 11th in the ACC in the last half-decade.
Stallings bottomed out fast and lasted just two seasons, but how much more patience will the Panthers give for Capel? An impressive recruiter, he certainly isn’t bringing those same level of players to Pittsburgh nor apparently putting them in position to turn this program around again. Capel certainly enters this upcoming season with a much hotter hot seat than anyone else in the ACC. If year five starts trending downwards right off the bat, you have to wonder if Capel even makes it to conference play.