OT: Jeff Capel’s Contact Buyout a Factor in Whether He’ll Return to Pitt for Fifth Season

[tcf15]

Timing of this post couldn't be any better.

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With two games left in the regular season, Pitt sits with an overall record of 11-18 and 6-12 in the ACC. In four seasons with Pitt, Capel’s teams have records of 14-19 (3-15 in ACC), 16-17 (6-14 in ACC), 10-12 (6-10 in ACC) and 11-18 (6-12 in ACC). That’s a combined record of 51-66 overall and 21-52 (.292) in conference play.

But beyond the winning or losing, perhaps the biggest issue when it comes to whether or not Heather Lyke and Pitt will decide to make a change will be financial. Pittsburgh Sports Now has learned that Capel’s buyout after this season would be a hefty $15 million. Next season, that number drops down to $5 million.

 

[Pgh2Storrs]

Breaks my heart.

 

[UconnU]

I was looking to see who they have coming in next year it looks like they have no 2022 recruits?

Pittsburgh 2022 Basketball Commits

Pittsburgh

247sports.com

 

[UConn Dan]

you hate to see it

 

[awfuldan]

How the hell did Capel get a contract extension?? For going 10-12 in 2020?

 

[HobokenHusky]

Could be us if Hurley chose Pitt. Terrifying.

 

[UConn Esq]

I'll take, "dodging a bullet" for $1,000, Alex...

 

[aburks41]

Could be us if Hurley chose Pitt. Terrifying.

We would not have gotten Capel though. Oats or Mussleman would likely have been the guy

 

[seeya27]

So it comes down to which is more important: keeping Capel & accepting an impotent recruiting year thus saving $10 million. OR, change the culture immediately.

What will they do? What will they do?

 

[Tyler2Rings]

How bad is Pitt going to be next year if the AD doesn't bite the bullet?

 

[Pudge]

We would not have gotten Capel though. Oats or Mussleman would likely have been the guy

you really are a dreamer

Hurley knew - to the core of his northeast roots (incl family) - what this UCONN job could be. Pretty ideal for his background. Oats had that Buffalo exposure; but is a Michigan kid with HS cred. Musselman? What says northeast about Eric Musselman? His dad coaching the Albany Patroons? I don't know the backup choice to Hurley. Watching BC, they haven't known through two cycles. Not UMASS either. In fact, we just exposed the top candidate for all northeast P5 and upper hoop schools with the Northeast ties. Maryland is in the market; I GUESS PITT. Georgetown. It would be odd for Maryland to reach to an assistant. But: Kimani Young on deck.

Having said that ... I am curious why Bobby Hurley went to Arizona State.

 

[MDHuskFan]

Pitt chose Jeff over Hurley didn’t they? (According to their fan bases revisionist history)

 

[August_West]

Could be us if Hurley chose Pitt. Terrifying.

We would never have hired capel. But Pitt was very very close to getting Hurley.

 

[BGesus4]

I’m not sure anybody would’ve been successful in that Pitt job. I don’t see a clear path to success there given where they sit in the ACC hierarchy

 

[storrsroars]

I was looking to see who they have coming in next year it looks like they have no 2022 recruits?

Pittsburgh 2022 Basketball Commits

Pittsburgh

247sports.com

This is correct.

Capel did have two 4-star guards in Judah Mintz and Jalen Hood-Schafino, but both decommited. Thus they're playing this year without a true PG and looks like they'll do so next year unless they get one from the portal.

Hugley is a pretty good 5 and Horton a decent SG (has only played 10 games). Both should be back, so at least there's some nucleus if they do get a PG.

 

[uconngb]

Pitt/Cuse/BC……basketball supremacy in the ACC

 

[rip7774]

Are we recruiting Mintz??

only saw him once shot it well and played real, real hard. Seemed like he handled solid too, but again only saw for a few mins.

 

[willie99]

Bet they miss Jamie Dixon now

Just like Cinci misses the Leprechaun

Just like we miss Ollie






Levity people, levity

 

[NJHoops]

you really are a dreamer

Hurley knew - to the core of his northeast roots (incl family) - what this UCONN job could be. Pretty ideal for his background. Oats had that Buffalo exposure; but is a Michigan kid with HS cred. Musselman? What says northeast about Eric Musselman? His dad coaching the Albany Patroons? I don't know the backup choice to Hurley. Watching BC, they haven't known through two cycles. Not UMASS either. In fact, we just exposed the top candidate for all northeast P5 and upper hoop schools with the Northeast ties. Maryland is in the market; I GUESS PITT. Georgetown. It would be odd for Maryland to reach to an assistant. But: Kimani Young on deck.

Having said that ... I am curious why Bobby Hurley went to Arizona State.

Mainly because he wanted out of Buffalo after the school went public with “confirmation” of a contract extension to keep him there that hadn’t happened yet. He didn’t appreciate the way it was handled and had the opportunity to move on. Bobby is not as much of a northeast guy as his brother. Bobby and his family were living in Florida when Dan hired him to join him at Wagner.

Dan staying at Rhode Island was more likely than him taking the Pitt job at the time. There were only a handful of schools he would have moved on to.

 

[auror]

Pitt's good at football right now, so they'll probably just save the $10 million since no one will care anyways. They're not going to hire anyone that will bring people to the seats in year 1 (to cut the net losses) anyways.

 

[navery12]

 

[CL82]

Mainly because he wanted out of Buffalo after the school went public with “confirmation” of a contract extension to keep him there that hadn’t happened yet. He didn’t appreciate the way it was handled and had the opportunity to move on. Bobby is not as much of a northeast guy as his brother. Bobby and his family were living in Florida when Dan hired him to join him at Wagner.

Dan staying at Rhode Island was more likely than him taking the Pitt job at the time. There were only a handful of schools he would have moved on to.

Rhode Island worked hard to try and keep him. They loved the guy and Dan and Andrea loved it there. That’s a great situation to be in but it was time for Hurley to move up and move on.

Dan really seem to have an appreciation of Connecticut’s history and its continued potential as a national program. He’s the right guy at the right time for us, and Connecticut is the right place for him. What were the other schools he would’ve left for?