Time is running out on Jeff Capel.
It should be, anyway. It has to be. This just keeps getting worse.
Viewed as a home run hire five years ago, Capel hasn’t even reached first base. He has barely advanced the once-proud Pitt basketball program since replacing the disaster that was Kevin Stallings.
The latest embarrassment was a 91-60 loss to Michigan on Wednesday night and a 71-67 loss to VCU on Thursday in New York City, a town the Panthers once owned. That came on the heels of a brutal 81-56 home loss to West Virginia. That’s a combined 243-183 if you’re scoring at home. This is Year 5.
I like Capel. I loved the hire. I thought Pitt lucked out, and I thought the program was headed in the right direction after the 79-73 victory over Duke just 22 months ago. That was before internal dissension ruined that team, causing two key players to quit before the ACC tournament, and before more defections and more de-commitments and more off-court fiascos and more losses.
Lots and lots and lots of losses.
The win over Duke on Jan. 20, 2021, improved the Panthers to 8-2 overall, 4-1 in the ACC — the absolute apex of the Capel era — prompting star Justin Champagnie to declare, “Pitt is back.”
Since that night, the Panthers are 14-34 overall, 8-23 in the ACC. Seventeen of those 34 losses were by double digits, six by at least 25 points. Capel is 52-71 overall, 21-53 in the conference.
None of that means he is automatically doomed. Miracles happen. Sudden turnarounds happen. Plus, athletic director Heather Lyke has been known to exercise extreme patience.
If forward John Hugley IV regains his form in time for conference play in what looks to be a manageable ACC, Capel could win enough games to save his job — if indeed his job is in jeopardy. He reportedly has an impressive recruiting class lined up for 2023, for whatever that’s worth.
But would even flirting with .500 be enough? The program is dying. The once-pulsating Petersen Events Center has become a basketball morgue, and every time something seems to go right, it quickly goes wrong.
Latest example: Highly rated recruit Dior Johnson, who appeared to be a late coup for Capel, was suspended last month and will soon stand trial on charges of strangulation (a felony), and simple assault (a misdemeanor). He was the third Pitt player in the past 22 months to be charged with a felony. Charges were dropped or reduced in both other cases.
There just isn’t any traction here, and unless Capel gains some fast, it would probably be best for both sides to move on. Which brings us to a possible solution/last-ditch hope. His name is Brandin Knight, who along with Ben Howland was most responsible for the Pitt basketball renaissance of the early 2000s.
Knight might be the last man in America — at least among those attainable for Pitt — who could immediately pump life into this corpse of a program. He is beloved by fans and boosters alike. His No. 20 was retired more than a decade ago. He has steadily climbed the coaching ladder since then, to the point where he is ready and eminently qualified to be a head coach.
This would not be a reach or a charity case of any sort. Knight, 40, has been hugely instrumental in sparking the resurgence of Rutgers basketball in the Big Ten. He was elevated to associate head coach under Steve Pikiell and continues to shine as a recruiter, a strategist and a leader. The Athletic’s Seth Davis listed Knight among his 40 rising stars under 40 two seasons ago. Knight nearly landed the St. Peter’s job after last season.
It’s his time. And if Pitt doesn’t get him after this season, it might be a long time before they ever get the chance again.
After his team’s magical NCAA tournament run, outgoing St. Peters coach Shaheen Holloway said of Knight, "Any AD would be foolish not to give him an opportunity right now.”
This was Howland to the Asbury (N.J.) Park Press last year: “(Knight’s) honestly ready right now. I try to impress upon him to wait until he gets something where you can win, where you have a chance to win as a head coach.”
One could quibble as to whether this is such a place, but I’m guessing Knight would jump at the chance.
There was rampant speculation whether Capel would make it to his fifth season — until Lyke publicly guaranteed as much. It would have taken a huge buyout to make the move after last season. Davis reported it at $17 million. Pittsburgh Sports Now has reported that the figure is reduced to a much more manageable $5 million or so after this season.
Capel should be granted the rest of this season to save himself. If he can’t, the guy who saved Pitt basketball once before should be given the chance to try again.
It’s an easy call.
Joe Starkey: jstarkey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @joestarkey1. Joe Starkey can be heard on the “Cook and Joe” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.
First Published: November 17, 2022, 4:08 p.m.
