I agree defensively X's and O's he was. On the same token, he'd have to be considered poor offensively X's & O's. Throw in recruiting and that's why I never considered him great. Now talking strictly defense and getting kids to play hard he would be considered great but there is a whole lot more to coaching college than that. To be great I feel you must have the total package.
I don't know if he was as poor offensively as much as he was undermanned. Years when he had multiple scorers, OU was outstanding offensively. OU's best year was the rare time they had a deadly inside outside combo. Those three Hollis years, and the year OU had Terrell, Bookout, and Gray, they were very solid offensively. When he recruited poorly, he took the air out of the ball, ran the offense through one guy, generated points by having all players crash the offensive boards and emphasized tough, conservative halfcourt defense. The biggest X and O problem he had was not adjusting to the Kelvin drought when the teams would go ice cold and trying to find an easy way to score.
LOL, so now you are agreeing with my original point. Great coaches get their teams to defend at a high level regardless of the level of talent.
My point to you is there's a difference between team defense and individual defense. This year, OU played some good team defense and some poor team defense. OU had games when they played solid team defense. Even in some of those games, WW got lost on switches and screens. Also, to my point, UNC throughout the year was known as a horrible team defensively and it was deserved. Ty Lawson is a terrible defender and got victimized alot this year. When the Tourney hit, they put on the best defensive display that I saw in the NCAA tournament in years. Now does that mean RW wasnt a great coach until the tourney? NO. What it does mean is those guys didn't have a consistent effort and in Lawson's case, he was just a poor defender. When Capel has a little more capital to pull guys for playing bad, I think we'll have a true indication of what type of defensive coach he is. Also as OU builds a reputation in this league, they'll have leeway to rip flesh like Russell "fleshripper" Robinson, or Tyshawn "Fleshripper Jr" Taylor. If Capel continues with his improvement, OU might have the capital to assault, mug, and rape their opponents like KU did to OU, Rush's, Chalmer's, and Wright's freshman year.