HeismanWatch
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The dude can recruit for the most part, but can he coach them up?
Can Capel coach basketball at an Elite level?
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Krugerfan52
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I'd say winning 30 games with basically a 7-man rotation is coaching at the elite level.
seniorsooner
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I'd say coaching a team to a 13-18 record and following it up with a season that could quite possibly feature even less wins is not elite level coaching. I'd say going 8-20 over a 28 game span is not elite level coaching.
Agree and when he had good years he had a player that would make any coach look elite.
Great question.
In his fifth year at OU...
He had great success with the best player in college basketball and two others that are/were on NBA rosters. He deserves credit for that. I didn't see the International team enough to judge.
He is mediocre with average players or talented players with big egos.
At OU, he is not going to have the best player in college basketball every year or a roster full of even marginal NBA players so he better figure out how to coach the kids he can get.
Frankly, I don't see him as an elite coach now at all and have my doubts about the future as well.
In his fifth year at OU...
He had great success with the best player in college basketball and two others that are/were on NBA rosters. He deserves credit for that. I didn't see the International team enough to judge.
He is mediocre with average players or talented players with big egos.
At OU, he is not going to have the best player in college basketball every year or a roster full of even marginal NBA players so he better figure out how to coach the kids he can get.
Frankly, I don't see him as an elite coach now at all and have my doubts about the future as well.
Sawyer
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I suspect his coaching is fine... if he has the right players. He obviously can recruit when it comes to getting players on campus. His biggest issue (and it plagues a lot of coaches) is getting the RIGHT players on campus. Not all talent is created equal.
For some coaches, it's just a matter of a few down years before the ship is righted (Mike Anderson's first two years at Mizzou were kind of like that). For others, they never quite figure it out, or aren't given the time to do it, and it costs them their career (Quin, who absolutely understands the game inside and out, and he was a good salesman with recruits, but just couldn't put together a quality team).
A lot of coaches make the mistake of thinking they can "fix" a kid with issues. Sometimes you can, but for the most part a guy with issues is just a guy with issues. You can take a shot every now and then, but if you're taking too many chances and do it consistently, you're going to destroy a program. Quin set Mizzou back years and cost himself his college career largely by completely whiffing on the 2001 class (ranked at one point #1 nationally... Robert Whaley, Jeffrey Ferguson, Duane John and Najeeb Echols all had talent, but all were also deeply flawed in one way or another). A few years later when Johnson and Paulding were seniors and MU was a preseason top 5 team, we struggled to maintain a .500+ record and flamed out in the NIT because we had no point guard and no depth. That year's class is VERY similar to what OU brought in last year.
If Capel can keep OU competitive enough this year to avoid getting fired, is able to add enough next season to right the ship and avoids NCAA issues, he can overcome this.
For some coaches, it's just a matter of a few down years before the ship is righted (Mike Anderson's first two years at Mizzou were kind of like that). For others, they never quite figure it out, or aren't given the time to do it, and it costs them their career (Quin, who absolutely understands the game inside and out, and he was a good salesman with recruits, but just couldn't put together a quality team).
A lot of coaches make the mistake of thinking they can "fix" a kid with issues. Sometimes you can, but for the most part a guy with issues is just a guy with issues. You can take a shot every now and then, but if you're taking too many chances and do it consistently, you're going to destroy a program. Quin set Mizzou back years and cost himself his college career largely by completely whiffing on the 2001 class (ranked at one point #1 nationally... Robert Whaley, Jeffrey Ferguson, Duane John and Najeeb Echols all had talent, but all were also deeply flawed in one way or another). A few years later when Johnson and Paulding were seniors and MU was a preseason top 5 team, we struggled to maintain a .500+ record and flamed out in the NIT because we had no point guard and no depth. That year's class is VERY similar to what OU brought in last year.
If Capel can keep OU competitive enough this year to avoid getting fired, is able to add enough next season to right the ship and avoids NCAA issues, he can overcome this.
MercedeSooner
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Nobody can answer yes to that question right now because Capel hasn't shown anything close to elite coaching ability to this point yet. The problem is and what should be clear to everyone is that Capel wasn't ready for this type of job yet in his career. Capel clearly is learning a lot of tough lessons on the job and us as Oklahoma fans are stuck in the learning process along with him.
Say what you want but what has happened at OU seems very similar to the implosions of fellow Coach K's assistant alum's Quin Snyder and Tommy Amaker. Initial success along with great recruiting classes with both situations eventually blowing up in both's coaches faces showing their extreme flaws as coaches. In fact out of all the ex-Duke Coaches the only one I can think of that has had reasonable success is Mike Brey at ND.
Say what you want but what has happened at OU seems very similar to the implosions of fellow Coach K's assistant alum's Quin Snyder and Tommy Amaker. Initial success along with great recruiting classes with both situations eventually blowing up in both's coaches faces showing their extreme flaws as coaches. In fact out of all the ex-Duke Coaches the only one I can think of that has had reasonable success is Mike Brey at ND.
thebigabd
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Hahahahahahaha... ya, real hard to win 30 games when you have literally the best player in college basketball and arguably the most promising young power forward on the planet on your team. His under .500 record without a freak like Blake Griffin (who is currently dominating the best players in the world as a rookie) speaks volumes.
How did that work out for Rick Barnes with Durant? How about Frank Martin with Beasley? Or John Calipari with Wall?
Or Erik Spoelstra?
The "he can only win because of the best player" argument is ridiculous.
thebigabd
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The numbers suggest otherwise... but, he also had some holdovers from the previous regime in Austin Johnson, Tony Crocker, Taylor Griffin, etc that blended with Blake to form a good team.
Right, and Capel had nothing to do with the development of Longar Longar, Austin Johnson, Tony Crocker and Taylor Griffin, did he?
And furthemore, Capel played no part in making that team as good as they were, right?
Yeah, all that just happened on its own
DenverSooner
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He had Sampsons players and Blake Griffin. That year was great but I don't give Capel a free pass for one good season. I am much more concerned with two losing Big XII season a 9-7 season and what certainly looks like another losing season this year.
Big Old Booger
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He can recruit so well that the best player he's recruited that didn't leave early to be a lottery pick is Cade Davis. No knock on Cade, I think he's a fine representative of our state and university, but if he's the 2nd best player you have recruited then you should either be working for UCO, or out of a job in a few years.
Everybody wants to point to TMG, Tiny, WW, and all these other burger boys, but fact is they did nothing at OU and weren't here long enough to warrant Capel getting any credit for bringing them here. Heck, I'd say they did more damage to the program than they did good.
90% of this other recruits didn't even make it to year 2 or 3 and some were just flat out stiffs who didn't deserve a D1 scholarship (Orlando Allen, Ray Willis, etc.).
Sampson, Tubbs, and Bliss were by no means stellar recruiters, but they won games with the players they brought in. That's something Capel hasn't proven he can do, sans Blake Griffin who grew up 30 minutes from the OU campus, and his brother was already a member of the team.
So, let's hold off on saying "he can definitely recruit" until his recruits hang around long enough to make a positive impact.
NickZepp
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Yeah although Warren was the 2nd best player he recruited. But I agree with this assessment. It could be his coaching being bad instead of his recruiting though.
DenverSooner
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Right, and Capel had nothing to do with the development of Longar Longar, Austin Johnson, Tony Crocker and Taylor Griffin, did he?
And furthemore, Capel played no part in making that team as good as they were, right?
Yeah, all that just happened on its own
The only times longer longer got significant minutes prior to Capel he performed well. I know many failed to recognize longer would be goo but it was obvious the kid could score points. He was a top 100 recruit and had done it before Capel arrived. Johnson started as a freshman. How exactly did Tony Crocker develop?
Capel is failing at an alarming rate. In just five years he will post 3 of the worst seasons in OU history and one season that was average at best. ou is not a program that celebrated seasons that were one game above .500 in conference play. now people act. Like that is some great accomplishment.
