Capel told ASU no

[IndySooner]

His next venture as a head coach may be Duke.

Well, at least he won't be "too good" for that job.

 

[Big Old Booger]

This place would meltdown.

I won't meltdown. I would welcome him getting the Duke job to see how he does. If he can't win at Duke then that proves once and for all he's not a good head coach.

To me, you look at his dad and his brother and neither one was successful as a head coach. His dad was a marginal coach, at best, and was probably better served to stay as an asst coach. Jeff is much the same. He's a much better asst coach than head coach. Some people are wired that way. Gary Gibbs was a much better asst coach than a head coach.

I will add, if Capel gets the head coaching job, that says a lot about all the other Coach K disciples who have never won anything. I will be interested to see how Wojo does and Chris Collins. If either of those guys is successful away from Duke, they will be the candidate based on past history. Nobody can just ignore what Capel did at OU and how miserably he failed. I can guarantee you some big Duke donors won't ignore it.

 

[bocabull]

Very best wishes to Jeff Capel. It is wonderful that he is successful as a Duke assistant coach. Jeff is better off at Duke. OU is better off now that that Jeff is at Duke. That is a win-win.

This sums things up perfectly. OU is a totally different type of job than Duke, Kansas, and a few others.

It's a tougher job. A job that takes a lot more than coaching and relating to players. It takes a much more creative approach to recruiting than just scouting the top 50 players in the nation. It's more work. Not for everybody and it wasn't for Capel.

He's fortunate to have it easier at Duke and if he continues bringing in top talent will have a shot at that job. He proved at OU with the right talent he went straight to the elite 8 even at a young age. At Duke & Kansas you have rosters like that or better virtually every year. Taking the ASU job would have been foolish unless he knew there was zero chance of getting the Duke job.

 

[Speedy17]

Funny thing about Coach K assistants and his coaching tree, it really isn't very good. Most have failed miserably, probably the best is Mike Brey at Notre Dame who has been up and down.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...th-wojo-hire-examining-coach-ks-coaching-tree

 

[NickZepp]

What did he run at OU? What was his style of play on defense and offense? That's his big problem when being the head guy. He's pretty much got the best of it at Duke right now. He doesn't have to actually coach players like he did at OU(and very poorly so)

If you go just by recruiting and talent Ford is probably a better coach on paper than Kruger.

 

[Zimwillett]

Definitely a smart move for Capel to turn ASU down as he would have bombed there too. He needs an elite level job like Duke if he's going to ultimately be successful.

He's proven that he can't win without high quality NBA level talent on his roster. What's even worse, he's proven that he can't really evaluate or develop the "plan B" kind of players you'd need if/when you strike out on top recruits at places like OU or ASU. He needs to hold out for a job where he's all but assured to land a McDonalds AA caliber talent or two every year based on the brand name alone.

 

[sperry]

Raw talent-wise, he might have had one of the most talented teams OU has ever put on the court in 09-10, and he coached them to the worst record in the last 30+ years of OU basketball.

Give me a break. That team wasn't even close to the most talented, and its best player was hobbled with injuries all year.

 

[JBaker]

Give me a break. That team wasn't even close to the most talented, and its best player was hobbled with injuries all year.

That team had 3 McDonald's All-Americans, plus top-100 recruits in Crocker, Pledger, and Fitzgerald.

They were a group led by numbskulls with bad attitudes, but raw talent-collection-wise, they're near the top.

 

[Max Power]

Give me a break. That team wasn't even close to the most talented, and its best player was hobbled with injuries all year.

2009-2010 Roster with Rivals Rankings
Rivals Stars Position Rank National Rank
Ryan Wright 4 18 80
Steven Pledger 3 26 121
T.J. Franklin 2 NA NA
Andrew Fitzgerald 4 9 70
Tony Crocker 4 18 80
Tommy Mason-Griffin 4 10 46
Willie Warren 5 4 10
Barry Honre NA NA NA
Orlando Allen 3 NA NA
Ryan Randolph NA NA NA
Tiny Gallon 5 2 9
Kyle Hardrick 3 NA NA
Cade Davis 3 NA NA
Ray Willis 3 15 108
Beau Gerber NA NA NA

Team Record 13-18*
*13 wins vacated so actual record is 0-18

 

[WTSooner]

That team had 3 McDonald's All-Americans, plus top-100 recruits in Crocker, Pledger, and Fitzgerald.

They were a group led by numbskulls with bad attitudes, but raw talent-collection-wise, they're near the top.

Yeah, on paper, that is probably the most talented OU team ever. Don't really see how anybody can disagree with that.

 

[bocabull]

Shows how important PG is in college basketball. Capel bet the farm on TMG and went bust.

Look at all our good teams. Grace, White, Johnson and now Woodard. All steady if unspectacular players, none of whom dominated the ball. Good defenders too.

If we keep climbing the next two seasons it will likely be due to the steady hand of Woodard.

 

[DenverSooner]

Capel is telling people he'll be the next coach at Duke.

That might be the worst job in America and I don't mean Duke, I mean the next coach at Duke. It is very tough to follow a legend.

 

[sperry]

So we're going on paper instead of reality. Okay.


Because it's very clear that none of those guys were even close to as good as their ratings, save Pledger.


Again, Capel's issues were in recruiting, not coaching. When he gets his next job, the question will be, did he learn his lesson? He's a smart guy, so my guess is that yes, he will have learned his lesson and be more realistic about his targets. I also think he won't be going after character issue kids anymore, since doing so set his coaching career back 5 years.




And if Capel got the Duke job, I think he'd absolutely kill it. The top recruits that he went after loved him, they were just never going to pick OU over the Kansas's, Dukes, and North Carolinas of the world. He can actually get those guys to go to Duke, which he has been doing for K these last 5 years.

 

[BCSooners]

So we're going on paper instead of reality. Okay.


Because it's very clear that none of those guys were even close to as good as their ratings, save Pledger.


Again, Capel's issues were in recruiting, not coaching. When he gets his next job, the question will be, did he learn his lesson? He's a smart guy, so my guess is that yes, he will have learned his lesson and be more realistic about his targets. I also think he won't be going after character issue kids anymore, since doing so set his coaching career back 5 years.




And if Capel got the Duke job, I think he'd absolutely kill it. The top recruits that he went after loved him, they were just never going to pick OU over the Kansas's, Dukes, and North Carolinas of the world. He can actually get those guys to go to Duke, which he has been doing for K these last 5 years.

No we're going on raw talent and that group had it in spades. Willie Warren dropped from a lottery pick to the 2nd round not because of lack of talent, but because of his character and development issues. Those came from lack of leadership at the top. Also all I read about at the McD's AA practices were how TMG was killing everybody and nobody could stop him. Tiny Gallson still got drafted even before he was ready and had issues that forced him out of school. So the reality is they had enormous talent but had bad direction.

 

[WTSooner]

So we're going on paper instead of reality. Okay.


Because it's very clear that none of those guys were even close to as good as their ratings, save Pledger.

We don't have any idea how good they would have been on a different team with better coaching.

 

[sperry]

We don't have any idea how good they would have been on a different team with better coaching.

Actually we do. All those guys are playing at C-level foreign leagues. TMG and Tiny probably coudl have been good college players, but Tiny took some cash and had to go pro. TMG was a gang-banger thug who got shown the door. Warren was a good college player when he was healthy.


That's because they aren't that good, nothing to do with Capel.


And again, Coach K's endorsement is pretty much all you need to know.

 

[TakiToki]

If we're comparing talent on paper, I'll take the team with 3 guys picked in the top 12 of the NBA draft (Grant, King, Blaylock) over the team with 3 burger boys.

 

[AdaSooner]

Actually we do. All those guys are playing at C-level foreign leagues. TMG and Tiny probably coudl have been good college players, but Tiny took some cash and had to go pro. TMG was a gang-banger thug who got shown the door. Warren was a good college player when he was healthy.


That's because they aren't that good, nothing to do with Capel.


And again, Coach K's endorsement is pretty much all you need to know.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but I have to agree with those who say that team had more than enough talent to finish better than 14-18 that year.
And, yes, Capel had a lot to do with it.

Coaching was not Capel's biggest problem, though. He was a poor judge of character, perhaps due to his efforts to turn OU into "Duke Southwest" almost overnight. But, above all he was a poor administrator. He didn't have the experience to manage difficult players like TMG, and Tiny to a lesser degree. Our three burger boys were at odds with each other that entire season, and Jeff appeared to be powerless to do anything about it. The result: Two of the worst seasons in OU basketball history.

I said back then that if Capel had surrounded himself with a solid staff of assistants, he might have survived those two years. Then again, I was told he was such a control freak, he wouldn't listen to anyone. That included Mark Cline, who was indeed an outstanding assistant coach. We all know that what Taliaferro did was the final nail in the coffin for Jeff. Fair or not, he was ultimately responsible.

Having said all of that, I think Capel has the basic qualities to be a good coach someday. He's obviously bright, likeable when he wants to be, articulate and impressive in the way he presents himself. That's what makes him a good recruiter. The question is did he learn from the mistakes he made at OU? If he continues to point the finger at someone else and refuses to accept responsibility for his errors in judgment, I have my doubts if he will ever reach his full potential as a coach.

 

[garyeb2]

Actually we do. All those guys are playing at C-level foreign leagues. TMG and Tiny probably coudl have been good college players, but Tiny took some cash and had to go pro. TMG was a gang-banger thug who got shown the door. Warren was a good college player when he was healthy.


That's because they aren't that good, nothing to do with Capel.


And again, Coach K's endorsement is pretty much all you need to know.

You are exactly right about the talent level. You are wrong about all we need to know.

What we need to know and what we do know is what he did here. He, due to his arrogance, alienated the fan base, the media, the alumni, donors, the administration, and athletic support staff. He was lazy. He never made it into the basketball office till after 9:00.

He dismantled and discredited a proud basketball program and left us on probation. The Capel hire was a mistake.

 

[vbdad]

He must be convinced he will get the Duke job. He could get it from ASU but he would have to be successful which isn't guaranteed.