Capel's biggest mistakes as OU's coach

[OUFan79]

Lets hash it out boys and girls. What were they?
:jcapel

 

[Sooner_In_MI]

Oh God, I think it would be cheating if I picked all of them, so I guess I'll go with trying to use Bird as a PG. WTF.

Honorable mention goes to naming Nick Thompson a captain because he posts stuff like this on Twitter:

@nick801thompson
Nicholas Thompson
U can't be a milf unless ur like 30 or older. Jst cause ur attractive and got knocked up when you were younger doesn't make u a milf..

 

[MsProudSooner]

I'll add one that listed. Not having a good 'Plan B' recruit lined up when the superstars commit to other school.

 

[stoopified]

Lets hash it out boys and girls. What were they?
:jcapel

Why? Capel is gone and Kruger is here; time to look forward not backward.

 

[Northbase]

Probably being naive and trusting, which lead to his trusting an assistant coach who was a "slicky" talker. Jeff's a good man. Good people sometimes fall victim to the slick con-men.

 

[thebigabd]

Capel was the worst coach ever and got lucky with Blake Griffin. Any idiot could win with Blake Griffin. Terrible recruiter, terrible coach = worst coaching tenure in the history of Oklahoma basketball.

 

[WTSooner]

Capel was the worst coach ever and got lucky with Blake Griffin. Any idiot could win with Blake Griffin. Terrible recruiter, terrible coach = worst coaching tenure in the history of Oklahoma basketball.

:clap

 

[DenverSooner]

Capel was the worst coach ever and got lucky with Blake Griffin. Any idiot could win with Blake Griffin. Terrible recruiter, terrible coach = worst coaching tenure in the history of Oklahoma basketball.

I agree. His failure to have a back up plan and inability to control the elite players that he did recruit destroyed this program. With that said, I feel really good about things with Lon Kruger in charge. The guy is a good coach and he will turn things around. It might take a couple of years but he will get OU competitive and back to a consistent NCAA team. Then he just needs to make the next step and turn OU into a consistent Sweet 16 team.

 

[bgrch1350]

Its obvious that hiring Coach T. was his biggest mistake.

 

[brumFTW]

 

[ArdmoreSooner]

:ez-roll::ez-roll:

 

[NormanPride]

It's gonna take a good season or two to get rid of all the angst that Felton J built up.

 

[badger]

When reports got out that he was communicating to his assistants via email and not directly, it was the last straw for me. I just completely swore off that era... and started referring to him as "Felton J." instead of Capel, Jeff or anything else...because those reports also revealed that his full name was "Felton J. Capel." Felton. Lol.

Read and get angry here if you already haven't:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsext...ctid=92&articleid=20110315_92_B1_CUTLIN869589

There were many other things... the recruiting failures despite having a top five in the country (sans private schools) budget... I bet you'd love a link to that too:
http://www.cardchronicle.com/2011/3...budget-ranks-among-top-10-nationally-1-in-big

And the NCAA issues that I wished were gone when Kelvin left... and everything that was painfully obvious the day Blake left: Blake made everyone around him, coach included, look better than they actually were.

But the emailing thing was just beyond frustrating. From day one, he was a hands-off coach that seemed more interested in his private life than his public, million-dollar one. How did he try to retain Kelvin's top recruiting class? By calling them. Not in-person visits, calls. And we all know how bad one of those calls went... and if you don't, I bet you'd love to read about it:
http://newsok.com/berry-tramel-dami...article/3347546?custom_click=lead_story_title

Yes, Capel thought he was begging Dameon James to stay a Sooner, but James handed the phone to a relative.

Seeing the efforts Lon is making these days in every aspect makes me detest Felton J's methods even more. No wonder we never saw features on our players in the local media but saw so many from other programs in area, even our women's programs. Know why? BECAUSE THOSE COACHES FOLLOWED UP ON THE MEDIA'S REQUESTS FOR INTERVIEWS!!!!!!

So, anyway, thank you for letting me get all of my Felton J. rage outta my system. I am so happy Lon is here and I am loving how the team is playing so far. I could do with less turnovers, but I could say that in ALL CAPS with a billion exclamation points and a few expletives when talking about the womens' teams turnovers.

I love you Lon. Please don't let me down.

 

[Tydude]

another problem he had was that he didn't connect with the fans and the attendance was very low

 

[NickZepp]

another problem he had was that he didn't connect with the fans and the attendance was very low

This nails it. Seemed like he was almost detached from the program.

 

[Sooner04]

His biggest mistake, in my opinion, was chasing 5-star players with nothing resembling a fallback plan in case those players committed to other schools. His pursuit of those players came at the expense of local talent, who have gone on to contribute at other D-1 programs elsewhere.

 

[Sooner_In_MI]

another problem he had was that he didn't connect with the fans and the attendance was very low

Less than 100 students in attendance at Bedlam last year, 'nuff said.

 

[MNsooner]

He lost control of the team and his assistants. Control them is the most basic thing you expect from your coach.

 

[NickZepp]

He lost control of the team and his assistants. Control them is the most basic thing you expect from your coach.

This is another part of the problem. He not only wasn't really connecting with the fans. He basically didn't seem to even know what his assistants were doing. And the x's and o's of the team were bad. He basically didn't seem like he was apart of the program at all.

 

[CineSooner]

Read and get angry here if you already haven't:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsext...ctid=92&articleid=20110315_92_B1_CUTLIN869589

In that article, Blake mentions how Capel didn't get a fair shot because of all the sanctions he had to deal with. So can someone explain to me how the sanctions hurt Capel? It clearly didn't stop him from recruiting and signing 4 McDonalds All-Americans. I'm really not trying to flame, just legitimately curious as to how the sanctions could be to blame for the mess he caused. Maybe it's just Blake sticking up for his coach, but that just seems like a bad excuse.