I understand why we feel the need to talk about this subject...I mean, it is obviously something to consider as fans. And I understand how people could have different opinions on how a thing like this could play out. But I think it isn't the type of thing that can even be known before things happen. Coach has a good while left here at OU, I think that is pretty clear. Before he is qualified to get big money at a program that is a step up from OU, he simply has to have a longer track record. Remember, there aren't many ADs with the confidence and gumption that Joe C has. Capel is still a young coach with a lot more that has to go on the resume before one of the few programs that could be considered a step up (and there are only a few) could consider him, or at least consider him for the dollars it would take to get him. Plus, those ADs likely don't have the job security of Joe, nor do they have the overlooked luxury of taking that chance at a school where football absorbs so much of the pressure. I do think its reasonable for us to say that Coach is here for the foreseeable future.
But as far as the unforeseeable, I really don't get how any of us can speak definitively about what will or won't happen. A lot depends on what happens in the next few years with the program...will OU continue to build on its success enough to merit its coach being considered elite? If that success occurs, how will that effect Joe's ability to find money for a competitive contract? How will Capel feel differently about Norman, the university, the athletic department, Joe C and David Boren? And even if we somehow knew all of that, it will still boil down to a personal decision that a man has to make about his career and his family. We can't possibly know.
Look, I got in a big argument on the air with Eschbech and Gottleib about Capel the day he was hired. My take at the time was that I thought Joe's plan was to get a guy ahead of his career peak, let him bring energy into the program, enjoy the good years and if the time came that other schools came calling you've got a giant "intangible" in your pocket because your choice to take a chance with Capel accelerated his career path significantly enough that he could find himself in that position. The exact phrase I used was that I thought Joe was looking at Florida as a model for hoops at a football school and that "Capel is Castiglione's shot at Billy Donovan." They tore me a new one and, well, you know how those call ins work I'm sure.
Anyway, in the short term Capel is here and we shouldn't even be thinking about where or when he might not be. And in the long term, we should remain confident that OU is one of the very best programs in the country, that Joe Castiglione and Mike Houck are about as good as they come in the business, that we should be able to compete with most financial offers that may come, and that Capel will have years of living and working in Norman and investing himself into building the program into something special. On top of that, there is something that I'm sure we've all seen in various businesses about when a supervisor takes a chance on a guy and the guy succeeds, there is a feeling of loyalty that tends to exist. All these things should be enough that we don't have to think or worry about when that day comes. If Capel takes another job down the road, it won't be because he hasn't been taken care of or because someone dropped the ball. I would expect it to be a very difficult decision, and whatever he decides, I can't imagine it changing what I think about him. And when or if he does leave, I'd imagine the program will be in good enough shape to bring in someone else who will keep the ball rolling. Tubbs, Sampson, Capel...its a pretty good track record so far...
