After waiting for something, anything regarding Jeff Capel’s coaching staff; two assistants named at last. Jason Capel and Tim O’Toole.
O’Toole joins Pitt after spending the last two seasons as an associate head coach at University of California, Berkeley. He has also worked as an assistant coach at eight different programs over the last 30 years. Before California, O’Toole was an assistant at Stanford from 2014 to 2016 and spent the 2013-14 season in the same position at Syracuse under Jim Boeheim.
In his only head coaching stint at Fairfield from 1998 to 2006, O’Toole amassed a 112-120 record and made one appearance in the NIT tournament in 2003.
Capel’s brother, Jason, first came to prominence during his college career playing at North Carolina. In his time at Chapel Hill, Capel averaged at least nine points per game in each of his four seasons. He starred for the Tar Heels in his senior season averaging 15.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.
After spending time playing professionally overseas, Capel spent time as an assistant coach at Appalachian State during the 2009-2010 season, then as head coach of the program from 2010-2014. He hasn’t held a coaching position since Appalachian State decided not to renew his contract in 2014.
I’m sure the hiring of his younger brother will raise some eyebrows.
Jeff Capel has been working for ESPNU and Raycom calling ACC basketball games for the last few years. Something he had also been doing prior to joining the staff at Appalachian State. His time at ASU wasn’t a rousing success, but it wasn’t an abject disaster. He was only 30 when he became the head coach at ASU. He was fired at ASU as much because the Mountaineers were moving from the Southern Conference up to the Sun Belt Conference — where they have yet to finish above .500.
Jason Capel should be a very good recruiter for Pitt. Given the family coaching history, there’s no reason to think he won’t be a solid asset for the program. Plus, he is very familiar with the entire ACC.
O’Toole is the interesting and sneaky good one. He’s 54, but with 30 years of coaching experience. He has coached at Duke, Syracuse and for the last few years on the West Coast at Stanford and Cal.
The frenetic, energetic O’Toole has coached the Bears’ big men since being brought over from Stanford in the wake of the firing of Yann Hufnagel following the 2015-16 season. Once the head coach at his alma mater, Fairfield, from 1998 to 2006, O’Toole became Wyking Jones’s associate head coach when he took over for Cuonzo Martin a year ago.
O’Toole was very well-liked among Cal players for not only his experience and insight, but his tireless energy on the court during practice. He was also dogged on the recruiting trail. Losing O’Toole is a big blow, as the Bears are looking for another pair of big men to fill out the 2018 class…
While O’Toole is clearly the experienced, older coach who will be vital to both the development and advising Capel in-game situations. The fact that he is a hard-working recruiter should not be overlooked. Fans of Cal — which actually was behind Pitt in the KenPom rankings after the season — are not thrilled to be losing O’Toole, who seemed to be one of the few good things in that program.
O’Toole was an assistant at Duke when Capel played there, and was one of the last assistants hired by Krzyzewski who wasn’t a former Duke player.
Final thing to toss in, from The Athletic:
MARK [GODICH] It wouldn’t be the offseason without coaching news. Chris Mack at Louisville, Jeff Capel at Pitt, Tom Crean at Georgia, just to name three. Which hire are you must intrigued by?
BRIAN [HAMILTON] I’m fascinated to see how swiftly Capel can build something out of almost nothing at Pitt. You’re recruiting to a place that just went an entire ACC season without winning a league game, but that means you can sell copious playing time right from the start.
…
DANA [O’NEIL] I’m with Brian — Capel is starting from dust — but I’m also curious to see how Chris Mack does at Louisville. There’s still so much unsettled with the Cardinals that he deserves a mulligan, but the fan base doesn’t do patience well.