Capel...

[dbav]

I don't think it has been posted but I thought a great part of this National Championship was that Capel finally got one. I know he did not as a player or a coach. He was the only assistant on the team right now not to win one as a player if I'm not mistaken.

Congrats to Capel who played with pure heart during his career, and who had such a huge role in bringing us this Championship.

 

[OldasdirtDevil]

I hadn't thought about Capel being the only one that wasn't part of a national championship, Dbav...great observation. He's certainly been a huge part of Duke's success this year, and it's great that he gets his moment to bask in the sun.

OFC

 

[jibip]

Excellent point! Capel's presence has been invaluable in the recent success of this program. No doubt about it!

 

[crazyduke3]

Yeah I was really happy that Jeff got one. He had a chance against Arkansas but... we know how that went.

 

[HuffyJB]

It's terrific that he gets a ring. He was a starter on the '94 runner-up team, but his other three years were generally below-standard finishes and definitely not banner years for a Duke team. He deserves this.

 

[germantondevil]

I still have to say that Coach Capel had one of the sweetest assists in Duke history. It happened when he was a frosh with Grant, Lang, Collins etc. and I cannot even remember who the pass was to but he made a hell of a behind the back pass on the baseline that I can still run through my mind even today, and that says alot considering how old my mind is.

 

[Dattier]

I still have to say that Coach Capel had one of the sweetest assists in Duke history. It happened when he was a frosh with Grant, Lang, Collins etc. and I cannot even remember who the pass was to but he made a hell of a behind the back pass on the baseline that I can still run through my mind even today, and that says alot considering how old my mind is.

I remember Daniel Ewing having one like that in the NCAAT his freshman year. I think it went to Casey Sanders.

 

[Dattier]

I think Capel is going to be the next coach. He's so good recruiting the transition will be as good as we could expect w/ the GOAT retiring.

 

[DukeDenver]

I think Capel is going to be the next coach. He's so good recruiting the transition will be as good as we could expect w/ the GOAT retiring.

That takes care of personnel, but what about coaching? If coack K endorses him, then OK.

 

[Dattier]

I hear he runs a lot of practices, but yeah, it'll be a much bigger move than just sliding over one chair.

 

[DukeDenver]

I hear he runs a lot of practices, but yeah, it'll be a much bigger move than just sliding over one chair.

I agree. I just worry that those last 2 seasons at Oklahoma are indicitive of something. Even with average to good talent, back to back 18 loss seasons is awful.

 

[DutchDevil]

I think this is my favorite memory of Capel!

 

[OldasdirtDevil]

Thanks for posting that, DutchDevil, it's a great memory to revisit.

OFC

 

[df64]

That assist by Capel is one of my all time favorites. Of course, the 3 pt to tie NC is as well.

 

[LTDukeFan]

I think Capel is going to be the next coach. He's so good recruiting the transition will be as good as we could expect w/ the GOAT retiring.

It will be interesting to see what Hurley does at ASU. If he does well there, then I think he sets himself up for consideration.....which I would love to see.

 

[aah555]

I agree. I just worry that those last 2 seasons at Oklahoma are indicitive of something. Even with average to good talent, back to back 18 loss seasons is awful.

I think Jeff's clearly up for the job of recruiting at Duke, and been invaluable to this championship run.

However, his VCU tenure was good, but not spectacular (made 1 NCAA tourney in year 2 and then two 19 win seasons) -- and his Oklahoma career was pretty poor outside of the two years he had Blake Griffin. Not terrible, but both his predecessor - Kelvin Sampson (who was caught cheating) and successor - Lon Kruger -- were able to consistently win at a clip that Jeff simply wasn't able to sustain without Griffin. If Jeff got the job, I think he'd recruit well enough to keep us a high-level program (i.e., not a Doherty type situation) -- but not sure if he's done enough to be the automatic air apparent -- notwithstanding how great a job he's done as an assistant.

Personally, my first call would be to Brad Stevens to see if we could lure him with what amounts to K's pretty obscene salary (reportedly $10 million per). I've heard a lot of people in Boston are concerned about Stevens jumping back to college (either IU, Duke, or UNC) if the rebuild proves unsuccessful, and that's probably the one guy out there who could keep Duke at or near where it's been with K IMO.

I would add that I'm intrigued by Hurley. I think he took a really tough job at ASU, but my personal opinion is that he and Chris Collins have the most promise of the former Duke players.

 

[dopeshop23]

Might be the most interesting coach hire we've seen a while...Tommy and Johnny well positioned with successful stents at schools with comparable academics. Jeff with the inside tract right now. I'm older and know him better so my heart is with Johnny but would be okay with anyone in house.

 

[ruger2245]

I agree with Capel. I have always thought it would be Collins with his dad a coach and now him getting some experience. That has all changed now with the way Capel is dominating. Never thought Wojo and only a slight chance for Dawkins and Amaker.

 

[dopeshop23]

If Johnny wants the job, you might be surprised by his personal weight in the decision. It can be argued that his faith in K and loyalty to him throughout particularly when he was taking a great personal risk with a struggling .500 coach in the large shadows of Smith, Holland, and Dresiel in the local recruiting circles. If K truely believe his common refrain of its " the players who have made the program" there is no one player who has had greater impact on the trajectory and subsequent success of the program than. Johnny has run a very respected and squeaky clean program at Stanford, also bieng from dc would be an natural east coast recruiter. If I had to guess it would be a coin flip between Johnny and Jeff. I'd very very happy we either.

 

[denniden]

It will be interesting to see what Hurley does at ASU. If he does well there, then I think he sets himself up for consideration.....which I would love to see.

Long shot at best with the guys who are ahead of him right now. Capel is the clear front runner.

 

[crazyduke3]

Jeff is calling a lot of the shots for the Duke team right now, it might be him.We are going to lose one heck of a recruiter when he leaves. I think the Sooners thing will just be early struggles, I believe he'll be better next time around now that he has honed his game. I don't Johnny will be the right solution for Duke when K leaves, nor will Wojo, but that is just my two cents.

 

[skysdad]

Glad I'm not making the decision. OFC

 

[duke198025]

Anybody worried or hearing chatter he may be the choice at Florida if Donovan leaves? I've been seeing that on some other boards.

 

[kailman]

he runs a large part of the practices from things ive read. You can see he does a lot of in game coaching with K. He is a great recruiter. I think he did well at VCU and OK. I would be happy for him if he went to FL. great program ..would prob hurt recruiting for us a little but it would be a nice showcase or prep for the future and those decisions that need to be made. also him coaching with K and seeing how he runs the show is going to help because he didn't have that as much before. except for when he played.

 

[BOOGIEMAN1914]

Yeah I was really happy that Jeff got one. He had a chance against Arkansas but... we know how that went.

scotty freaking thurman!!!!!!ugh!!!!....that loss to me hurts the absolute worst!!!!

 

[DukeDenver]

I just want K to have what he needs to run things the way he wants without overworking. I know Jon Scheyer and Nate James are all in, but we'll need a solid third man, preferably someone at least 40 years old that knows how K operates.

 

[pisgah101]

He ain't leaving IMO

 

[aah555]

I think it's pretty unlikely that Florida would seriously pursue Capel for the job. Between the salary they'll pay and the trackrecord of success Billy has had there, like Texas, my guess is they will not have much difficulty hiring one of the hot-named coaches right now. Archie Miller would seem like an obvious choice (in view of an elite 8 and sweet 16 at Dayton + what his brother has done to date), but I think UF could make a credible run at a number of guys, including Greg Marshall, Larry Krystkowiak, Ben Jacobson, etc.

The problem I have with this entire Capel discussion is that we're artificially limiting ourselves to Duke alumni -- which, IMO, is a little bizarre considering that (i) we don't have a clear, home-run internal hire (i.e., there's no Roy Williams-type figure out there with 4 final fours and a decade-long trackrecord of dominating the Big 12), and (ii) no other aspect of the university would operate in this manner. When Duke hires a university president, it hires the best person available. Same with CEO of hospital. Same with the various deans. Same with when they hired Coach K. While ties to Duke are nice, they're hardly a key factor in making any kind of major. Duke b-ball is way too valuable an asset to just hand over the reigns to someone b/c you liked them as a player, and think they're good as an assistant.

And, towards that point, as impressed as I've been with Capel's recruiting and think he's clearly been a good assistant, the reality is that no program comparable to Duke (e.g., UNC, UK, MSU, UCLA, KU, IU) would even have Capel on the short list for their head job, let alone hire him. In that context, it seems weird to say he's the clear heir apparent. I genuinely hope that's not the case -- b/c that's not how this type of decision should be made. And, what's surprising about this entire discussion is that it ignores the fact that UNC has already shown us what can happen if you just give out the job to someone out of loyalty or a vague notion of staying in the "family." Guthridge and Doherty set that program back a number of years, and -- oh btw -- a lot of this no-show class stuff proliferated under their reigns. Roy was in-house, but he's someone who would have been at the top of the list for any major program making a hire. That's completely different IMO.

 

[DukeDenver]

Well said^. IF we lost Capel for some reason (not likely), I think a guy like Avery Johnson would've made an ideal replacemnt (had he not taken the Bama job). I think someone semi-established with tons of energy and charisma is needed as our #1. Capel is doing great in that role.