Pitt AD Heather Lyke says coach Jeff Capel will return for 2022-23 season

Pitt will give coach Jeff Capel at least one more season to reverse the misfortunes of its men’s basketball program.

Not long after athletic director Heather Lyke told CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jon Rothstein that Capel will return next season, Lyke released a statement Friday night declaring Pitt’s commitment to its head coach.

Meanwhile, the coach said in a statement he is “confident” he and his staff will make the necessary changes in several areas of the program to achieve success.

While confirming Capel will return for his fifth season, Lyke said they share the disappointment of a fourth consecutive losing season. She also said they had the same initial expectations that the program would have been “further along” at this point. In Capel’s four seasons, Pitt is 51-69 (21-53 in the ACC, including just two victories in the conference tournament).

“Coach Capel and I met this afternoon, and there is no question we both have great expectations for our men’s basketball program,” said Lyke, who hired Capel in 2018 after he had spent seven seasons as an assistant at Duke.

Pitt extended Capel’s contract two years ago to run through 2027. If Pitt had attempted to buy out the remaining five seasons, it could have cost the university and/or its donors significantly more than $10 million.

“We discussed the path forward for success for this program,” Lyke continued in her statement. “We share the disappointment of this past season and expected to be further along in building this program back to a great source of pride for Pitt.

“We are committed to Jeff Capel as our head coach and leader of our team. I am confident Jeff will continue to assess and evaluate every aspect of our program and work tirelessly to continue building it the right way.

“He and our staff are committed to helping our student-athletes develop the consistency and habits to reach their full potential on and off the court.”

Capel said he is grateful for the support from Pitt’s administration.

“The support of Heather Lyke, chancellor (Patrick) Gallagher and loyal Pitt fans is greatly appreciated as we continue to work to bring back a winning culture to Pitt basketball,” he said in his statement. “My family and I love being a part of the Pittsburgh community, and I am extremely proud to be the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh.

“While I had hoped to have been further along as a program at this point, I remain confident that we will make the adjustments necessary to get there. There is no substitute for hard work. We will do what is necessary to be known as a program that will outwork the opposition and compete with a toughness and intensity that is unrivaled.

“We have the opportunity to turn things around quickly by attacking every aspect of the offseason from player development to recruiting to playing style and coaching philosophy.”

Pitt’s season ended Tuesday in a 66-46 loss to Boston College in the first round of the ACC Tournament. It was the Panthers’ fifth consecutive loss, four of them by margins of 21, 30, 24 and 20 points.

Capel’s immediate task will be to fortify his roster, most likely with experienced players from the NCAA transfer portal. Presently, there are no high school prospects in Pitt’s Class of 2022, but Marlon Barnes, a four-star forward from Lyndhurst, Ohio, is verbally committed for 2023.