Pitt's Jeff Capel settling in as 1 of ACC's elder statesmen

It seems like only yesterday that Jeff Capel sat alongside ultimate Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski as Duke’s associate head coach.

Where did the time go?

Already, as Capel enters his eighth season in Oakland, his tenure at Pitt is the second longest among current ACC men’s basketball coaches behind Clemson’s Brad Brownell.

“It’s crazy, man,” Capel said Tuesday during the ACC Tipoff, a three-day, media-friendly event in Charlotte, N.C. “When I got into coaching, I never had a dream job. But my dream was to be a head coach … in the ACC. Pitt gave me that opportunity, and we’ve tried to do good things with it.”

Leonard Hamilton? Gone.

Jim Larranaga? Finished.

Kevin Keatts? See ya.

All three ACC coaches ended long unions last season with their respective teams, leaving Brownell and Capel as the longest-running coaches in the conference.

Hamilton resigned after 23 seasons at Florida State amid controversy created when six of his former players, including ex-Duquesne guard Primo Spears, filed suit over allegations that Hamilton failed to deliver on name, image and likeness promises.

A tentative trial date was set for August 2026.

Larranaga stepped down in the middle of his 14th year at Miami following the team’s 4-8 start.

Keatts, a year after leading N.C. State to an improbable run to the Final Four, was fired after eight seasons following a 12-19 record (5-15 ACC) in his final year.

Capel is the second-eldest statesman among the ACC coaching fraternity, halfway to Brownell’s upcoming 16th season at Clemson.

“This is the longest I’ve ever lived in one place in my life,” said Capel, a former Duke star whose career coaching record is 289-217 with previous stops at VCU and Oklahoma. His teams at Pitt are a combined 114-107.

“Maybe they will accept me as a ‘Yinzer’ now,” said the Fayetteville, N.C., native, referring to the endeared term sometimes used to identify native Pittsburghers.

Capel will get his first look at the Panthers in game conditions this season during a pair of exhibition games at Petersen Events Center against Providence on Oct. 19 and Division II Pitt-Johnstown on Oct. 27.

The regular season gets underway when Youngstown State visits The Pete on Nov. 3.

While Capel is appreciative of the opportunity to continue his leading role with the Panthers, nobody was more upset with the team’s disappointing season of a year ago than Capel himself.

“Me and our staff,” he said. “It was an opportunity last season that we had to take a jump, and we just didn’t do it. That’s on me.”

Following back-to-back 20-win seasons, including in 2023 the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in seven years, Pitt was eyeing a return to sustained relevance last season but instead fell flat.

“We’ve got to get back to the edge that we’d had in the previous two years,” Capel said. “I thought we had it last year.”

Injuries played a part, but Capel made no excuses for the Panthers’ second-half collapse that produced 13 losses in the team’s final 18 games, capped by a last-second 55-54 decision to Notre Dame in an ACC Tournament first-round game. The Panthers finished 17-15 overall and 8-12 in conference play.

“We’ve certainly faced our fair share of challenges, like every coach has, wherever you are,” Capel said. “The last three years, we’re fifth in wins in our league behind Duke, (North) Carolina, Clemson and Virginia — and we’re close to a couple of those schools. So, that’s after having a disappointing January and February last season.”

Capel said the staff quickly made the decision to focus on adding players with a decided edge, a notable toughness.

“I’m excited about where we are, about being the coach (at Pitt) and about what I think we can become this year, and I look forward to the journey with this group of guys we have.”

The ACC will reveal its preseason men’s and women’s polls and all-conference teams Tuesday.

Though Pitt returns four scholarship players in senior forward Cameron Corhen, sophomore guard Brandin Cummings and sophomore forwards Papa Amadou Kante and Amdy Ndiaye, the Panthers also signed four transfers and added five freshmen.

“Coach Capel did an amazing job recruiting, and everybody on this team has a chip on their shoulder,” said Cummings, a former Lincoln Park star and the brother of former Pitt guard Nelly Cummings.

Brandin Cummings appeared in 31 games with four starts last season as a Pitt freshman.

“We’ve been all overlooked, and I think we’re ready to go out there and prove the world wrong,” he said.

The transfer portal produced senior guard/forward Barry Dunning Jr. (South Alabama), senior guard Damarco Minor (Oregon), sophomore guard Nojus Indrusaitis (Iowa State) and senior center Dishon Jackson (Iowa State), who is sidelined indefinitely with an unspecified medical condition.

The freshmen crop consists of forwards Roman Siulepa (Brisbane, Australia) and Henry Lau (Sydney, Australia), guards Omari Witherspoon (St. John’s College, Md.) and Macari Moore (Ann Arbor Huron, Mich.) and 7-foot center Kieran Mullen (St. Thomas More, Conn.).

Corhen, who last season started all 32 games and shot 63.5 % — second in the ACC — pointed to Witherspoon as a budding star.

“He’s a great player, a young dude,” Corhen said. “He’s a lot like Bub Carrington. I think he has a handle a little better than his. He has a great feel for the game, a great player.”

Carrington played two seasons at Pitt before being selected with the 14th overall pick by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2024 NBA Draft. He later was traded to the Washington Wizards, where last season he was named to the NBA all-rookie second team.