Again, I want a roll call with explanation. When Capel was hired....what were your thoughts?

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

Not now. Not with the information of the last few years. But then. Alot of you want to fire Lyke because she hired Capel. But at the time.......what did you think? Great hire? Good hire? Meh? Bad hire? Dumpster Fire?

Answer honestly with some explanation.

Honestly, I thought it was a "great" hire at the time. Not good, great. Now I am being proven to be wrong, but that's fine, just trying to be honest. First of all we know where we were as a program, we know how Jamie was handled didn't sit so well in the coaching community. Nate Oats wasn't coming. Sean Miller wasn't allowed to be hired. He was blocked and everything that has happened the last few years shows that to have been a smart move. Plus, I see Miller more like his old coach, Paul Evans, they can recruit guys, but their teams are usually a mess. Mark Schmidt didn't move any one's needle. Danny Hurley was the other "guy", but he chose UConn. He hasn't been overwhelming as a success either.

Capel was to me, a great hire. ACC roots, #1 seat next to the Pope. Former HC. Great recruiter. Great personality. A salesman and PR dream as compared to the last two coaches in a city that is fine ignoring basketball. He embraced the city immediately. His recruiting class was a miracle.

But obviously something went amiss quickly. I don't know if he is all candy shell and nothing inside or what. But the hire obviously doesn't look good. But what say you? None of this revisionist history, what were your thoughts?

 

[Ski11585]

Not now. Not with the information of the last few years. But then. Alot of you want to fire Lyke because she hired Capel. But at the time.......what did you think? Great hire? Good hire? Meh? Bad hire? Dumpster Fire?

Answer honestly with some explanation.

Honestly, I thought it was a "great" hire at the time. Not good, great. Now I am being proven to be wrong, but that's fine, just trying to be honest. First of all we know where we were as a program, we know how Jamie was handled didn't sit so well in the coaching community. Nate Oats wasn't coming. Sean Miller wasn't allowed to be hired. He was blocked and everything that has happened the last few years shows that to have been a smart move. Plus, I see Miller more like his old coach, Paul Evans, they can recruit guys, but their teams are usually a mess. Mark Schmidt didn't move any one's needle. Danny Hurley was the other "guy", but he chose UConn. He hasn't been overwhelming as a success either.

Capel was to me, a great hire. ACC roots, #1 seat next to the Pope. Former HC. Great recruiter. Great personality. A salesman and PR dream as compared to the last two coaches in a city that is fine ignoring basketball. He embraced the city immediately. His recruiting class was a miracle.

But obviously something went amiss quickly. I don't know if he is all candy shell and nothing inside or what. But the hire obviously doesn't look good. But what say you? None of this revisionist history, what were your thoughts?

I thought it was an absolutely great hire. I remember you and I having a brief back and forth after he was hired. If memory serves correct, the conclusion was that Capel was going to kill it recruiting the 75-150 ranked kids like Dixon in his prime but have way more success landing one or two elite players to get Pitt over the hump.

That obviously has not been the case.

 

[TheLogicalTake]

I wanted Hurley badly and it took a while to wrap my head around Capel. Saying Hurley hasn’t been very successful is wildly misleading. Likely in the tournament in year 3, recruiting well, and a likely top 10 pick in the NBA draft this year. I’d certainly be beyond happy with that success here at this point.

After I let it settle, I was fine with Capel for many of the reasons you cited. I thought the first class on short notice was a heck of a job and that he did all the right things as far as embracing the city/school. The ACC pedigree made sense as well. My hang ups were pretty much the same as most others: How would he be able to recruit when you’re not fishing off the nicest pier in town. So far, the answer to that has not been positive

 

[lilspainishflea]

Not now. Not with the information of the last few years. But then. Alot of you want to fire Lyke because she hired Capel. But at the time.......what did you think? Great hire? Good hire? Meh? Bad hire? Dumpster Fire?

Answer honestly with some explanation.

Honestly, I thought it was a "great" hire at the time. Not good, great. Now I am being proven to be wrong, but that's fine, just trying to be honest. First of all we know where we were as a program, we know how Jamie was handled didn't sit so well in the coaching community. Nate Oats wasn't coming. Sean Miller wasn't allowed to be hired. He was blocked and everything that has happened the last few years shows that to have been a smart move. Plus, I see Miller more like his old coach, Paul Evans, they can recruit guys, but their teams are usually a mess. Mark Schmidt didn't move any one's needle. Danny Hurley was the other "guy", but he chose UConn. He hasn't been overwhelming as a success either.

Capel was to me, a great hire. ACC roots, #1 seat next to the Pope. Former HC. Great recruiter. Great personality. A salesman and PR dream as compared to the last two coaches in a city that is fine ignoring basketball. He embraced the city immediately. His recruiting class was a miracle.

But obviously something went amiss quickly. I don't know if he is all candy shell and nothing inside or what. But the hire obviously doesn't look good. But what say you? None of this revisionist history, what were your thoughts?

I was ecstatic. To me, Capel was a proven recruiter, with good head coaching experience and his recent experience as 1st chair under Coach K was also a huge plus. He'd been in the ACC as a player. He knows the game from both sides of it. So I was really, really happy. Honestly, whether it works or doesn't work, I think Capel is the best on paper hire that we'll ever get.

I agree with others that have said we need a better on-court identity and more structured approach from Capel to really win. I also think his staff is pretty weak. He really needs to shake up the whole thing this off-season and go back to basics. I'm talking everything: recruiting re-evaluation, staff turnover, off-season and practice work, it all needs to change. And given that we basically will have no upperclassmen of consequence, he really has no choice anyway.

 

[PharMorNightStocker]

I loved the hire. Turning a basketball program around is not like turning a football program around. 0-18 means nothing right now (as evidenced by the fact that his best class was the one closest, chronologically, to that record). You can either recruit or you can't. I thought he'd come in here and kill it. There was talk of him flipping freaking Zion, lol. And I thought he would be a much better on-court coach after being a Duke assistant for all those years.

Fast forward... he sucks, and our program is a circus right now.

 

[cliff777]

Thought it was a home run hire, especially considering our circumstances at the time. Familiar with ACC as a coach and player, rep as a great recruiter since we had a big talent deficit, and 2 HC positions.

Recruiting has not been as good as I thought as it seems he had too narrow of a focus/fixation on certain players without other viable options if those didn't commit. Agree with Ski as I thought he would do great in the 75-150 wheelhouse. When you couple the Recruiting with the chemistry issues and apparent staff issues, it's a mess. We'll see if he can right this ship as finances dictate he will be given another year or two. I'm definitely rooting for him but having my doubts right now

 

[King Of All Message Boards]

I was happy about it. Even more so after his presser. You could just tell he was genuine and I figured that was one of the reasons he was labeled as a great recruiter.

If any of these rumors are true (family interference, chicks) some of it is probably beyond his reach. High emotion. If anything he maybe waited too long to put his foot down. I said it and I saw Joe the Panther Fan said it somewhere as well. Specifically with X I think there was a “come to Jesus” meeting and there was still a gap and it was time to move on. Because he was needed he was probably given too long of a leash.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

I was thrilled
Because he was better than I thought we’d get

 

[Drew1208]

Very happy.

 

[meadvillecoach]

I could not believe we got him. The thought of better recruiting got me excited. Hurley has that program ready to pop.I read a zagoria article that mentioned by next year he will have nba level players back in the program. The inclusion of the athletic director in the meeting was very telling.There are hundreds and hundreds of d-1 athletes in the portals not many involve the ad.

 

[LeftCoastPanther]

Happy. Then when Capel landed X, Toney and Trey I thought his recruiting was going to be incredible and lift Pitt out of the doldrums.

 

[JD1976]

Thrilled that we landed Capel. After losing out on Hurley, I didn’t think Pitt would land someone with JC’s name value.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Not now. Not with the information of the last few years. But then. Alot of you want to fire Lyke because she hired Capel. But at the time.......what did you think? Great hire? Good hire? Meh? Bad hire? Dumpster Fire?

Answer honestly with some explanation.

Honestly, I thought it was a "great" hire at the time. Not good, great. Now I am being proven to be wrong, but that's fine, just trying to be honest. First of all we know where we were as a program, we know how Jamie was handled didn't sit so well in the coaching community. Nate Oats wasn't coming. Sean Miller wasn't allowed to be hired. He was blocked and everything that has happened the last few years shows that to have been a smart move. Plus, I see Miller more like his old coach, Paul Evans, they can recruit guys, but their teams are usually a mess. Mark Schmidt didn't move any one's needle. Danny Hurley was the other "guy", but he chose UConn. He hasn't been overwhelming as a success either.

Capel was to me, a great hire. ACC roots, #1 seat next to the Pope. Former HC. Great recruiter. Great personality. A salesman and PR dream as compared to the last two coaches in a city that is fine ignoring basketball. He embraced the city immediately. His recruiting class was a miracle.

But obviously something went amiss quickly. I don't know if he is all candy shell and nothing inside or what. But the hire obviously doesn't look good. But what say you? None of this revisionist history, what were your thoughts?

Scale of 1-10. I would have said 7-8. I never thought he was especially good at "coaching" but I thought he'd recruit like Gottfried at NC State but be able to coach a little better so that we were eventually a consistent top third to top half team. Also, I thought 7 years next to Coach K may have fixed any coaching deficiencies I thought he had. Bottom line, at worst, I thought we'd be NC State

 

[PharMorNightStocker]

Scale of 1-10. I would have said 7-8. I never thought he was especially good at "coaching" but I thought he'd recruit like Gottfried at NC State but be able to coach a little better so that we were eventually a consistent top third to top half team. Also, I thought 7 years next to Coach K may have fixed any coaching deficiencies I thought he had. Bottom line, at worst, I thought we'd be NC State

Well, will you settle for NC A&T?

 

[Fsgolfdr]

Remember the search was going badly , Hurley just used Pitt for leverage and with the mess Pitt bb was in no one of note was coming here to ruin their career . When Jeff Capel was hired I thought that Pitt absolutely got the best man they possibly could have .

I still feel if given enough time he will be able to achieve enough success here that it will have been a good hire . Pitts great success under JD is a thing of the past and most likely will never be duplicated unless there’s a 180 degree turn in the chancellor’s office on the importance of great athletic success .

Success unfortunately needs to be redefined in regards to Pitt bb to being a bubble team and a middle of the pac ACC program and I believe that’s doable under JC .

It now appears that his first class had three guys who just didn’t get along with each other and enjoy being at Pitt what now appears disastrous might just be the best thing do have done , cut out cancer , heal and move on .

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

That's my point to those who are blaming Heather Lyke for this. This move was universally lauded. It is like blaming the Pirates for drafting Pedro Alvarez. Pretty much every team would have drafted Pedro Alvarez at that spot. Sometimes things don't work out. Criticizing her for the hire is stupid, foolish and completely revisionist.

Now, what happens moving forward? Different story. Alot of this will be on Lyke's table.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

That's my point to those who are blaming Heather Lyke for this. This move was universally lauded. It is like blaming the Pirates for drafting Pedro Alvarez. Pretty much every team would have drafted Pedro Alvarez at that spot. Sometimes things don't work out. Criticizing her for the hire is stupid, foolish and completely revisionist.

Now, what happens moving forward? Different story. Alot of this will be on Lyke's table.

What are Heathers choices , fire JC and owe him his salary through 2026 or 27 , not going to happen . Whose coming here and where’s the money coming from ? Short answer... no one anyone would be excited about because they can’t or won’t pay a kings ransom to win bb games .

 

[Chescat]

Not now. Not with the information of the last few years. But then. Alot of you want to fire Lyke because she hired Capel. But at the time.......what did you think? Great hire? Good hire? Meh? Bad hire? Dumpster Fire?

I wanted Hurley ever since he
brought his Wagner team into
Pitt and beat us.
Wagner??.....Yup, Wagner.

Where I come from, the Hurley's
are legendary in Bball. I never
heard of the Miller clan until I
started posting on here. Sean,
yes, the rest of them......no.

With that said, yes I was happy.
with Capel, mainly because of
his background and obvious
connections with the ACC. He
had a very positive press.
conference. He quickly brought
in three legit recruits. So at
first, it looked like a great move.
I'm not going to throw him
under the bus at this point. I
want to see if they finish out
playing with energy and focus,
and also see what he does with
recruiting. I'm not a Lyke hater.

 

[gary2]

Not now. Not with the information of the last few years. But then. Alot of you want to fire Lyke because she hired Capel. But at the time.......what did you think? Great hire? Good hire? Meh? Bad hire? Dumpster Fire?

Answer honestly with some explanation.

Honestly, I thought it was a "great" hire at the time. Not good, great. Now I am being proven to be wrong, but that's fine, just trying to be honest. First of all we know where we were as a program, we know how Jamie was handled didn't sit so well in the coaching community. Nate Oats wasn't coming. Sean Miller wasn't allowed to be hired. He was blocked and everything that has happened the last few years shows that to have been a smart move. Plus, I see Miller more like his old coach, Paul Evans, they can recruit guys, but their teams are usually a mess. Mark Schmidt didn't move any one's needle. Danny Hurley was the other "guy", but he chose UConn. He hasn't been overwhelming as a success either.

Capel was to me, a great hire. ACC roots, #1 seat next to the Pope. Former HC. Great recruiter. Great personality. A salesman and PR dream as compared to the last two coaches in a city that is fine ignoring basketball. He embraced the city immediately. His recruiting class was a miracle.

But obviously something went amiss quickly. I don't know if he is all candy shell and nothing inside or what. But the hire obviously doesn't look good. But what say you? None of this revisionist history, what were your thoughts?

I thought it was a good hire but...

Primarily because it appeared the search had been botched and I did not feel good about how it might end.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

I wanted Hurley ever since he
brought his Wagner team into
Pitt and beat us.
Wagner??.....Yup, Wagner.

Where I come from, the Hurley's
are legendary in Bball. I never
heard of the Miller clan until I
started posting on here. Sean,
yes, the rest of them......no.

With that said, yes I was happy.
with Capel, mainly because of
his background and obvious
connections with the ACC. He
had a very positive press.
conference. He quickly brought
in three legit recruits. So at
first, it looked like a great move.
I'm not going to throw him
under the bus at this point. I
want to see if they finish out
playing with energy and focus,
and also see what he does with
recruiting. I'm not a Lyke hater.

Ches, why does every one of your posts read like a lyrics sheet off of the web? LOL. What kind of format is that?

 

[cease10]

I was pleased with Capel's hiring and I'm still fine with him being the coach. He was an experienced coach that won before and has recruited for the ACC.

I am disappointed with the loss of his entire 1st recruiting class. That falls on Capel. He recruited the players and wasn't able to make it work as the head coach.

Hopefully, he learns from this experience and will be a better coach and recruiter from it.

 

[Panther Holla]

I thought it was a good hire. Still do.

A player's ties to a program are much more tenuous today than when Ben Howland cleaned up Ralph Willard's mess 20 years ago. The transfer portal is an escape hatch for every kid who gets his nose out of joint or has Uncle Billy whispering that he is "the next Steph Curry if only he was in the right program." And social media. Sensory overload to a 20-something with big dreams. I believe Capel wants to build a solid foundation with a certain type of player. For whatever reason, these defectors weren't the right fit.

Pitt lost its identity and its swagger in the late Dixon years when the NYC pipeline ran dry and Jamie demonstrably lost his edge. Since then, Pitt has struggled to reimagine itself. Maybe Pitt needs to tap into that NY vein again. As an ACC school, Pitt has to be attractive to a lot of potential recruits. Capel gets more time, in my book.

 

[wbrpanther]

Not now. Not with the information of the last few years. But then. Alot of you want to fire Lyke because she hired Capel. But at the time.......what did you think? Great hire? Good hire? Meh? Bad hire? Dumpster Fire?

Answer honestly with some explanation.

Honestly, I thought it was a "great" hire at the time. Not good, great. Now I am being proven to be wrong, but that's fine, just trying to be honest. First of all we know where we were as a program, we know how Jamie was handled didn't sit so well in the coaching community. Nate Oats wasn't coming. Sean Miller wasn't allowed to be hired. He was blocked and everything that has happened the last few years shows that to have been a smart move. Plus, I see Miller more like his old coach, Paul Evans, they can recruit guys, but their teams are usually a mess. Mark Schmidt didn't move any one's needle. Danny Hurley was the other "guy", but he chose UConn. He hasn't been overwhelming as a success either.

Capel was to me, a great hire. ACC roots, #1 seat next to the Pope. Former HC. Great recruiter. Great personality. A salesman and PR dream as compared to the last two coaches in a city that is fine ignoring basketball. He embraced the city immediately. His recruiting class was a miracle.

But obviously something went amiss quickly. I don't know if he is all candy shell and nothing inside or what. But the hire obviously doesn't look good. But what say you? None of this revisionist history, what were your thoughts?

I thought it was a miracle that Heather could bring in a guy like Capel with the program where it was. And I still think he is the right man. And I can not remember even one negative post about the hire.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

That's my point to those who are blaming Heather Lyke for this. This move was universally lauded. It is like blaming the Pirates for drafting Pedro Alvarez. Pretty much every team would have drafted Pedro Alvarez at that spot. Sometimes things don't work out. Criticizing her for the hire is stupid, foolish and completely revisionist.

Now, what happens moving forward? Different story. Alot of this will be on Lyke's table.

She is paid a lot of money and had access to much more information than we do. OU should have been red flags. How much of his recruiting was due to the bag man assistant at OU or bag men at Duke?

 

[FreeportPanther]

We were at the NCAA tourney in Consol Center. All eyes were on Hurley because he had the offer.
Little did we know we were watching the real GUY and didn't know it!

When word came out on Capel, it was great. His first press conference was great. His pedigree and experience seemed to check all the boxes, and he had just came off recruiting Zion, the best college player in the game.

So, can't fault Heather at all, in fact, she got a top notch candidate who was on the top of his game.

Now jumping out there with an extension can be questioned. I think these AD's get way too trigger happy on those, but it's done so no use complaining now.

Capel is still a good man, and he has time to succeed still because Pitt is in no way shape or form in any position to cut him loose now! He better start living up to his recruiting standards because he needs to big time! Don't see it though because all the big fish are already in other people's coolers!
I would be all for a staff overhaul. Hiring his brother was a big boneheaded move. I DO put that on Heather. Never allow nepotism in your management structure.

 

[Chescat]

Ches, why does every one of your posts read like a lyrics sheet off of the web? LOL. What kind of format is that?

I've had comments about it before.
I don't know how to fix it. Help
anyone?

 

[Jeffburgh]

Yeah, as with most I was seriously pumped.

I liked Hurley a lot, but it was pretty clear he had no interest in Pitt, as someone else posted was just using Pitt to up what he got from UConn.

I think I remember them sniffing around Oats, and I was definitely up for giving him a shot, but that didn't work out, not sure on which end.

Then, there was a lot of noise they were getting serious with Schmidt, and it seemed like the usual Pitt hire where they whiff on a big name or two, and then go for whatever they can get.

Then ADHL pulled Capel and as others noted, felt that they just were not going to do better.

I think however it ends up, it was a good hire. Maybe not work out, but they got someone with a lot of HC experience, who was reasonably successful as a HC, and who had went back to HC grad school and had been coach Ks first chair for a good bit, he had been pretty young first go arounds as a HC, and felt he could be better having learned from what did and didn't work while he had been a HC and being around coach K for as long as he had been his first chair.

I thought he was over valued a bit as a "recruiter" by some and under valued as a "coach" by some.

I keep posting this - two months ago this team was playing really good basketball, and the roster was in pretty good shape for a coach in year three that inherited literally nothing more than a deep reserve big man in Brown.

I guess we can see now why the team flaked out the end of the last two seasons with a toxic mix of star players and family members, and the Hugs situation was a kick in the nads given his struggles to get quality big men.

Again, I think it WAS a good hire ... But, this goes back to the rush to run coaches off, even if you get it right, it is a crapshoot. I learned that LONG ago, cautioned running Wanny off, because even with his flaws, you just didn't know how the hire was going to go. Similar to JD, yes, he was clearly fading, but you just don't know how the hire is going go.

Stallings and Hayward were the only coaches I was part of the pitchfork and torches mob for a LONG time.

 

[h2p_5150]

I loved the hire.

I don't want Lyke fired but I don't understand why she is still getting so much praise? Her track record with hiring coaches is not all that great or terrible overall- women's hoops is a disaster, wrestling seems to be doing better, and a few of the best coaches (volleyball, soccer) weren't hired by her. She seems to be a perfectly average athletic director, which I guess is good compared to the guys who were here before her, but I don't think you should judge someone based on that. For years Neal Huntington was looked at as a God because he seemed like a genius compared to Dave Littlefield.

 

[lilspainishflea]

I keep posting this - two months ago this team was playing really good basketball, and the roster was in pretty good shape for a coach in year three that inherited literally nothing more than a deep reserve big man in Brown.

It's absolutely wild that we've disintegrated this badly since beating Duke. Almost like one of those cursed monkey paw memes.

 

[Pitt2006]

I thought given the circumstances it was a very good hire. I don't think Hurley would have come here even if we gave him an extra million.

He was able to pull in a decent initial class (I think the highest rated in 5 years in like a month). He was able to steadily increase wins and talent. Some argue against worst competition, but if they had won against Wake and State they are 7-6 in conference right now. The only headscratcher to me is really the St. Francis game. The rest is really variability and not far off where they should be right now. I think he will close and get some reclassifications and transfers. The program will not go winless in conference under Capel. He should have been hired when Stallings was. However, I think he still gets this team to the tourney next year. At worst (Femi, AKC, Horton, Sibande, Jeffress) is good for a few wins. If collier progresses and you land a solid 22 reclass and transfer, that is a solid 7-8 deep. They are not world beaters or contenders, but have people really forgotten the 20 point blowouts so quickly? The frustration comes from realizing how close this team actually was to turning that corner....

 

[levance2]

That's my point to those who are blaming Heather Lyke for this. This move was universally lauded.

Most people have no idea how business works. Sooner or later, she'll be judged based on her accomplishments, successful hires and not. However, at this point, her level of performance can only be judged based on executing the right processes, regardless of results.

For example, she inherited the Stallings disaster and lots of people thought Pitt was too cheap to clean it up, but she found some route to make it work. Even if the biggest critics claimed Capel was not right for Pitt or not especially exciting, there was nobody anywhere who was calling that a downright "bad" hire.

At this point, her responsibility is to work with the coach on righting these issues and providing him the institutional support to work through them.

Let's be honest. Even if we eventually judge both Narduzzi and Capel to be failures, Lyke's still probably a better AD than Barnes or Peterson. I doubt she has much of any reason to feel her job is in jeopardy. Given the state of sports in general, and specifically college sports, as a result of COVID, the actual performance of the teams is probably not even that high on her list of priorities.

 

[levance2]

I don't want Lyke fired but I don't understand why she is still getting so much praise? Her track record with hiring coaches is not all that great or terrible overall- women's hoops is a disaster, wrestling seems to be doing better, and a few of the best coaches (volleyball, soccer) weren't hired by her. She seems to be a perfectly average athletic director, which I guess is good compared to the guys who were here before her

I just posted something similar. I think fans have a hard time admitting most coaching hires don't work. Either your guy gets fired, takes some lateral move, or is successful enough to jump at the first opportunity for a better job. There aren't many places where coaches stay for 10+ years.

How many unsuccessful women's basketball coaches have there been at Pitt? Even Agnus, who left a complete dumpster fire, was by far the most successful WBB coach we ever had. You just roll the dice and try to execute an intelligent plan, but you're far more likely to fail than succeed.

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

Capel didn’t even factor in as a possibility at the time. I didn’t really consider him to be honest. I wanted Musselman and even let Heather know my thoughts. I thought Hurley would be a good hire when his name was mentioned. Then was caught off guard when Capel was hired. I thought it was a good hire at the time.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

That's my point to those who are blaming Heather Lyke for this. This move was universally lauded. It is like blaming the Pirates for drafting Pedro Alvarez. Pretty much every team would have drafted Pedro Alvarez at that spot. Sometimes things don't work out. Criticizing her for the hire is stupid, foolish and completely revisionist.

Now, what happens moving forward? Different story. Alot of this will be on Lyke's table.

The ones doing the blaming now all created new handles to go along with their new opinion

 

[Vader_Storm]

I thought it was a good hire. Still do.

A player's ties to a program are much more tenuous today than when Ben Howland cleaned up Ralph Willard's mess 20 years ago. The transfer portal is an escape hatch for every kid who gets his nose out of joint or has Uncle Billy whispering that he is "the next Steph Curry if only he was in the right program." And social media. Sensory overload to a 20-something with big dreams. I believe Capel wants to build a solid foundation with a certain type of player. For whatever reason, these defectors weren't the right fit.

Pitt lost its identity and its swagger in the late Dixon years when the NYC pipeline ran dry and Jamie demonstrably lost his edge. Since then, Pitt has struggled to reimagine itself. Maybe Pitt needs to tap into that NY vein again. As an ACC school, Pitt has to be attractive to a lot of potential recruits. Capel gets more time, in my book.

You have to build a pipeline and build a culture. Perfect Example below and btw, I would like your post 1000 times if I could.


Pete Weyhe is establishing a program and a culture of absolute toughness at Our Savior Lutheran in the Morris Park Section of the Bronx, New York. This isn't a 1 year wonder here. He is starting to consistently pump kids into the D1 level out of New York from his program. He ran over the grind session last year, rebuilt and reloaded them this year, and is going to run all over the league again next year.

St. John's pulled Posh Alexander and Dyan Wusu out of there. We got Max out of there as a development player.

He's got at least 4 more kids in the pipeline headed to D1 and we have 3 of them on our radar, including both Jaquan Sanders and 7'0 big Silas Sunday in 2022.


St. John's is all over this trying to build a pipeline out of there. Their program is rising from the dead with NY stars and 2 of them came right from this program and they want 3 more from the same program. They see the light here of building a pipeline of hard nosed tough as nails players hailing from New York.


These NY players were at our fingertips and could have been at Pitt. They "Should" have been at Pitt.


Jared Rhoden just came out of there, a 15 ppg player at Seton Hall. Pete Weyhe is developing these players and making them D1 level and is turning these players into men. The man can coach and has a culture that oozes toughness. If Jeff Capel doesn't see the light here yet, St. John's and a few others will reap the benefits.


We have got to get back into New York, period, end of discussion. These guys in the past and even right now aren't even getting highly recruited and they aren't even ranked in the recruiting databases which is the funny part. They are there for us to take them.

 

[Gunga_Galunga]

It was a solid hire and I thought as much at the time. Seemed like she pulled Capel out of a hat.

Clear the turnaround isn't going to be quick, but we have to hope it happens with Capel. He's not going anywhere soon. Like most Pitt coaches, he has his warts.

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

You have to build a pipeline and build a culture. Perfect Example below and btw, I would like your post 1000 times if I could.


Pete Weyhe is establishing a program and a culture of absolute toughness at Our Savior Lutheran in the Morris Park Section of the Bronx, New York. This isn't a 1 year wonder here. He is starting to consistently pump kids into the D1 level out of New York from his program. He ran over the grind session last year, rebuilt and reloaded them this year, and is going to run all over the league again next year.

St. John's pulled Posh Alexander and Dyan Wusu out of there. We got Max out of there as a development player.

He's got at least 4 more kids in the pipeline headed to D1 and we have 3 of them on our radar, including both Jaquan Sanders and 7'0 big Silas Sunday in 2022.


St. John's is all over this trying to build a pipeline out of there. Their program is rising from the dead with NY stars and 2 of them came right from this program and they want 3 more from the same program. They see the light here of building a pipeline of hard nosed tough as nails players hailing from New York.


These NY players were at our fingertips and could have been at Pitt. They "Should" have been at Pitt.


Jared Rhoden just came out of there, a 15 ppg player at Seton Hall. Pete Weyhe is developing these players and making them D1 level and is turning these players into men. The man can coach and has a culture that oozes toughness. If Jeff Capel doesn't see the light here yet, St. John's and a few others will reap the benefits.


We have got to get back into New York, period, end of discussion. These guys in the past and even right now aren't even getting highly recruited and they aren't even ranked in the recruiting databases which is the funny part. They are there for us to take them.

It sounds like we should add him to our coaching staff.

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

Not now. Not with the information of the last few years. But then. Alot of you want to fire Lyke because she hired Capel. But at the time.......what did you think? Great hire? Good hire? Meh? Bad hire? Dumpster Fire?

Answer honestly with some explanation.

Honestly, I thought it was a "great" hire at the time. Not good, great. Now I am being proven to be wrong, but that's fine, just trying to be honest. First of all we know where we were as a program, we know how Jamie was handled didn't sit so well in the coaching community. Nate Oats wasn't coming. Sean Miller wasn't allowed to be hired. He was blocked and everything that has happened the last few years shows that to have been a smart move. Plus, I see Miller more like his old coach, Paul Evans, they can recruit guys, but their teams are usually a mess. Mark Schmidt didn't move any one's needle. Danny Hurley was the other "guy", but he chose UConn. He hasn't been overwhelming as a success either.

Capel was to me, a great hire. ACC roots, #1 seat next to the Pope. Former HC. Great recruiter. Great personality. A salesman and PR dream as compared to the last two coaches in a city that is fine ignoring basketball. He embraced the city immediately. His recruiting class was a miracle.

But obviously something went amiss quickly. I don't know if he is all candy shell and nothing inside or what. But the hire obviously doesn't look good. But what say you? None of this revisionist history, what were your thoughts?

I don’t want her fired for hiring Capel. It was obviously a good hire at the time. I want her fired for extending 2 coaches when there was no one clamoring for their services and setting the programs back multiple years because she had her eyes on a big ten AD job.

 

[TD_6082]

Bad hire.

But I could see the logic behind it and thought it could give recruiting a boost.

It was a bad cycle to be in the market for a c

 

[levance2]

I don’t want her fired for hiring Capel. It was obviously a good hire at the time. I want her fired for extending 2 coaches when there was no one clamoring for their services and setting the programs back multiple years because she had her eyes on a big ten AD job.

Fair point