Jeff Capel has filled two of his three assistant spots
Jeff Capel had said he would take a bit more time to fill out his staff this time as he felt he could have done better with his hires at Oklahoma. Just about two weeks after his hire was announced, Capel has filled two of his spots per a report from Jeff Goodman
Pittsburgh coach Jeff Capel will also hire Tim O’Toole on his staff, source told ESPN. So, Capel now has his brother, Jason, and O’Toole. One more full-time assistant spot to be filled.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) April 11, 2018
Tim O’Toole (54) is currently the Associate Head Coach at the University of California, Berkley, and has served as an assistant on several high major teams including Stanford, Syracuse, Seton Hall and Duke. He also spent time as a head coach at Fairfield from 1998-2006 where he went 112-120. Cal went 8-24 this season with a 2-16 record in the Pac 12.
Jason Capel is Jeff’s younger brother, and was a star at North Carolina. He was the head coach of Appalachian State from 2010-2014, but was fired after he went 9-21 in his final year and 53-70 overall. He’s spent time as a broadcaster since then.
It’s not the best look that both of these guys fall under the “failed head coaches” umbrella, but any head coaching experience is always good to have on staff.
O’Toole seems to have bounced around a lot, never spending more than 2 seasons at a single school after he was a head coach. It’s tough to say what impact, whether good or bad, he’s had on those schools since he wasn’t at each location very long.
Jason Capel doesn’t have much of anything since his firing in terms of coaching or recruiting, so again, it’s hard to say how effective he can be as a staff member. He obviously knows the ACC very well having played in the conference, and is young enough that this could be a great chance for him to get back into coaching.
Jeff Capel could understandably feel that he’s a good enough recruiter to be able to close on kids late in the game, but recruiting is very relationship oriented, and having recruiters with strong ties places will be key to getting Pitt’s foot in the door with recruits.
Capel still has one last spot on his staff, and it will be interesting to see what direction he goes in.
