BREAKING: Pitt Hires Duke Assistant Jeff Capel As Head Basketball Coach

The Pitt Panthers are hiring Duke assistant Jeff Capel to be their head basketball coach, as first reported by Evan Daniels of 247sports. The two sides reached an agreement on a seven-year deal.

Capel has been an assistant at Duke since 2011 and is known as one of the best recruiters in the country. He is largely credited with Duke's ability to land top one-and-done prospects in recent years.

Capel also has extensive experience as a head coach. He was the head man at VCU from 2002-2006 before taking the job at Oklahoma, where he coached until 2011. Capel led the Sooners to a 30-6 record in the 2008-09 season but was fired after OU went just 14-18 two years later.

He has been an assistant on Duke's staff since then and has taken over as the interim head coach on two occasions over the past two years.

Many around the program viewed him as the eventual successor to Mike Krzyzewski in Durham and this move likely throws a wrench in those plans.

However, it's likely that this is a sign that Coach K doesn't play to retire anytime soon. Capel has also wanted to get a coaching job in the ACC for the past several years.

Pitt is a program in need of a major rebuild. They fired former head coach Kevin Stallings, who spent two seasons in charge of the program, following the ACC Tournament after a season in which they went 8-24 and were winless in conference play.

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