The Duke Blue Devils could put some more distance between themselves and the rest of the ACC on Tuesday night when they host the Pittsburgh Panthers, one of two other unbeaten teams in conference play. However, any longtime Cameron Crazies also see the midweek battle as a homecoming game for the visiting coach.
Pittsburgh head coach Jeff Capel III played for the Blue Devils from 1993-97, averaging 16.6 points and 3.7 assists as a junior in 1995-96. He played 129 games across his Duke career, including a trip to the 1994 national championship game as a freshman alongside Grant Hill. He scored 14 points in that 76-72 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks, a result which withheld the Blue Devils’ third title in four years.
Capel began his coaching career elsewhere, taking over the VCU program in 2002 before being given the keys to the Oklahoma Sooners in 2006. He took Oklahoma to the Elite Eight in his third season, but he was fired in 2011 after failing to win 15 games in either of the following two years.
[autotag]Mike Krzyzewski[/autotag] welcomed him back to Durham as an assistant coach ahead of the 2011-12 season, and Capel was promoted to associate head coach for the 2014-15 season. The Blue Devils, notably, won their most recent championship in that campaign.
Capel spent seven seasons on the Duke staff before taking the Pittsburgh job in 2018. He’s coached against his former program eight times with a 2-6 record against the Blue Devils, including an upset at Cameron Indoor Stadium last January.