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(06-06-2020 04:35 PM)JJMonarch Wrote:  

(06-06-2020 03:08 PM)ODU True Blue Wrote:  

(06-06-2020 01:13 PM)84Monarch Wrote:  

(06-05-2020 10:02 PM)monarx Wrote:  I still think Capel had better results than Jeff so far. The only difference is he was obviously trending down while JJ might be trending up. But to think Capel was fired and we sing the praises of Jeff just seems off to me.

Capel lived off of Tom Young’s and Oliver Purnell’s recruiting for Most of his success. His best year with just his players was an NIT bid. Then he started just giving scholarships to bodies his last year.

Last few years actually. Only two good recruits in his final years were Marsh and Wright. Capel’s name was linked to many openings whether he was actively applying or not. That killed his recruiting. It was used against him severely.

Capel, proved to me he was no real coach tho. He recruited, argueably, the best recruiting class in ODU history. Cal Bowdler , Skipper Youngblood, Reggie Bassette, and Randee Benson. Benson remains the highest rated recruit, at #75, ever to sign at ODU. One site gave ODU’s class as #25 in the country. Sadly Benson was diagnosed with a heart condition and never played BB at ODU. Next year he added a decent PG to the mix. Along with transfer Joe Bunn. That great recruiting class made 1 NCAA tournament their Sophomore year. Then Capel tried to capitalize and perused the opening at Fl State. Didn’t get it and the aftermath was his players resented it, his heart wasn’t in it and it all combined into a losing record their Jr season.

Capel was a real coach. In my view he was a real good coach and a great man. He led ODU to two NCAA tournaments and led us to our finest NCAA victory ever in Division 1. He also didn’t have a few bad years as you mentioned. He had two losing seasons his last two years and some of those reasons you point out. Also to compound his problems during those last couple of years were his sons playing at Duke and UNC which distracted him. He was involved with a lot of big name recruits during his time but wasn’t able to attract them to ODU except for the Bowdler, Bassett, Poag class. Keep in mind he was recruiting kids to play in our field house. He didn’t have the luxury of showing kids the Constant center that BT had. If you look back at his CAA tournament record, he also never lost a game to a lower seeded team. None of our coaches accomplished that.
Capel was also a class act. You mentioned Joe Bunn. He was a family friend of Capel and he only played one year because he was kicked off the team for misconduct. I always appreciated the way he handled that situation with the star player even though it spelled doom for our team. One of Capel’s downfalls was he was not good with the alumni. He didn’t handle that part of his job well ( opposite of a sober BT) but he is and always will be one of my favorite. We are all entitled to an opinion. I view Capel as one of our best coaches in history.

Do a little homework. Capel had 3 losing seasons in his final 4 years at ODU. He followed an NCAA season In 1997 with a losing season Bowdler’s JR season. Look it up. A team with everyone important back except maybe Bunn and they had a losing season. Bounced back The following season with a disappointing NIT bid. All those guys except Youngblood graduated. He redshirted So we’d have some experience up front. Still was the first of two consecutive losing seasons which led to Capel’s firing. But look it up he had 3 losing seasons in his final 4 years.

Yes he was a very good man. But doesn’t change the fact that he was the first coach in ODU’s Division 1 history to have 3 losing seasons. He blamed the lack of a new arena on bad recruiting. Ignoring the negative recruiting aspect of his job searches (granted it often people speculating about him), ignoring that he resorted to questionable academic recruits who did not get accepted, he never took responsibility.