Pittsburgh basketball lost in the second round of the ACC Tournament to N.C. State a few days ago, which ended the Panthers' season. The program went 13-20 overall and 5-13 in conference play, and there have been questions surrounding their future, more specifically, Jeff Capel's future.
After the game, athletic director Allen Greene notes that he and Capel would sit down in the coming days to evaluate the program and discuss the future. It looks like they had that conversation, and Capel will be returning to coach next season, according to Jeff Goodman.
“BREAKING: Pittsburgh's Jeff Capel will be the coach next season, source told The Field Of 68,” Goodman wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Capel's buyout is in the neighborhood of $15 million, and it doesn't seem like the program is ready to take a financial hit like that unless they know that he's not the right person for the job.
Earlier in the year, Greense gave his thoughts on the future of the program.
“We have high expectations for our men's basketball program, and we haven't lived up to those expectations this year,” Greene said. “Obviously, coach [Capel] knows that, the staff is aware of that, the players are aware of that. They want more out of what we got going on, and I know they're working their tails off to try to fix it.”
Under Capel, this was the program's fifth losing season overall and sixth losing season in conference play, which makes him 127-127 overall with the Pittsburgh. It will be interesting to see what moves the program decides to make in the coming months and how short of a leash Capel will have next season.
