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Jeff Capel Makes Four Hires for Pitt Coaching Staff

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New Pitt men’s basketball head coach Jeff Capel made his first official moves on Friday, announces four hires for his coaching staff for the 2018-19 season.

Capel officially announced that his brother, Jason Capel and California associate head coach Tim O’Toole will join the staff, as well as the retention of longtime Pitt basketball staff members Brian Regan and Jason Richards.

“One of the biggest lessons I have learned in coaching is to surround yourself with great people,” Jeff Capel said in a press release. “I am excited about the makeup of this staff. Tim is a high-energy coach with terrific recruiting connections and a great basketball mind. Jason shares those qualities as well and is obviously someone who immediately understands me and my vision of how to build a program. Each of these coaches will serve as great representatives for the University of Pittsburgh and will be excellent mentors to the student-athletes we recruit, develop and lead.”

O’Toole comes to Pitt after two years at Cal and has also been an assistant at Stanford, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Duke (where he coached Jeff Capel), Iona, Army and Fordham. He was a head coach at his alma mater, Fairfield, from 1998 to 2006.

Jason Capel, Jeff’s younger brother, has spent the last four years working for ESPN as an analyst. He was previously a head coach at Appalachian State from 2010 to 2014. Capel is a North Carolina alum, a played in the 2000 Final Four with the Tar Heels.

O’Toole will hold the title of associate head coach and will be Capel’s “first chair” assistant. Men’s basketball teams are allowed to have three full-time assistant coaches, so Capel still has at least one spot left on his staff to fill. Pitt had a fourth assistant that served as an analyst in 2017-18.

Regan will return as director of basketball operations, a job he held from 2008 to 2016 under then-head coach Jamie Dixon. Regan spend the last two season as director of event management and camps and clinics for the university. Before joining the Pitt staff as video coach in 2007, he was an assistant at Colgate, Assumption, Slippery Rock, LaRoche and Robert Morris.

Richards will man a newly created position as director of student-athlete development. He’s in his eighth season overall with the Panthers. He was the director of basketball operations and director of analytics in 2017-18. Before that, he was video coordinator and a graduate manager.

“Jason and Brian bring great value to the staff as individuals with a terrific understanding of the University of Pittsburgh and the city,” Capel added. “Jason was a terrific player at Davidson with an outstanding feel for the game. He has a bright future in this industry and will be an invaluable member of the staff. Brian brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the operations position. He will be an important figure as we transition here to the University of Pittsburgh and begin to reestablish ourselves as one of the premier programs in the country.”

Sandy Schall, Coldwell Banker
 
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