Jeff Capel has worked extremely hard since arriving at Pitt to try and recruit top level talent to the program.
He was really close with five-star center Efton Reid and in fact, the Panthers thought they had him, but it never materialized as he ended up committing to LSU. It’s challenging enough for Pitt to try and land five-star talent but the details of this situation with Reid no doubt have the Pitt coaches more than frustrated.
Pittsburgh Sports Now has learned that on Friday, Reid and his family gave Capel and Pitt a verbal commitment and told the Pitt staff their intentions were to sign his Letter of Intent and have it into the Pitt program by the end of the weekend.
In other words, Reid and his family gave the Pitt program the impression they were committing to Pitt and that Capel was expecting to be announcing his addition at the start of this week.
The news on Sunday night completely blindsided Pitt and had no idea that’s what Reid was planning.
Reid’s phone commitment on Friday to Pitt was of course not binding, however the lack of transparency and honesty with the coaching staff is more than noteworthy, considering the considerable time Pitt devoted to recruiting him.
This kid and his family have clearly been a problem so why would you want him? Nothing they ever said had a shred of integrity.
I knew what happened last year. Everyone blame some ad coach Capel.
As much as we need to land talent, well any recruits really, I’m glad he chose LSU. Kid sounds like a headache with an overly involved mother. Wouldn’t be surprised to see if a scandal pops up sooner or later. Pay to play is pretty common @ IMG…
College basketball recruiting is reflective of the type of element of society the vast majority of recruits come from. Capel should try and recruit from a different pool of players. A more stable pool. Try Europe and Australia.
Been saying that myself lately.
Keep saying that go the Baylor route get 3 star kids & an juco players
What a tool him and his mother played pitt until Lsu came up with the right price
NCAA got paid, Mama Bear got paid, Nothing to see here. There are no rules. As long as everyone gets paid.
And that is a shame for all the others who follow and play BY the rules.
Addition by subtraction. This kid got drama written all over him.
Just another example of the sleaziness of college basketball. I wonder what Mama Bear’s cut was?
Follow the money!!! Problem is, no one cares! This just makes it a lot easier for me to stop watching college B-ball now.