Pitt Head Coach Jeff Capel Wins ACC Coach of the Year

On Monday, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced that Pitt head coach Jeff Capel won the 2022-23 ACC Coach of the Year award.

After the Panthers failed to achieve a winning record in his first four seasons, Capel turned around the program with this year’s 21-10 regular season, which included a 14-6 conference record. Capel and his staff turned around the program by adding transfers Jamarius Burton, Nelly Cummings, Greg Elliott, Blake Hinson, and Nike Sibande in the past three years. This year’s additions of Cummings, Hinson, and Elliott have taken the Panthers to the next level and have Pitt competing in this week’s ACC Tournament as the No. 5 seed.

Capel has spent 14 years as a head coach at the Division One level, coaching at VCU (79-41 record), Oklahoma (96-69), and now Pitt (72-79).He has led his teams to three NCAA Tournaments, taking VCU to the big dance in 2003-04, and Oklahoma in 2007-08 and 2008-09.

Pitt will open up ACC Tournament action on Wednesday, March 8 against the winner of Florida State Vs. Georgia Tech. The Panthers are trying to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015-16, the program’s last season under head coach Jamie Dixon.