Jeff Capel on Movement in College Hoops: ‘It’s Just a Completely Different Time’

Jeff Capel and his Pitt staff have embraced the new reality of college basketball and know that not every player will stick around for a four-year career with the same program.

“I think it’s going to be very rare to see the Chase Hunters, the Schieffelins,” Capel said on Monday. “I think Chase has been there for six years… But guys that are older and stay in one place. I think you’re going to continue to see more movement. These kids have options now.”

Capel and his staff have brought in several veteran transfers themselves over the past few seasons, namely Jamarius Burton, Nelly Cummings, Greg Elliott, Blake Hinson, Zack Austin, and others. While those transfers have benefitted the Pitt program, that also means that those players left their prior situations. But not just those players. Over the past few years, the Division One transfer portal has included more than 1,000 players each spring.

“I have a 17 year old, a 15 year old, and a 12 year old at home,” Capel continued. “We’re trying to teach them to deal with difficult things — when I say we, my wife and I — and to not walk. It’s easy to bail, you know, it’s easy if things aren’t going well for you to walk, ok, I’m going somewhere else. I think young people now, in general, not just athletes, I think they’re missing out on opportunities to learn.”

“Failure is not a destination,” Capel added. “Sometimes, the best teacher is failing. I know for me, it was. Maybe for me it was different because I played a lot as a freshman, but still, you go through difficult things, you go through hard things. Look, I’m not going to say I didn’t think about transferring at one point. I was fortunate that I had parents at home, especially a dad that was like, ‘You’re not quitting, fight through it, figure it out.’ Not a lot of people want to fight through things anymore. So, I think it’s going to continue to be a lot of movement.”

Capel played for Duke from 1993-97, earning 28 starts as a rookie. He then averaged 12+ points per game in each of his last three seasons in Durham.

“We have a kid on our team, we have senior night coming up on Saturday, he told us he doesn’t want to do it,” Capel said. “It would be his third one. Think about that. You have guys coming to your program for one year and they’re going to a Senior Night and it may be their third one or fourth one. It’s just a completely different time now.”

While Capel did not indicate who exactly the player was, it is safe to assume he is speaking about Damian Dunn, who is currently injured. Dunn spent four years with Temple before spending last year with Houston. Now, he is a graduate student at Pitt. Ishmael Leggett and Zack Austin are the only two seniors on the team this season, but both have only transferred once before.