Michalowski: My Thoughts on Reported Hire by Capel

We’ve got some big news revolving around the Pitt hoops program.

Jeff Goodman reported that Jeff Capel and the Pitt staff have hired a general manager — Jay Kuntz. Prior to this past season, Kuntz coached under Bob Huggins as West Virginia’s Director of Recruiting and Player Personnel.

If true, this hire would be a big move by Capel. The program knows that it needs to get back to the NCAA Tournament, and it is taking steps towards that by bolstering the staff with a respected recruiter. Pitt only has six spots taken on the current roster. The Panthers need to fill out more than half of an entire roster. Kuntz has done this before.

Kuntz has worked the portal before. One offseason, he brought in Kerr Kriisa, RaeQuan Battle, Jesse Edwards, and others. All three of those guys came with a big price tag in the early years of the portal & NIL. Then, Huggins and WVU parted ways in mid-June 2023.

Keep in mind — most teams are already set in stone for weeks, if not months, at that time. Kuntz and the WVU staff had to scramble. Kuntz played a crucial role in bringing in transfers Quinn Slazinski, Akok Akok, Noah Farrakhan, and others to build out a roster for the Mountaineers.

According to sources, Kuntz was courted by several blue blood programs throughout this offseason. Now, it appears that he has landed at Pitt. If true, I like the move.

Kuntz had a few titles within the program at WVU while there for more than 16 years: student manager (2008-12), coordinator of player development (2015-17), assistant to the head coach (2017-22) and most recently director of player personnel and recruiting.

Kuntz recruited the transfer portal for West Virginia the last two offseasons, helping bring the likes of Erik Stevenson, Jesse Edwards, RaeQuan Battle, Tre Mitchell, Kerr Kriisa and others to Morgantown.

Stay tuned on PSN for updates regarding this move by Pitt.