Tonight, Jeff Capel III will kick off his third season as OU’s head basketball coach.

He took control of the Sooner’s hard court during tumultuous times in April 2006.

He had never been to Oklahoma. He didn’t know how to recruit in this region, and the few recruits the team did have retreated to other schools.

To make his decision even more difficult, he knew he would be leaving the best team he had ever coached at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Yet, Capel accepted the challenge, and after two seasons at OU, he has propelled his players from a struggling team in 2006 to No. 1 in the Big 12 pre-season rankings.

More importantly, he has established a reputation as a man of integrity that cares more about his players, family and morals than he does about winning.

“I think the university of Oklahoma is extremely fortunate to have a young man like Capel coaching their basketball team, because he wants to protect the integrity of the game, and he himself is a man of integrity,” said Bob Harris, the voice of the Duke Blue Devils and a long time follower of Capel’s career. “His sincerity is one of his best attributes. He’s very straight forward, and that’s a family trait.”

Family Ties

Capel and those that know him best attribute his attitude and success to his upbringing in Fayetteville, N.C.

Capel said he was brought up in a loving family, and both his parents and grandparents had a hand in helping him achieve great success at a young age.

“He is such a family person, and I think that’s what made him into the coach and communicator that he’s become,” said Chris Collins, a former teammate of Capel’s. “Obviously there’s a lot of people that know x’s and o’s, but only so much of coaching is being able to build relationships and have your guys trust in you, and it all goes back to his family and how he was brought up.”

Collins said Capel’s father, Jeff Capel II, and grandfather, Felton Capel, provided the foundation he was raised on.

“To be able to do what he has done in a very short time, speaks volumes about what he has learned from his father and the other great men around him,” Harris said.

Capel’s grandparents never missed a game while he played at North Carolina, whether home or away. Even during Capel’s senior year at Duke University, when the elder Capel was in the hospital after surgery, he persuaded doctors to let him see the ACC championship game against North Carolina.

“The night they won the state championship. Jeff scored the last five points of the game in the last minute-and-a-half. Capel said. “I got out onto the court and he told me, ‘Pop, I won this one for you,’ and I tell you that was the best medicine I could of possibly had.”

The Capel family’s success spurs from the elder Capel’s hard work and success in North Carolina business.

Capel’s grandfather is a member of the Rotary Club, a radio broadcaster, has served on the board at Fayetteville University and has a stadium named after him. Capel’s grandfather said he taught his sons to strive to be the best and to respect others, which he passed on to Capel and his brother Jayson.

Capel’s grandfather said he used to take his grandsons on runs and field trips and used that time to mold them into better men.

“I tried always to teach him to give it his very best,” Capel said. “I instilled in them, integrity, honesty, respect for everyone, be appreciative of whatever help comes your way, and pass it on.”

Capel’s mother and father also raised him to not only have integrity and respect, but family values and to be a genuinely nice person.

“It doesn’t cost you anything to be nice and to be good,” Capel’s father said.

Capel said his father told him that, “you can learn something from anybody, even if they are a fool.” Capel said his father is his hero and a source of guidance, which instilled in him a set of values as a youth.

“I’ve been taught a certain way, and I was very fortunate to have had both parents at home,” Capel said. “I think you are a product of your environment, what you see everyday, and I saw a man of integrity with my father and grandfather.”

Coaching in the game of life

Capel said he learned that basketball can provide life lessons. One of the most important lessons he learned is how to be a good listener.

“I’ve tried to tell the guys that I have coached, In order to be a better basketball player, one of things you have to do is be a good listener, and that’s the same thing in life,” Capel said. “Being a son of a coach, I learned that at a very young age.”

Men like his father and Coach K influenced Capel’s coaching techniques. Capel said he learned integrity, respect and to help others from his father and grandfather, and learned to give no excuses and present results from Coach K.

“So much about coaching, especially at the college level is relating to your players, developing the relationships, having them trust in you and play hard for you,” Collins said. “He does those things at a very high level, he’s a great communicator, he always was as a teammate, and I have had the chance to watch him as a coach and he does a great job.”

Capel and Collins played at Duke together for three seasons. Collins was a sophomore when Capel started playing for Duke in the 1993 to 1994 season, and the two immediately bonded. Capel and Collins were a couple of young guards on a team of veterans, like Grant Hill and Cherokee Parks who went on to play in the NBA.

Capel said playing under a coach with the reputation and experience of Coach K, and playing with players of such high caliber as Hill and Parks, helped provide him with the high-level of knowledge and experience to be successful as a division-one coach.

“He’s the type of coach that I would want my son to play for,” said Steve Wojciechowski, former teammate and associate coach at Duke.

But coaching wasn’t always Capel’s plan. Throughout his career as a player, Capel was convinced he would be a professional basketball player, but his father said he wasn’t surprised when he made the switch.

“It was something that I really didn’t want to do, but as my playing career started coming to an end, it’s something that I really started looking at, because I knew I wanted to be a part of the game,” Capel said.

His first coaching endeavor was an assistant under his father at Old Dominion University during the 2001 season. Even though it was Capel’s first season behind the whistle and he wasn’t making much money, he said he loved that season for several reasons.

“No. 1, I got to be with my dad everyday, and I got to see him in that element. No. 2 we had a team that really fought … It was also a great year because it taught me about the profession. It taught me that it’s a business,” Capel said.

Capel’s father said his son has the right mentality to be a successful coach. His father said it came to him naturally.

“I see a lot of different people in his coaching style, but his mannerisms are mine, I mean the stomping the foot,” Capel’s father said. “I don’t think anybody taught him. It’s just that he absorbs so much. He’s like me. He loves the game.”

A Natural Leader

Capel underwent a baptism by fire his first year, starting at point guard for the Duke Blue Devils. But, after that season, Duke lost its spark. They struggled, going 13-18 in Capel’s sophomore year, and failed to make even make the NCAA Tournament after going to the Final Four six out of the last seven years.

“There were a couple of times when things weren’t going well, and Jeff got booed in Cameron Indoor [Stadium],” Harris said. “That never happens.”

Capel said he missed five shots in a row and the crowd let loose.

“You feel like you are letting the tradition down,” Capel said.

But Capel rebounded. He continued to push through the flak and the turning point was in 1995 against rival North Carolina. Capel hit a 40-foot shot at the buzzer to send the game into double overtime. Even though they lost that game, “the shot” as it has called will live in infamy. It was even nominated for an ESPY.

The next two seasons Capel and the Blue Devils turned things around, winning the ACC championship his senior year.

When Capel first came to OU he was looking at a similar situation as his sophomore year, except this time he was the leader that everybody turned to.

The pressure was immense. OU was facing sanctions from the NCAA, due to a previous coaches infractions, and to make recruiting matters worse OU’s top recruits moved on to other schools.

“When I took it over there were incredibly challenging times for us.” Capel said. “ We were looking at possible NCAA infractions, and you were kind of looking at a team in turmoil … You saw the dismantling of a really good recruiting class, with three guys not wanting to come.”

He said his immediate challenges were trying to continue OU’s strong basketball tradition, getting to know his players and making inroads in recruiting.

“We buckled down and we worked, our players our coaching staff, and it’s something that we continue to do,” Capel Said. “It’s all I’ve really ever known to do.”

Capel was taught by both his high school coach and college coach to never give excuses, just results. He said this mentality spurs from the military background of his father and coaches.

“When I was at Duke playing for Coach K it was ‘yes sir,’ ‘no sir,’ ‘no excuse sir,’” Capel said. “Get the job done, you got to find a way to get it done, and that has been my motto. Especially, when I got here.”

But finishing the job wasn’t easy.

“I’m not going to lie, when I took the job, that first month there were days when I questioned, ‘Did I make the right decision?’ Cause there were times when it looked incredibly bleak.”

Since that spring Capel has thrived in Oklahoma, much the same way he thrived as head coach at VCU, being named the youngest NCAA head coach at 31, and also named coach of the year multiple times.

He said he found solace in the fact that players like Tony Crocker and Cade Davis wanted to play at OU. He recruited Blake Griffin, and had a hand in keeping the rising star at OU for another season. Capel also brought Willie Warren to OU, a top five ranked recruit from Cedar Hill, Texas.

With many of his initial challenges behind him, Capel looks forward to the season ahead. He said he looks past the hype. Even though OU sits atop the preseason Big 12 rankings and is ranked number 12 overall by ESPN.com, he doesn’t care.

“We haven’t even played a [regular season] game yet,” Capel said.

No matter tonight’s results (see Pg. 5) or the season’s results for that matter, a man who exemplifies a passion for the game, honesty and integrity leads OU men’s basketball.

“He’s the type of coach that I would want my son to play for,” said Steve Wojciechowski, former teammate and associate coach at Duke.