Capel is focused on filling out his roster in short order
for each scenario. The planning, while meticulous, didn’t come without anxiety, particularly as some players took weeks and even months to come to a decision, leaving an already depleted roster in flux.
“Was it frustrating at times? Yeah, it was frustrating at times, not knowing what guys were going to do,” Capel said. “After about a week, you start thinking ‘OK, we’ve started to get to know each other, we’ve done these things — you should be able to make a decision right now.’ But I didn’t want to press guys.”
The 2018 recruiting class, the first place any coach in Capel’s position would turn, is largely picked over, with all but three of 247 Sports’ top 150 prospects having already made a decision on their future. Given that, Capel and his staff have explored the reclassification route, which involves a player from the 2019 class moving to the 2018 class, just as recent signee Trey McGowens did. Beyond that, there’s a relatively thin pool of graduate transfers, who are immediately eligible, as well as traditional transfers, who have to sit out a year. This weekend, Pitt will play host to New Mexico State grad transfer Sidy N’Dir and Kentucky forward Sacha Killeya-Jones.
“We’re looking at everything,” Capel said. “We’re looking at guys we feel like can come in and help us; either help us right away — and, at this point, a graduate transfer in that situation that could help right away and that’s something we’ve looked at and will continue to look at — or guys that we think can really help us in the future. That could be a transfer. That could be a 2018 guy that maybe we take and redshirt or maybe someone reclassifies up. We’re looking for good players that fit the vision right now and the vision going forward of who we want to become.”
As he pursues those options, Capel has had to be creative. Kevin Stallings’ staff used all but two official visits it was allowed over a two-year span. Due to the coaching change, Capel said he was granted one extra visit, but that still left him with only three, one of which was used last weekend when McGowens took an official visit. Hamstrung by that, he has relied on the openness of others, something for which he said he is incredibly grateful. Recent signee Xavier Johnson, for example, drove four hours with his family from the D.C. area to take an unofficial visit (costs associated with an unofficial visit are paid for by the prospect and his family, unlike an official visit, where those expenditures are covered by the school).
Whether it’s current players mulling a return or recruits choosing their next home, Capel hasn’t had what he would call a rehearsed pitch, true to form for a man who didn’t read from notes or a script at his introductory news conference. Rather, he has turned to what has carried him throughout his career — establishing relationships and seeing where those can take him.
“I wanted to get to know them and allow them to get to know me and to see my vision, hear my vision and, most importantly, see my passion, to see who I am and for me to try to get into their world,” he said. “Hopefully our worlds can combine.”