Chaney’s impact lasted forever with Pitt’s Capel
Panthers coach lauded what legend did for all
Jeff Capel put his hands behind his head and peered forward with a look of disbelief. No, this wasn’t a scene from Pitt’s blowout loss Saturday to Notre Dame. It was a moment in time 25 years ago, when Capel faced John Chaney’s fiery and physical Temple Owls.
On Jan. 25, 1996, Capel stood at midcourt of the old Spectrum in south Philadelphia, disappointed and defeated. He was a junior at Duke when the Blue Devils lost, 5958, to Temple. Duke was hardly a juggernaut that year. The Blue Devils went 18-13 and lost to Eastern Michigan in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Still, you could forgive the sold-out crowd and Temple’s players for going nuts.
Capel was gutted while Chaney triumphed that day. But that win, along with his 740 others, further added to Chaney’s legacy, one Capel has respected for a long time.
Chaney, a college basketball icon, died Friday. He was 89.
“He had a profound impact on this country with what he meant, especially for Black people and specifically for young, Black men,” Capel said Saturday night. “He was a sign of strength. He was a sign of positivity. And he was a sign of power.”
Chaney spent 24 seasons at Temple from 1982-2006, accumulating five Elite Eight appearances and eight Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season titles. Before taking over the Owls, Chaney spent 10 seasons at Cheyney University, a historically Black institution outside of Philadelphia where he won a Division II national championship in 1978.
Chaney, the first Black coach to reach 700 wins, was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Capel said Chaney became “synonymous” with Temple, where he won 516 of his games. Pitt’s coach also lauded Chaney’s trailblazing path from coaching at an HBCU to a major college program, a plight Capel similarly saw firsthand.
Capel’s father, Jeff Capel Jr., coached at two HBCUs, Fayetteville State and North Carolina A&T, before landing the head job at Old Dominion in 1994 — 12 years after Chaney was hired by Temple. Capel said his father got the opportunity to coach at Old
Dominion coming from North Carolina A&T “because of what coach Chaney did,” succeeding at Temple after doing so at Cheyney.
“He meant so much for young, Black coaches who had aspirations of having an opportunity one day to be a head coach,” Capel added. “One of the people who he really inspired and someone who thought the world of him was my father.”
Capel’s father ended up forming a friendship with Chaney, allowing Capel to get to know him personally. When Capel became a head coach at VCU in 2002, it was Chaney who offered guidance, advice and things to watch out for. And Capel, a fresh-faced 27-year-old, took it all in.
Though he never got the chance to coach against Chaney, Capel always will have his two games as a player against Temple. When Capel was a leading freshman, the No. 2-ranked Blue Devils beat No. 8 Temple, 5947, at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Then, of course, the Owls bested Capel and Duke in 1996.
Turns out, that was the only time Chaney would ever beat Mike Krzyzewski in their nine meetings. And as the clock hit zero, it was Capel draining the last shot.
“I thought the world of him,” Capel said. “He was always there. He was always entertaining. And he was a great, great man. It’s a big loss. It’s a big loss for us.”