Capel praises response of his players
Communication consistency sought
Jeff Capel knows today’s generation of athletes require a different coaching approach, but also knows he has to push his players to get the best out of them.
The Pitt men’s basketball team’s 87-58 win against Northwestern on Monday night in Evanston, Ill., was a shining example of his players responding to his style of coaching. The Panthers started the season 1-3, and even though they went into Monday with a three-game win streak to get to 4-3, they struggled to put together a complete game. Specifically, they struggled in the first half.
Against Alabama State, Fairleigh Dickinson and William and Mary, the Panthers’ first-half point differential in those games was even. Between the three opponents, Pitt had scored 99, and had allowed 99 points. Capel wasn’t satisfied. After Wednesday’s practice at Petersen Events Center, Pitt guard Greg Elliott revealed Capel had some choice words for the Panthers about their first-half performances before facing Northwestern.
“Yeah, you could say that,” Elliott said when asked of Capel had choice words with Pitt’s players about their slow starts. “He just told us, ‘we have to come out with a better start, or else.’”
Elliott didn’t elaborate on what the “or else,” might’ve been from Capel, but he
didn’t have to. Pitt got the message and showed up to outscore Northwestern, 3728, in the first half while shooting 44% from the field and 60% on 3- pointers against a team that entered the game as one of the highest ranked defenses in college basketball. It laid the foundation for Pitt’s best win of the season.
“One of our main goals was to put a full 40 minutes together,” Elliott said. “We knew that was something we hadn’t done. We watch the film. It was an emphasis of our coaching staff. But coaches can preach as much as they want, if we don’t go out there and execute, it won’t get done.”
One of the biggest factors to getting more results like Monday for Pitt has been the coaching emphasis on consistent communication. Elliott credited his teammates with growth in that department.
“We’ve grown tremendously,” Elliott said. “We just played four months together. It’s different from practicing together for a month. These are the real wars you’re in, so you see what your bothers are really about when the bullets are really flying at you and these teams are punching back at you. It’s not like practice when it’s one-sided. We keep fighting and we keep growing together.”
When Capel was asked the difference between just “good talk” and “elite talk,” he revealed why he sees communication as a component to his basketball philosophy for building a successful team.
“Good talk is not good enough,” Capel said of Pitt’s communication. “When you’re talking on the court to your team, that means you’re really deep into the game and you’re focused on winning. You’re talking to your teammates about defense, whatever it is, you’re doing it constantly. Offensively, you’re echoing commands you’re telling guys to get to a spot and you’re doing it all the time. Usually if you’re doing that, you can get to where you’re elite at it, that means your team can be really good. It gets you to not think about you. One of the worst things a guy can do is be inward, because then you’re just worried about you. Because then you’re a bit slower, you’re not going to react as quick as you need and you’re not going to be as instinctive as you need to be.”
But to get his players to resonate with his message, Capel knows he has to communicate his critiques and coaching points in ways that are based in fact.
“It has to do with the nature of people now,” Capel said. “The way that I was coached, you can’t do that anymore. You have to be able to adjust and adapt. But you have to be able to tell them the truth. I always tell the truth. You have to be able to accept it and understand it. One of the great things is that film doesn’t lie. You can tell a guy something and they think, ‘Oh, I didn’t do that.’ But then you go back, watch tape and you see they’re not really playing hard. There’s had to be an adjustment with how you communicate.”
For Capel, it’s important to balance hard coaching he was used to as a player under Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski between 1993-1997, with the approach of how to approach today’s athletes.
“I got chewed out for four years,” Capel said. “... I’ve always sought the truth. I don’t ever want anyone to B. S. me. I tell anyone, whether it’s recruiting or relationships, I like to operate with the truth. ... A lot of people in this sport hear a lot of untruths and B.S. and it messes them up sometimes. At some point, you have to deal with reality. If you haven’t gotten the truth, it could be devastating for you.”
Blake Hinson, Pitt’s top scorer and junior forward, is someone who doesn’t complain.
“I thought he was pretty efficient,” Capel said of Hinson. “I believe in our ability to help guys get better as long as the guy works. I think we’ve shown that we can help guys individually improve their games. I think we’ve helped him, and he’s certainly helped us. But the main thing is that the kid has worked since he got here. He’s easy to coach, because there’s no B.S. You can coach him hard. He accepts the truth, he wants the truth; he doesn’t make excuses and he doesn’t shy away from it. Guys like that are really easy to coach.”
He’s seen several players take on that task.
“Blake is that way,” Capel said about Pitt players who are infectious with the way they communicate on the court. “Greg is that way and we have some other guys like [Jamarius Burton] who are that way. Nike [Sibande] has become that way over the last four games and Nelly [Cummings] is learning how to do that at a high level. We have guys who are trending in that direction.”