Pitt AD Allen Greene Explains Decision to Retain Jeff Capel
PITTSBURGH — Uncertainty lingered following a 13-20 season for the Pitt men’s basketball program.
Head coach Jeff Capel completed his eighth season at the helm of the program and recorded his fifth losing season and second 20-loss campaign during that stretch.
Pitt athletic director Allen Greene was faced with one of his first significant decisions in his tenure at Pitt.
A few minutes following Pitt’s season-ending loss against NC State, 98-88, in the ACC Tournament, Greene provided a statement saying he would sit down with Capel in the coming days to “evaluate the program and discuss the future.”
Many thought Capel would be on his way out, but following that evaluation, Greene opted to retain Capel on March 13.
Greene spoke Thursday to the media regarding that decision for the first time and what led to retaining Capel for a ninth season.
“Infrastructure,” Greene told reporters inside the Petersen Events Center. “We’ve built an infrastructure around this program that is going to allow us to compete. We hired a GM, and this is his first roster that he’s building. We’ve invested a significant amount of money in this roster, more than I thought we were going to invest. But we’re committed to this program being successful and making it to the NCAA tournament. That’s our goal. That’s our start-off goal. And we’re looking forward to this team competing.”
Greene was then asked a follow-up regarding if this season is an NCAA Tournament or bust for Capel.
“No,” he said. “There’s too many uncertainties in this industry for it to be a hard line. Coach Capel’s competitive as hell. He’s really competitive, and he wants it just as bad if not more than everybody else.”
Once Greene informed Capel that he was returning, another set of decisions came — making adjustments to the assistant staff. Capel let go three assistants Jason Capel, his brother, Tim O’Toole and Gilbert Brown.
“Yeah, well, in looking at the entire operation, we’ve had eight seasons with the same staff,” Greene said. “We’ve had different players. Our investment level has steadily increased, albeit to a level that I think was good enough. But we also didn’t have the infrastructure in place. Now we do. But after a while, you just need a different look. You need different voices sometimes in the locker room. Capel was very passionate about his position on it. I was passionate about my position on it. We had several conversations about what the staff ought to look like. Ultimately, we made the decision to move on and bring two new people in. And Jeff has been an absolute pro in doing so. And I respect the way he has handled the situation and look forward to supporting him this year.”
Pitt hired former program standouts Ricardo Greer and Ronald Ramon as assistant coaches. The Panthers have also completely rebuilt their roster heading into the 2026-27 season with 11 transfers in Baye Ndongo, Nait George, Jalil Bethea, A’lahn Sumler, Jonathan Powell, Dominique Diomande, Ibrahim Souare, Armani Mighty, Timofei Rudovskii, Kraig Gilbert and Colin Hawkins to go along with two freshmen.
