Jeff Capel is a household name among basketball fans in this part of North Carolina. The Duke University associate head basketball coach was a star at South View High School in Fayetteville and started 105 games during his four-year career with the Blue Devils.
Capel was named the North Carolina 4-A player of the year in 1993 after averaging 23.8 points per game and leading South View, coached by Ron Miller, to a 31-1 record and the state championship.
At Duke, Capel averaged 12.4 points and 3.4 assists over four years, playing for Mike Krzyzewski. His father, Jeff II, has been a college head coach and NBA assistant. His brother, Jason, was a standout basketball player at the University of North Carolina.
ONC: Many youngsters grow up dreaming of a career in sports. How old were you when you realized that could be a reality for you?
JC: I dreamed of a career in sports for as long as I can remember. As you can imagine, the dream was always to play. I never imagined myself coaching when I was young. I don’t know if that was because my dad was a coach, or just because I only thought of playing. I dreamed of playing in the NBA and then joining the front office after my playing career was over and eventually, becoming a general manager. That was the vision I had for myself from the time I was a kid.
What was it like, growing up in a family where basketball was such a large part of life?
I have amazing parents who have taught me so many lessons. My dad was a coach and teacher. My mom was a volleyball coach and teacher. My grandfather (Mom’s dad) was a college football coach and a professor. My other grandfather (Dad’s father) owned his own business and was in politics. So I grew up around coaching and teaching and giving back. From as early as I can remember, we had teams or members of teams over at our house. My babysitters when I was growing up were my dad’s players. When I turned 5 years old, I met my best friend when my brother was born, and we have remained best friends since. So a lot of what we did revolve around basketball. Being a boy and the firstborn, I always wanted to be around my dad. That meant I was in a gym a lot. I have always been around teams. My dad was a high school coach until I was in sixth grade. He then was an assistant at Wake Forest University for three years. I was a ball boy for the teams he coached until the eighth grade. I was probably the worst ball boy ever because all I wanted to do was shoot! Dad then became a college head coach at his alma mater, Fayetteville State University. When I look back at my childhood, I realize how my life was shaped by the coaching profession and sports. It taught me so many valuable lessons that I use to this day.
When did you see your future was as a coach?
I started getting the itch to coach around the age of 23. I had finished up my career at Duke and was still pursuing my dream of making the NBA. I had an injury and a very serious illness after I finished college, the latter causing me to miss a season my second year out of college. It was during that year when I started thinking about coaching. I was around my dad’s team at Old Dominion University, and I began to appreciate what he did and the impact he had on kids’ lives at a greater level. As my health improved, Coach K created a spot on his staff during the 1999 season. I got to sit in on coaches’ meetings and practices, which gave me an inside and different look at how Duke basketball operated. More than anything, I knew I wanted to have a chance to impact the lives of young people.
Did your dad talk with you about the negatives, as well as the positives, of coaching as a career?
When I started thinking about trying to get into the coaching profession, my father was very honest with me. To be clear, he did not really want me to choose a career in coaching. But when he realized the passion I had for doing it, he gave me my first opportunity in the profession by hiring me as one of his assistants at Old Dominion University. I learned so much from him and the other members of the staff my first year working for him.
Describe your relationship with Mike Krzyzewski when you played for him.
I had a very good relationship with Coach when I played for him. The coach was the reason I chose Duke. I felt a connection with him. He was someone I felt I could trust from Day One. To be honest, he reminded me so much of my dad because of his military background since my dad was in the Army and his brutal honesty. I loved that. I made my decision to come to Duke in April of my junior year of high school. That was 1992. So I have known and had a relationship with Coach over half of my life. The lessons I learned as a player at Duke are things that I use every day of my life as a husband, father, son, brother, friend, and now, a coach. As good as I thought it would be when I chose to play for Duke, it has been 100 times better.
Tell us how different that relationship was when you joined his staff as one of his assistants.
The relationship evolved from player-coach to a friendship. How cool is that? That started happening as I got older in the program as a player. As we spent time and went through so many things together, the trust went to a different level. We knew each other more. As one of his assistants now, it is a friendship. Never in a million years, when I was 17 years old making my college decision, did I ever imagine the coach I chose to play for would become a very close friend, someone that I would have a very close relationship with 23 years later. That relationship didn’t just happen because I work for him. It’s something that Coach cultivates and works on. Relationships are very important to him.
Why do you think Coach K is so successful?
He has been so successful because he is constantly trying to learn and get better. He is willing and understands you have to adapt. He never has thought he has arrived; he’s always trying to become. He understands how to be in the moment and has the ability to be in the moment with each kid or team he’s coaching. And it is never about his moment, always about being in their moment. He has created an environment at Duke where everyone involved from the players, managers, support staff, administration, university, students, the Duke community-feels Duke basketball is theirs. We all feel like we own it. That is very difficult to do. He develops these relationships with people where we trust him. We believe in him. We believe in his vision. He is able to do this because of how much he believes in you, and how much he trusts you. It is very hard to describe but easy to understand when you’re around him, which makes him the most incredible leader I have ever been around.
You were a successful Division I head coach—seemingly the goal of any young coach. Why did you return to Duke?
I returned as an assistant quite simply because I was fired as a head coach. But it has been the greatest thing for my career, to be honest with you. This upcoming season will be my seventh overall as an assistant coach. I was a head coach for nine years. I had two years of experience as an assistant before I became a head coach at 27 years old. I have learned so much during my four years back here at Duke.
What is the best part of coaching for you?
My favorite part is the relationships with the players and using the experiences I’ve had as a player, the lessons I’ve learned, to help them grow. To see the men they become. To help them make a dream become a reality. It is so cool to see when a kid finally “gets it.” Like Quin Cook did this past year for us. He grew up and became this amazing leader, this amazing teammate. He gave so much to our team and to the young guys on our team. It was so beautiful and gratifying to see.
I remember your shot just inside half-court against Carolina. What are your biggest thrills in basketball?
Winning the state championship with my high school team at South View Senior High is one of them. Starting in the Final Four as a freshman and playing for the national championship is one. The Final Four was in Charlotte, so that was incredibly cool being that I grew up in this state. Winning the ACC regular-season my senior year was one of my biggest thrills because of all that we had been through as a program my sophomore and junior seasons. It was a group that was not the most talented, but we were the most together, the toughest, and we got the most out of the talent we had. My second year as a head coach at VCU is one of my favorite thrills. To win the regular-season championship and conference tournament to qualify for the NCAA tournament was amazing. It truly is one of my favorite teams I coached because those kids believed and trusted me completely. It was during that season that I coached my first conference player of the year, Dominic Jones, and my first rookie of the year, Nick George. My third year at Oklahoma was one of my biggest thrills. I felt we were as good as anyone in the country. We advanced to the Elite 8 and lost to a great North Carolina team. That year I had a chance to coach the National Player of the Year in Blake Griffin. Blake went on to become the No. 1 pick in the 2009 NBA draft and has become one of the best players in the world. Finally, winning the national championship this past season has been the most amazing. It was the most selfless and special group of guys I have ever been around.