Tim Capstraw (born September 14, 1960), nicknamed The Capper, is a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and t ...

for the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The t ...

and

NBA TV NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regular ...

. Prior to becoming a sportscaster, Capstraw was the head basketball coach at

Wagner College Wagner College is a private liberal arts college in Staten Island, New York City. Founded in 1883 and with an enrollment of approximately 2,200 students, Wagner is known for its academic program, The Wagner Plan for the Practical Liberal Arts. It ...

from 1989 to 1999.

Coaching

Capstraw was born and raised

Utica, New York Utica () is a Administrative divisions of New York, city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The List of cities in New York, tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 ...

and graduated from the Utica Free Academy. He graduated from Wagner College in 1982 and the following year, at only 23 years old, he became the school's head baseball coach. In 1985 he became a basketball assistant at

Siena College Siena College is an American private Franciscan college in Loudonville, New York. Siena was founded by the Order of Friars Minor in 1937. The college was named after Bernardino of Siena, a 15th-century Italian Franciscan friar and preacher. St ...

. In 1989, Capstraw returned to Wagner as head basketball coach. At the age of 29, he was the youngest coach in Division I. At Wagner, Capstraw had a 117–164 record and no NCAA tournament or NIT bids. He was the 1992 Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year.

Broadcasting

Capstraw's broadcasting career began with a three-year stint as a television and radio analyst for the Northeast Conference. During the 2001–02 season he was a television analyst for the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

. He joined the Nets Radio broadcasts in the

2002-03 NBA season The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

. He has also filled in on

YES Network The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American pay television regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises (the largest shareholder with 26%), Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (which owns 20%), A ...

's Nets telecasts. In addition to his work on Nets broadcasts, Capstraw serves as NBA TV's lead analyst for their Euroleague broadcasts and several other international championships, including the 2004

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its na ...

Diamond Ball Tournament, the 2003

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

tournament, and the 2003

FIBA Asia Championship The FIBA Asia Cup (formerly the FIBA Asia Championship and ABC Championship) is an international basketball tournament which takes place every four years between the men's national teams of Asia and Oceania. Through the 2015 edition, the tourna ...

. In 2006, he worked on NBA TV's coverage of the Las Vegas Summer League. He was a color commentator for NBC's basketball coverage at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

References

1960 births Living people Basketball coaches from New Jersey New Jersey Nets announcers Siena Saints men's basketball coaches Wagner College alumni Wagner Seahawks baseball coaches Wagner Seahawks men's basketball coaches {{US-basketball-coach-stub