Jason Maurice Capel (born January 15, 1980) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach, currently an assistant at

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. He was previously the 15th head coach of the Appalachian State Mountaineers men's basketball team. He is a former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for the

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

Tar Heel Tar Heel is a nickname applied to the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is also the nickname of the University of North Carolina athletic teams, students, alumni, and fans. The origins of the Tar Heel nickname trace back to North Carolina's prom ...

s, and is the brother of

Jeff Capel Felton Jeffrey Capel III (born February 12, 1975) is an American college basketball coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh's Panthers men's basketball team. He played for Duke University and was ...

, former Duke University basketball player and current

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

head coach. Capel provided color commentary for ACC basketball games on

Raycom Sports Raycom Sports is an American producer of sports television programs. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and owned and operated by Gray Television. It was founded in 1979 by husband and wife, Rick and Dee Ray. In the 1980s, Raycom ...

during the 2007–2008 college basketball season. As of January 2018, he was a commentator for Bein Sports. He is a member of the

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, creed ...

fraternity. He is married to his college sweetheart Ashley Heath, also a graduate of UNC.

Playing career

At a height of 6 feet and 8 inches and a weight of 220 pounds, Capel played the

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular c ...

position. Born in

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayettev ...

, Capel was the 1996 Virginia Mr. Basketball and is only one of nine players to ever start for UNC's basketball team in all four years of his eligibility. He led the Tar Heels in scoring in his senior year with 15.6 points per game. He also played in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

Final Four in 2000. Capel went undrafted in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

's NBA Draft in 2002. Though he briefly made the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...

' roster, he never played in an NBA game. He then turned down more lucrative offers in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

to play basketball in the

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

for the

Fayetteville Patriots The Fayetteville Patriots were an NBA Development League team based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States. Its logo design features a bald eagle's head and a basketball in the middle of a capital letter "P" with stars and stripes filling ...

, a team coached by his father Jeff Capel II. After two years in the D-League (2002–04) he played professionally in Japan for the

Aisin Seahorses Seahorses Mikawa is a Japanese professional basketball team located in Kariya and sponsored by Aisin. The team was founded in 1947. The team played in the National Basketball League. In July 2015 it was announced that the team will compete ...

(2004–05). He played for BT Roseto of the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

league in 2005–2006, and from July to December 2006 he played with Air Avellino in the same league. Capel wrapped up his professional career in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

playing for

KK Crvena zvezda Košarkaški klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Црвена звезда, ), commonly referred to as KK Crvena zvezda mts for sponsorship reasons or simply Crvena zvezda, is a men's professional basketball club based i ...

of the Naša Sinalko Liga in 2007.

Coaching career

Capel joined the staff of

Buzz Peterson Robert Bower "Buzz" Peterson Jr. (born May 17, 1963) is an American basketball executive who is the assistant general manager for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also coached college basketball, most re ...

at Appalachian in 2009 as an assistant coach. Following the departure of Buzz Peterson for the head coach job at

UNCW The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW or UNC Wilmington) is a public research university in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina System and enrolls 17,499 undergraduate and graduate students eac ...

, on April 19, 2010 rumors surfaced that Capel had been offered the top spot on the Appalachian basketball coaching staff. On April 21 it was confirmed in a press conference that Capel was the new head coach of the Mountaineers, the 15th in program history. Capel's contract was not renewed after the 2013–14 season when the Mountaineers finished with a 9–21 record, the third straight year the Mountaineers had a losing record under Capel's leadership.

References

External links

Jason Capel Assistant Coach Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capel, Jason 1980 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Japan American expatriate basketball people in Serbia American men's basketball players Appalachian State Mountaineers men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from North Carolina Basketball players from North Carolina College basketball announcers in the United States Fayetteville Patriots players McDonald's High School All-Americans North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball coaches SeaHorses Mikawa players Small forwards 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people