Appalachian State now has the youngest men's basketball coach in NCAA Division I.
Jason Capel, 30, was named head coach of the Mountaineers yesterday.
This is the second time that ASU has had the youngest coach. Bobby Cremins was 28 when he was hired by ASU in 1975.
"Appalachian likes a lot of firsts, so we have another first…," Chancellor Ken Peacock of ASU said at yesterday's news conference announcing Capel's promotion from assistant coach.
It wasn't part of a long-range plan or long search for a coach. It happened suddenly, after Buzz Peterson left last Friday to become coach at UNC Wilmington.
Capel, a former North Carolina star who played professionally in Japan, Italy and Serbia and was a college-basketball analyst for two years before joining Peterson's staff at ASU last season, said that having just one year of coaching experience isn't an issue for him.
"At the end of the day I'm going to be judged as a coach, whether I'm 30 years in the business or whether it's my first year," said Capel, who is three months younger than Division I's next-youngest coach -- Brian Wardle of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
"It's my job to develop these young men, it's my job to see them play the right way and it's my job to win basketball games. No matter how young or old I am, I will be judged by that and it's a challenge I'm excited about....
"The age doesn't bother me. The inexperience doesn't bother me because I've been prepped for this my whole life. I'm prepared for it."
Capel's father, Jeff, is a former coach at Old Dominion and N.C. A&T and is now an assistant with the Charlotte Bobcats. His brother, Jeff III, is head coach at Oklahoma.
Charlie Cobb, ASU's athletics director, said that he consulted with players returning from last season's team that went 24-13; considered Matt McMahon, another ASU assistant who he said will join Peterson's staff at UNC Wilmington; and talked with a few other potential candidates before deciding Sunday night that Capel was the best choice and then had Capel talk with Peacock.
Cobb said that he went with his "instinct." He said that he liked the response of players to the idea of Capel taking over as coach, that he liked the way that Capel handled himself and that he liked Capel's basketball pedigree.
"He's wise beyond his years," Cobb said. "Part of it is his presence, the way he carries himself. People say that recruiting is 70 or 80 percent of being a successful coach and I think he has a tremendous upside from that standpoint."
And, Cobb said, "I felt like with the number of constraints that exist here, I don't have $400,000 to hire a coach. I kind of had the idea that I would hire a first-time head coach. I think these guys are mature enough to handle that…"
Capel will have a four-year contract with a base salary of $150,000 annually plus incentives for academic performance of the team, scheduling bonuses, conference championships and coach-of-the-year awards that could add about another $20,000 his first year.
Peterson made about $220,000 at ASU last season.
"The average SoCon salary is $165,000, so it's below the average -- obviously representing the fact that he is below-average experience level and is a first-time hire," Cobb said.
ASU players, including leading scorer Donald Sims and two transfers who sat out last season, Anthony Breeze and Omar Carter, said that they had a great relationship with Capel and were pleased with the choice.
"I'm excited," Sims said. "He's a player's coach."
Capel said that he has begun the process of putting together a staff.
tbowman@wsjournal.com
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