Pittsburgh (93.7 The Fan) - Jeff Capel knows the type of player he wants on his team, and the Panthers coach drove home that point on The Fan Morning Show Wednesday.
"I understand I'm not the coach for everyone, and I get that," Capel said. "The way I want to do things and the way I want things done and things about the team, there are some kids and their families that they're not into that. And that's okay, but that's not okay for me."
Capel said he delivered that message to his players following the season-ending loss at the ACC Tournament.
"We are 9-29 in the conference in two years, and that's not good enough," Capel told the team. "We need everyone to be all-in to us. Some of you can't do that, and that's okay, but that's not okay for me. With that, you need to look for somewhere else."
Guards Trey McGowens and Ryan Murphy did just that, choosing to transfer. Capel said McGowens' decision wasn't a well-kept secret.
"Even before I was told, some of the guys told me that they thought that was going to happen," Capel said. "It wasn't necessarily a surprise. I had been feeling that way since before Christmas. There was a part of me that thought he would leave at Christmas. I was at least anticipating the possibility of this happening."
The Panthers finished 16-17 after losing 8 of their final 9 games and leaving the coach to wonder what might have been.
"At times this year, there was a point where I thought we were a pretty good team," Capel said. "And then there was a point towards the end where we were really not a good team, and the reason was that we weren't together."
Despite the issues that plagued the team, Capel feels good about the future, rattling off the names of Xavier Johnson, Au'diese Toney, Justin Champagnie and Delaware transfer Ithiel Horton. He will look to Johnson and Toney, both two-year starters, for veteran leadership, while Champagnie led the team in scoring and rebounding as a freshman.
"I think we have a good core group coming back with some talented guys coming in. We're excited about the possibility of whom we can become."