Getting to Know Jeff Capel - Part Two - University of Oklahoma

NORMAN, Okla. - New OU men's basketball head coach Jeff Capel has been one of the busiest men in Oklahoma since his hiring on April 11. The 31-year-old has seen his last two weeks occupied by getting to know and working out his OU players, recruiting and granting local and national media interview requests. House-hunting and getting acquainted with Norman have also made it onto a small section of his to-do list.

Fourteen days after he was named Oklahoma's 12th men's basketball coach, Capel sat down with SoonerSports.com for a lengthy question-and-answer session that touched on a wide variety of topics. This marks the second of three installments of the Q and A, with the final one slated for Thursday.

Part One | Capel Hiring

Q: How would you describe your music taste?
A: "My generation is the hip-hop generation and I'm a huge rap and hip-hop fan. But I like a lot of stuff. I love Gospel music, I love R&B. Frank Sinatra is someone I really like. But I really love rap, I absolutely love it. I'm a hip-hop head and that's what I listen to the majority of the time."

Q: When did that start?
A: "I remember when I was younger I was a ball boy for my dad's team when he was a high school coach. I remember being on the bus with the team after a win and they'd have the boom box playing that kind of music. I fell in love with the beat of it. My first two tapes I got were Run D.M.C. From that point on, I was hooked."

Q: What are some artists you listened to in college?
A: "When I was in school I was a huge Biggie fan. The Wu-Tang (Clan) was really hot then. Jay-Z had just come out in '96, which was my junior year. I remember when Tupac's 'All Eyez on Me' came out, waking up that Tuesday morning and going to the store to get it. My freshman year, one of my teammates was listening to Snoop's first CD and when I heard it I was like, 'Whoa, I've got to go get this.' (Biggie's) 'Ready to Die' came out in '95, (Jay-Z's) 'Reasonable Doubt' came out in '96. That's all I would listen to, over and over.

"Some people listen to rap, or to music in general for that matter, for the beat. For me, it's the lyrics. Right now I might be one of the biggest Jay-Z fans alive. I also like Kanye West and I love Nas. I like guys who have really good lyrics. I still love Biggie and Tupac, but my favorite is Jay-Z. My wife jokes with me that he's my hero because I'll just cite lyrics out of the blue."

Q: What's your favorite vacation destination?
A: "Last summer my wife and I went to Turks and Caicos and fell in love with it. It was the best vacation I have taken. It's an island in the Caribbean and it only took us about 90 minutes or two hours to fly there from Miami. It was gorgeous. The water was beautiful, it wasn't too crowded. So that's been my favorite place thus far. I've always wanted to go to Italy and hopefully we'll be able to do that soon."

Q: What experiences as a player at Duke stick with you the most?
A: "My experience at Duke was different than a lot of other peoples'. I went through a lot of different times and emotions. My freshman year I had one of the best feelings you can have as a college basketball player when we won the ACC regular season title and came within a minute and a Scotty Thurman shot of winning the national championship. I played an integral role on that team. Then my sophomore year Coach (Krzyzewski) was out - that was the year he was sick - and we went 2-14 in the ACC and 13-18 overall. Almost all of our losses were close losses.

"My junior year Coach came back and, although we weren't the most talented group, we felt like we had something to prove. That year was a success for our team, not necessarily for the standards of Duke. We made the NCAA Tournament after starting of 0-4 in the ACC. That year was interesting because I felt like I was blamed for a lot of the stuff those middle two years. People talked about how I didn't pan out like they thought I would after my freshman year.

"Probably the thing I'm most proud of in terms of college, besides graduating, is our team my senior year. I came to Duke with a certain level of expectation, to win championships. I really took it personal those middle two years that we didn't do that. I felt like I was letting down the tradition of Duke basketball - guys like Johnny Dawkins, Danny Ferry, Mark Alarie, Jay Bilas - the guys that kind of laid the groundwork. My senior year we won the ACC regular season when Tim Duncan was at Wake Forest and Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison were at North Carolina. We were good, but we weren't the most talented team. That's the thing I'm most proud of, is that we laid the foundation for the second phase of Duke basketball. That next year they brought in (Elton) Brand, (Shane) Battier, (Chris) Burgess, (William) Avery. And just look at what's happened since then.

"My experience there was great because it was real-world experience. I learned how to deal with success, with failure, adversity. All of those things helped prepare me for life after Duke. I can tell you I wouldn't be sitting here right now if I didn't go through those things while I was there."

Q: What movies do you list as your favorites?
A: "I'm a huge Mob movie guy, so I love 'Goodfellas' and I love 'Scarface.' Those are probably my two favorites. As crazy as this may sound considering I just said I love Mob movies, last summer was the first time I saw 'The Godfather.' And I've only seen the first one. I have all of them on DVD, but I haven't taken the time to watch them all. 'Casino' and 'Heat' - I love those, too.

"I also love 'Malcolm X' and 'Remember the Titans' and 'Seven.' I really enjoy movies that are mysteries where you have to figure it out as it goes along. I don't think I can list one overall favorite, so I'll go with 'Malcolm X,' 'Goodfellas' and 'Scarface.'"

Q: Do you have any nicknames, or did you when you played?
A: "You know, it's funny. If you go back to where I'm from or if you talk to any of my former Duke teammates, no one calls me 'Jeff.' No one. Some call me 'Cape.' If you go back to Fayetteville where I grew up, it was 'J.C.' And then some of my former Duke teammates call me by my first name. Before them, nobody had ever called me that. My first name is 'Felton' but a lot of those guys called me 'Felt' or 'Felty.'

"My grandparents on my dad's side call me 'Trey' because I'm the third. They've done it since I was little, so it's weird whenever I hear them refer to me as something other than that."

Q: In terms of how you relate to and handle players, how would you describe your coaching style?
A: "I would say I'm fair and honest. I really enjoy trying to develop relationships with my players and getting to know them. I want it to be a relationship built on trust and honesty. I think it's important to have good relationships with your players. But you have to know that you're not always going to be liked.

"My job as the head coach at the University of Oklahoma is to be the leader of our program. One of the things I've learned about leadership is that you have to make some hard decisions and some tough decisions. Being a leader isn't necessarily being popular. It's not a popularity contest. I think I'm fair. I tell kids all the time, 'If you don't love to play, if you don't have a passion to play, work and get better, then this is probably not the place for you. We probably won't get along because of the passion and the love I have for this game.'

"I've been in love with this game since I was a kid when I got that first basket. It's a love affair. It's been great at times, it's been bad at times, it's been tough at times. But I have a huge passion for it and I love being around people who have passion. I want guys who are going to have passion for wearing 'Oklahoma' on their chest, who are going to be proud to represent this university and our program. As long as they have that, I don't think we'll have a problem.

"In my four years as a head coach, I've had really good relationships with my players. It's because of that trust and honesty. And being honest with them, sometimes they don't want to hear it. But it's out of love and out of trying to help them get better - not just in basketball but also as people. We have some similarities in that I've walked in their shoes. I know what they're going through. We probably like some of the same things - such as music or things we like to watch. I think I can relate to them in that way. I don't know how I would describe my style. I guess 'players' coach' would be a term that could be used. I don't know, I just try to be the best coach I can be and help these guys get better."

...to be continued Thursday...

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Getting to Know Jeff Capel - Part Two

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