Duke Associate Head Basketball Coach Jeff Capel joined The David Glenn Show on Monday as the Blue Devils prepare for their NCAA Tournament matchup against UNCW. Recently, Capel’s name has popped up in two major headlines; one involved the former Duke star being named the top recruiter in the country among assistant coaches, while the other had to do with author John Feinstein stating that there’s “no doubt” in his mind that Capel will succeed Mike Krzyzewski as the Devils’ head coach.
During his Monday visit with the show, Capel answered a question about whether or not his phone blows up when he’s mentioned as a potential candidate to eventually take over the Duke head coaching job — something he said isn’t a distraction at all. Here is his answer:
I did an interview I think a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago, with John and Chris Spatola. John brought up the question about the possibility of that happening. He mentioned something about (asking) other former players here and they don’t want to do it, and my thing was I’m not looking forward to that. What I said was that I can’t imagine another coach being here besides Coach K. I grew up here, and I’m 41, so the only coach I’ve known at Duke is Coach K.
So it’s going to be really weird when someone else walks through that door out to Cameron, but at the same time, you know it’s not going to be forever, and certainly I’m not saying it’s going to be anytime soon. He just asked a question, and I just said, ‘Look, I’m not scared of it. I wouldn’t run from it.’ There’s never going to be another Coach K. Whoever is the next coach here, and the coach after that, and the next coach after that, whoever it is will never be better than what Coach K has done. You just want to carry on and be the caretaker of the program, whoever it is. If that happens to be me and I get the opportunity to do that, I’ll try my damnedest to do a heck of a job, but it’s not something I’m searching for or pawning for. I do want to be a head coach again. I think that will happen at some point wherever it is, and I look forward to that opportunity.
In addition, Capel discussed the upcoming matchup against the Seahawks, Duke’s approach to the Big Dance and whether or not he watched the rest of the ACC Tournament after the Blue Devils were eliminated. Click below to hear the full interview: