After the death of Bobby Knight, Jeff Capel coached Pitt ‘with a little bit of a heavy heart’
Share this post:
Pitt coach Jeff Capel can be counted among the many in college basketball who competed against — and admired — Bobby Knight, who died Wednesday at the age of 83.
“Coach Knight has meant so much to the game of basketball,” said Capel, who admitted to coaching his team Wednesday against Pitt-Johnstown with “a little bit of a heavy heart.”
“He was one of the greatest coaches ever in any sport. He was a brilliant basketball mind and really touched so many of the players who had a chance to play for him. He touched their lives and helped them become better men.
“I’m really thinking about and praying for his family, the Indiana basketball family, the Texas Tech basketball family and where he started at West Point.
“We lost a giant of the game of basketball.”
Capel, who previously coached at Oklahoma, competed against Knight when he was at Texas Tech in the Big 12.
Knight, who had a 902-371 record in a 42-year coaching career, won three national championships at Indiana. He began his career at Army in 1965 and concluded it at Texas Tech, resigning in the middle of the 2008-09 season.