Pitt AD Heather Lyke explains what's behind her confidence in Jeff Capel

While Pitt basketball stacks losing seasons at a historic rate and fans continue to slowly wander from Petersen Events Center, athletic director Heather Lyke remains confident and comfortable that coach Jeff Capel can resurrect the once-proud program.

After declaring Pitt’s commitment to Capel for the 2022-2023 season earlier this month, Lyke spoke with reporters Tuesday. For nearly 25 minutes, she touched on many topics, but emphasizing:

• The thinking behind her patience with the six consecutive losing seasons that started before her arrival in 2017, but now has matched a 70-year-old school record.

• Why she extended Capel’s contract all the way to 2027 only 22 months after he was hired in 2018.

• Her concern that Pitt’s once-rabid fan base can be preserved.

“It does take time to build a program the right way with the right overall people,” she said, pointing out she is not only talking about players, but everyone who’s involved.

Heather Lyke on what triggered her confidence in Jeff Capel after a rough season. pic.twitter.com/KWe2ip0UtA

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“We all want immediate success. I think the value of continuity is important. Just changing for change sake is not necessarily the right decision at this time.”

Pitt has compiled a 51-69 record in the four seasons since Capel replaced Kevin Stallings, who was fired by Lyke two seasons into his tenure. Hired by former athletic director Scott Barnes, Stallings lost 41 of 65 games (32 of 36 against ACC opponents).

Capel is 21-53 against conference foes, including just two victories in the ACC Tournament.

But Capel started the 2019-2020 season — his second — winning 11 of his first 15 games. That’s when Lyke, seeking stability at the top of the program, gave Capel the contract extension.

“There was a lot of positivity and infusion of energy and excitement and belief in what he’s building,” she said of Capel’s first 1½ years on the job. “That has not waned from me. It may have waned publicly and with the fan base, but it has not waned internally.

“When you see that sort of energy, positivity, work ethic, confidence in what he’s doing, you want to retain people. We want Pitt to be a destination place. So we wanted to keep coach Capel, and we still do.”

Lyke acknowledged the criticism from outside sources and the impatience of fans, but she said, “No one takes it harder (than the coaching staff).”

“We all can sit back and evaluate and criticize all of the things and reflect. But no one is standing on the sideline dealing with the losses. In his own self, he is frustrated that he hasn’t got this group to win yet. But it’s not a deterrent. I would say he’s undeterred.”

Average attendance at the Pete reached an all-time, per-game high (11,611) during the 2006-2007 season that ended with Pitt’s sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth, fourth Sweet 16 appearance in six years and a 29-8 record.

Attendance remained in the five-digit range for seven of the next eight seasons before falling to 4,117 during Stallings’ winless ACC campaign.

It picked up under Capel to 8,824 in 2019-2020 and fell slightly to 8,057 this season, the first after the Pete was largely empty last year due to the pandemic.

Lyke said she is “absolutely concerned” about the fan base.

“The most important thing is building a sense of pride in what we do. That pride stems from the kids in the Oakland Zoo and the people that you meet who were a part of the Oakland Zoo when they were students and just the connectivity in this community. It’s really important to us.

“I’m hopeful people still believe and do come back and do have a positive experience.”

In the weeks since the end of the season, Lyke said she has met frequently with Capel “to really refocus and re-evaluate everything we’re doing with this program from A to Z.”

She said Capel and his staff are committed to reviving the program. “His dream as a kid was to coach at an ACC school. He’s in a dream job for him. He’s working very hard to build a sense of pride back in Pittsburgh.”

After losing its best players to the NCAA transfer portal and the NBA, Pitt started this season 3-7 and ended it with five consecutive losses — four by 20 or more points.

“We lost some (close) games we certainly shouldn’t have lost (early in the season),” she said. “I think we were trying to figure out who we were.”

She added there was disappointment “that we weren’t as prepared as I thought.”

“Probably later in the season there was just a lack of — I don’t know — belief or confidence.”

There will be a new look next season. Already, four players — none of them regular starters – have entered the transfer portal, reducing the number on scholarship to eight. Pitt will rely heavily on the portal in rebuilding the program, and Lyke said there will be two staff members focused on it.

“If you talk to coach Capel, certainly he’ll tell you he feels much more prepared now for the information that’s in the portal,” she said. “You have to be intentional about it and look and study and know who’s in and who’s not and where they’re coming from. Then, you have to do all your homework on those people. We have prioritized that.”

Lyke said losing players to the portal is disappointing, but it’s reality these days.

“The only way I know to combat it is placing a high, high value on your relationship with your student-athletes,” she said.

Capel appears to have earned high marks from Lyke in that area.

After sophomore center John Hugley said this week he plans to return to Pitt next season, Lyke called him “an example of the (positive) impact coach Capel and our coaching staff have had (on players).”

There is a belief among some disgruntled fans that the buyout in Capel’s contract, variously reported at between $15 million and $17 million, saved his job.

When asked to quantify the buyout, Lyke declined. But she added, “If your question is, ‘Did the buyout deter me from making a change?’ the answer is no.”

“You don’t make personnel decisions based on buyouts at the end of the day. You do it based on the ability and the leadership qualities of that person and your confidence in them and their belief in what they’re doing.

“That’s why we kept Jeff.”