Reaction: Duke assistant coach Jeff Capel heading to Pittsburgh

In a stunning bit of news late Tuesday morning, word broke that Duke's chief assistant coach, Jeff Capel, will sign a 7-year contract to become the new head coach at Pittsburgh.

Many pundits had long assumed that Capel would step in as head coach at Duke once 71-year-old Mike Krzyzewski retired.

Capel has worked at Duke since 2011, and has been a big part of some of the Blue Devils' biggest recruiting classes since that time. Prior to coming to Durham, Capel was head coach at Oklahoma from 2006-11.

"We are excited to announce Jeff Capel as our head men's basketball coach at the University of Pittsburgh," Pittsburgh athletics director Heather Lyke said in a news release. "Coach Capel is a high-energy leader committed to being a part of our university and the city of Pittsburgh. He has a tremendous basketball pedigree and a strong track record of recruiting, developing and mentoring high-quality student-athletes. His relentless work ethic, passion for the game and clear vision of how to build a program capable of competing at the highest levels in the ACC and on the national stage are impressive. I look forward to our student-athletes, fans, donors and the Oakland Zoo getting to know Coach Capel and his family and watching this program flourish under his direction."

National high school basketball analyst Corey Evans thinks it's a home run hire for Pittsburgh, which fired Kevin Stallings after two seasons. Stallings was 0-19 in ACC play in 2017-18.

Reaction on social media was strong.

This story was originally published March 27, 2018 at 12:21 PM with the headline "Reaction: Duke assistant coach Jeff Capel heading to Pittsburgh."