Time Is No Longer on Your Side

Earlier this week, the University of Oklahoma fired Jeff Capel as its men's basketball coach.

Although Capel posted three winning seasons at OU, his last two had been sub-.500. The program is under the NCAA microscope because a player's relative may have gotten an easy loan from a booster. The player, of course, is no longer at the school, so any sanctions will fall on the players and coaches there now rather than him, but oh well, it's the NCAA for you.

Firing Capel may or may not be a good idea at this time. The reality is that the Sooners have to buy out his contract and whomever comes in to follow him will also be laboring under the same things that weighed him down. The NCAA investigation and possible sanctions chill recruiting, the "one and done" rule that permits student athletes to enter the NBA after one year of college will make it hard for him to find and keep top talent long enough to help build the program for the long-term, and overcoming the apathy in Capel's wake will be tough. In essence, OU will be paying two coaches for one probably mediocre season as they pay the current coach and buy out Capel.

OU standout Blake Griffin, now with the Los Angeles Clippers, questioned the decision as well. Capel, Griffin noted, rebuilt the program following the monumental mess left after Kelvin Sampson's departure. Griffin wondered why a coach who could bring a program to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament within his first two years would be sent packing after only two down years. I kind of echo Griffin, although I know that OU Athletic Director Joe Castiglione is at least three times as smart as me in these matters and probably has angles I haven't even considered.

Could Capel have righted his ship, given time? I think the chances are pretty good, myself. The one-and-done rule torpedoed him for this season when three top players left, but the guy who could get Blake Griffin and who got those players here to start with could probably have closed the deal on some others as well.

Of course, the issue is that in today's sports world, you aren't really given time. Problems must be fixed now, turnarounds made now, success must happen now.

Consider the OU coach who occupies the women's basketball office, Sherri Coale. Coale took over the program in 1996, following two lackluster coaches and one who actually gave it a little life. OU planned to drop the program in 1990, but a public outcry kept it going, but barely. Gary Hudson improved on his predecessor's record, going 39-45 where her 32-51 had brought the team to the brink of extinction. Under Hudson's successor, Burl Plunkett, the program began a turnaround.  Plunkett took the Sooners to the Women's NCAA tournament and won the 1993 National Women's Invitational Tournament, but retired in 1996 for health reasons following a 12-15 season.

Coale, brought directly from Norman High School, only won five games her first season and just eight in her second. The Sooners were one game above .500 in her third season overall, but still finished the conference season at 8-8. Then came the 1999-2000 season, in which the Sooners tied for first in the Big 12, went 25-8 overall and made the women's Sweet Sixteen, and after that there was no looking back for the program. 2004-05's 17-13 overall and 8-8 conference mark have been the worst record for OU since then.

Was Sherri Coale that much better of a coach in 1999 than she had been in 1996? I feel safe in saying she would definitely say her coaching has improved over the years and continues to do so. But the truth is, she had time to build her program, and Castiglione had the time to give her. Even only 15 years ago, sports directors and team owners could afford some patience and let things develop instead of demanding success now.

Would Coale have been given a third season today if she followed a winning coach by posting less than 15 wins in her first two? Hard to say, but I think the pressure to see her on her way would be monumentally greater than whatever pressure faced the school in 1998.

So Capel is a victim of some of his own faults -- he'd really inspired no one to stand up and pull for him or build a groundswell of support -- as well as some things over which he had little to no control. But I think he's also a victim of the fact that in the world today, you're always out of time.