NORMAN — Oklahoma men’s basketball coach Jeff Capel is being considered one of the leading candidates to become the head coach at South Carolina, sources said Friday.
According to The State, a newspaper in Columbia, S.C., a source at South Carolina and another in the industry confirm that Capel is one of the school’s primary candidates. Another industry source confirmed South Carolina’s interest to The Oklahoman.
Capel could not be reached for comment Friday night as he prepares his Sooners for one of their biggest games of the season. Oklahoma (18-10 overall, 6-7 Big 12) hosts Texas A&M at 1 p.m. today at Lloyd Noble Center in a game with strong implications on the Big 12 Conference standings and potential postseason bids.
The State also reported that Virginia Commonwealth head coach Anthony Grant and Tulane’s Dave Dickerson, a South Carolina native, are being researched for the job by the university. , though It is unknown how many other coaches are being considered to replace Dave Odom.
Odom announced in January that he will retire after the season. The Gamecocks are currently 12-15 overall and 4-9 in the Southeastern Conference, fifth in the East Division standings.
Capel is in his second season at Oklahoma and his sixth as an NCAA Division I head coach. At 33, the Fayetteville, N.C., native is the sixth-youngest Division I head coach. He was hired by Virginia Commonwealth at age 27 and spent four seasons there before coming to OU.
South Carolina athletic director Eric Hyman does not have a timetable set for hiring a coach, saying he expects the process to heat up quickly once the season ends later this month.
“As soon as the last basket goes up, it’s going to be a mad rush and the search is on,” Hyman said in early February. “The search is on now, but it really accelerates the pace of individuals out there. We want to do it as quickly as we can, but we don’t want to do it so fast that we end up not hiring the right person.”
