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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Joe Castiglione has a simple philosophy when it comes to his coaches.

"The first step is to hire the best and brightest coaches we can find,” the Oklahoma athletics director said. "The next step is to keep them.”

It has become quite clear that Castiglione achieved the first step when he hired OU basketball coach Jeff Capel in 2006. So is step two coming next?

Capel is the complete package. Exciting, intelligent, a great recruiter, name recognition both as a player and coach, 116 wins in six seasons — all of which is crammed into his 33-year-old body.

"Jeff's got six years of head coaching experience, but he's still the sixth-youngest NCAA Division I basketball coach,” said ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla. "He's got a great pedigree, great character, and the potential to end up being a great coach. All of those things make me think Jeff's on a track to being a star in this business.”

South Carolina seems interested in bringing Capel to Gamecock Country. With continued success, other higher-profile programs will likely start calling, too. Capel could eventually move his way to the top of the list to succeed Mike Krzyzewski at Duke whenever Coach K decides to call it quits.

"We have the resources to allow people to compete for conference and national championships,” said Castiglione, who is neither threatened nor surprised when another program covets one of his coaches. "We do the things necessary to have success.

"When you have success, other people begin to look at you and they want to have that same success.”

Other schools might toss around big money — according to some reports, South Carolina would be willing to offer $1.5 million — but Oklahoma hasn't been afraid to pay market value for its top coaches before.

And OU offers a tradition of quality and success that few outside the elite basketball programs can top.

Of course, there is that "football school” tag that Oklahoma carries. But if Capel wonders about the potential for long-term success at a place viewed as a football school, he has to look no further than Austin, Texas.

"He should take heed of what Rick Barnes has done at a football school,” Fraschilla said of Texas' basketball coach.

"He's got a perennial top-10, top-15 program, and yet he doesn't have the whole weight of the world on him because Mack Brown shares that weight with him. There's something great about coaching basketball at a football school.”

One aspect that seems to stick with Capel is the spotty fan support. OU's ticket sales are strong, but the seats aren't always filled on game night. But the collective product at OU provides fertile ground.

"Whether Jeff stays at Oklahoma, his entire career will be not only a product of how well he does there and how the program grows and how the support continues to grow here,” Fraschilla said.

"I don't know if Jeff will be at OU for 30 years, but I think it's in his best interest to stay a while, continue to build his program, then decide if OU is the type of place where he can build a dynasty.”