STILL waiting for Capel’s name to clear…

By John Helsley

We went through the rumor wringer Wednesday.

A newspaper website in the Phoenix area — the East Valley Tribune’s — reported midday that Capel was the top candidate for the Arizona job and that negotiations were already underway.

By Wednesday night, it was revealed as a reach, with Capel leaving Norman for Detroit after spending all work week around the OU basketball offices; and with Tim Floyd emerging (according to an ESPN radio report) as next in line for the job.

Oh, and Gonzaga’s Mark Few, he spent several hours in the “top candidate” role Wednesday, too.

As we wrote in an early blog Wednesday, we’re waiting for Capel’s name to clear all the prominent openings to breathe easy again.

You’re waiting, Sooners fans, because you don’t want Capel going anywhere after he’s engineered a program surge in Norman.

I don’t want him going anywhere because I hate coaching searches… and the types of rumors they spur.

Already this week, Capel has been labeled the top candidate at Virginia, Georgia and Arizona. Is Memphis sure to follow? USC, too?

This is what has become of our business, where school janitors qualify as “sources” with some reporters, all in the quest to get it first, not necessarily get it right. Accountability has not just taken a backseat, it’s bouncing around in peril in the back of a flat-bed Ford.