OU's Jeff Capel maintains calm presence for Sooners

By John Helsley, jhelsley@opubco.com | Modified: February 9, 2009 at 12:32 am | Published: February 9, 2009 Comment on this article

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"I want them to always see me confident."

Capel admits it hasn't always been this way.

His first year at OU, he carried on a bit, struggling to deal with that season's rebuilding woes.

"I took a look after that season and evaluated," Capel said, "and realized that didn't help us."

Capel's constant refrain now seems to be, "We're OK."

And as they've proven often in a 23-1 start, they usually are OK.

"It's about having that calm, cool, swagger about you," senior forward Taylor Griffin said. "I think that he has that as a coach. And I think it trickles down to us.

"Not panicking. Saying poised. There's a big difference in this team and the team last year and the year before, just being able to handle situations, adverse situations, and keep playing our game and not get rattled."

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