The results are in, and to hardly any surprise, Jeff Capel has earned his due for guiding Pitt's turnaround.
Capel was named the 2022-'23 ACC Coach of the Year Monday as Pitt finished with a 21-10 overall record and a 14-6 mark in the ACC, a year after ending with an 11-21 overall mark and a 6-14 record in conference play.
"Grateful to get this award," Capel said on the ACC Network after the award was announced. "Grateful for the people who voted, my peers, but especially the young men that I have the privilege to coach, the staff that I have, my athletic director, the support staff. It's a team award, and I'm grateful for it."
Additionally, Nike Sibande earned the ACC Sixth Man of the Year award, Jamarius Burton was recognized to the All-ACC first team, and Blake Hinson to the All-ACC second team.
Capel was the runaway winner for Coach of the Year in earning 57 of the 75 votes for the award. Miami's Jim Larrañaga finished second with eight votes, and Clemson's Brad Brownell finished third with six votes.
Capel said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips called him Sunday night when Capel was in his basement watching an NBA game with his 10-year-old son. He said he was "a little bit surprised, a little bit shocked" when he received the news, and the two kept it a secret overnight and into Monday. Capel even said his son did not tell his mother about it.
"If anyone finds out, I'll know where it came from," Capel said he told his son.
He continued by telling the ACC Network he immediately thought of his dad, Jeff Capel II, who spent more than 30 years as a basketball coach.
"But immediately, to be honest with you, I thought about my dad, and I thought about -- he got his start in college coaching in the ACC," Capel added. "He was an assistant at Wake Forest. I'm just an ol' country boy from North Carolina that grew up in this league and always dreamt of playing in this league and being a part of this league, and now to achieve this award in his league is pretty special."
Capel achieved his first 20-win season in his fifth year as Pitt's coach. Prior to this year's turnaround, his highest win total in a season was 16, back in the 2019-'20 season.
"It's been an amazing season for us," Capel said, "and I'm very fortunate to have the staff that I have. Those guys work tirelessly starting March 9 last year as a staff when we had the opportunity to come back. I told them, 'we have to have a lot of wins from now until July, whether it's recruiting, retaining, making sure we've got the right guys,' and those guys did an unbelievable job of that. Our players have been unbelievable. They worked hard, they believed, they fought, they've been unbelievable together, and even after a hard-fought loss the other night against a really good Miami team in a great college basketball game, we were down, it was emotional, we came back today, and they were just as positive, just as excited, and jus as happy. And, so, I'm grateful for that."
Capel then had some high praise for athletic director Heather Lyke for sticking with him:
"I'm really grateful to have an athletic director that believes in me," Capel added. "She believed in me when she hired me, but also to stick behind me especially after last season and to provide things for me and our staff and our student-athletes to help us get better. I'm incredibly grateful for that."
Sibande was the runaway winner for the Sixth Man of the Year voting, as he earned 47 of 75 votes. Virginia's Ben Vander Plas finished second with eight votes, and Duke's Ryan Young ended third with six votes.
Sibande posted 8.3 points and 3.9 rebounds per game while playing 29 of Pitt's 31 games off the bench, a year after missing he entire 2021-'22 season with a torn ACL.
Burton has been the undisputed leader for Pitt and had the stats to back it up. His 15.6 points per game were 15th in the ACC, he grabbed 4.9 rebounds per game, and he finished second on the team in assists with 126 while playing 29 of 31 games. He also finished ninth in the ACC in field goal percentage at at 49.3 percent.
Before the awards were announced Monday, we met with Burton and Hinson at the Petersen Events Center. Burton credited his teammates for elevating him to All-ACC status.
"The work that I've put in, and a lot of it just attributes to my teammates," Burton said. "None of this would have been possible without my teammates, without us winning. I tip my hat to everybody in that locker room."
Hinson's 16.1 points per game were 10th in the ACC, and his 6.3 rebounds per game were 11th. He was fourth in the ACC in 3-point shooting by making 38.6% from deep, his 88 made 3s tied for first in the ACC with Florida State's Darin Green, Jr., and he averaged 2.8 made 3s per game, good for second in the league.
"I always want to be a better teammate, and I think I became one, an understanding teammate" Hinson said. "Just more of a competitor, I feel like. I've been in more games, that's why people with experience are held in such a high value, so I know how to compete in different times and what's the right things to do in situations. I've seen more situations. I did a lot of learning."
Burton earned three votes to finish in a tie for fifth for ACC Player of the Year, alongside Duke's Kyle Filipowski. Miami's Isaiah Wong earned the award.
Federiko Federiko earned three votes and finished in a tie for fifth with Georgia Tech's Ja'von Franklin for the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. Virginia's Reece Beekman won the award.
Federiko also earned a vote for the ACC's Most Improved Player award, which went to Boston College's Quinten Post.
Here is a breakdown of the All-ACC teams and award voting:
• Player of the Year: Isaiah Wong, Miami
• Defensive Player of the Year: Reece Beekman, Virginia
• Rookie of the Year: Kyle Filipowski, Duke
• Sixth Man of the Year: Nike Sibande, Pitt
• Most Improved Player: Quinten Post, Boston College
• Coach of the Year: Jeff Capel, Pitt
• All-ACC First Team
Isaiah Wong, Miami, 337 points
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 324
Tyree Appleby, Wake Forest, 319
Hunter Tyson, Clemson, 271
Jamarius Burton, Pitt, 262
• All-ACC Second Team
Kyle Filipowski, Duke, 258
Terquavion Smith, NC State, 243
Jarkel Joiner, NC State, 203
Jordan Miller, Miami, 148
Blake Hinson, Pitt, 132
• All-ACC Third Team
Norchad Omier, Miami, 131
PJ Hall, Clemson, 126
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 102
Jesse Edwards, Syracuse, 54
Reece Beekman, Virginia, 54
• All-ACC Honorable Mention
El Ellis, Louisville, 50
Grant Basile, Virginia Tech, 43
Judah Mintz, Syracuse, 40
Jeremy Roach, Duke, 35
Quinten Post, Boston College, 33
Jayden Gardner, Virginia, 31
RJ Davis, North Carolina, 26
DJ Burns Jr., NC State, 24
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 21
(Note: All-ACC Team points are determined on a 5-3-1 system: Five points for first team, three points for second team, one point for third team. There were 75 total voters.)
• ACC All-Defensive Team
Reece Beekman, Virginia, 63 votes
Jesse Edwards, Syracuse, 56
Leaky Black, North Carolina, 55
Dereck Lively II, Duke, 45
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 26
• ACC All-Freshman Team
Kyle Filipowski, Duke, 75 votes
Judah Mintz, Syracuse, 72
Tyrese Proctor, Duke, 51
JJ Starling, Notre Dame, 39
Dereck Lively II, Duke, 39
• ACC Player of the Year
1. Isaiah Wong, Miami, 30 votes
2. Tyree Appleby, Wake Forest, 23
3. Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 9
4. Hunter Tyson, Clemson, 4
T-5. Kyle Filipowski, Duke, 3
T-5. Jamarius Burton, Pitt, 3
7. Jarkel Joiner, NC State, 2
8. Jeremy Roach, Duke, 1
• ACC Rookie of the Year
1. Kyle Filipowski, Duke, 68 votes
2. Judah Mintz, Syracuse, 7
• ACC Coach of the Year
1. Jeff Capel, Pitt, 57 votes
2. Jim Larrañaga, Miami, 8
3. Brad Brownell, Clemson, 6
T-4. Kevin Keatts, NC State, 2
T-4. Tony Bennett, Virginia, 2
• ACC Defensive Player of the Year
1. Reece Beekman, Virginia, 29 votes
2. Leaky Black, North Carolina, 18
3. Jesse Edwards, Syracuse, 13
4. Dereck Lively II, Duke, 6
T-5. Federiko Federiko, Pitt, 3
T-5. Ja'von Franklin, Georgia Tech, 3
7. Justyn Mutts, Virginia Tech, 2
8. Norchad Omier, Miami, 1
• ACC Most Improved Player
1. Quinten Post, Boston College, 23 votes
T-2. Sean Pedulla, Virginia Tech, 14
T-2. Jordan Miller, Miami, 14
4. Chase Hunter, Clemson, 10
T-5. Cameron Hildreth, Wake Forest, 3
T-5. Casey Morsell, NC State, 3
T-5. Wooga Poplar, Miami, 3
8. Jesse Edwards, Syracuse, 2
T-9. JJ Traynor, Louisville, 1
T-9. Federiko Federiko, Pitt, 1
T-9. Jeremy Roach, Duke, 1
• ACC Sixth Man of the Year
1. Nike Sibande, Pitt, 47 votes
2. Ben Vander Plas, Virginia, 8
3. Ryan Young, Duke, 7
4. Dariq Whitehead, Duke, 6
5. Bensley Joseph, Miami, 3
6. Deivon Smith, Georgia Tech, 2
7. Devin McGlockton, Boston College, 2
