Jason Capel Hired as Appalachian State Head Coach

Originally Published: Apr 22, 2010 10:51 AM CDT

Dave Carty
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

Appalachian State University announced the hiring of Jason Capel as its men's basketball coach Wednesday afternoon.

Jason, brother of University of Oklahoma men's basketball coach Jeff Capel, becomes the youngest NCAA Division 1 coach at 30 years, three months and six days old - supplanting Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Brian Wardle by three days.

“We are incredibly excited about the future of Appalachian men’s basketball under the leadership of Jason Capel,” said Charlie Cobb, the university's director of athletics. “Coach Capel’s wealth of life experiences have led to him developing many of the qualities that we were looking for in a head coach, including maturity, humility and a presence that impresses anyone that comes in contact with him. I look forward to Coach Capel helping us achieve the championship aspirations that we have for our men’s basketball program here at Appalachian.”

Capel replaces Buzz Peterson, who left for UNC-Wilmington, to become the 15th coach in the program's history. His only previous experience was as an assistant in the same program, a post he took in June 2009.

An accomplished basketball player, Capel is one of nine University of North Carolina players to start for the Tar Heels in all four years of eligibility.

He played in the NBA's Developmental League from 2002 to 2004 and briefly made the Charlotte Bobcats' roster, though failed to play in an NBA game.