Jeff Capel's parting gift to Duke's Mike Krzyzewski a symbolic gesture of love, respect

PITTSBURGH, PA — Jeff Capel addressed his team a few hours before Pitt's Tuesday night home game against Duke before stepping into an empty room and immediately texting his wife.

"For some reason, I just got really emotional," Capel wrote to his wife. "And I didn't really really understand it."

He better understood those emotions later that evening when he presented Mike Krzyzewski — his mentor, father figure, coach, former boss, competitor and friend — with a steel statue of a clenched fist before Coach K's final ACC road game of his 47-year career.

"It's weird to think that the guy I've known as the Duke coach basically my whole life, that this would be the last time I would be on the floor with him," Capel said. "It was a little bit surreal. It was emotional."

The fist is a core tenant of Krzyzewski's coaching philosophy — five separate fingers that represent communication, trust, collective responsibility, care and pride.

And when they come together?

"It's really five guys playing as one," Coach K said.

"I've believed that since I was 17 years old, and that's what I told him when I gave it (the statue) to him," Capel said.

It's also a symbol of the bond between Krzyzewski and Capel, who discarded his dream of playing for rival North Carolina after their first meeting in Durham when Capel was a South View High School point guard.

"It was the basis of our relationship," Coach K said.

"I spent an hour with Coach and it was during that conversation that I knew that was the guy I wanted to play," said Capel, who played for the Blue Devils from 1993 to 1997. "He reminded me of my dad. If you knew my dad, you never had to guess where you stood. That's the way coach was. He didn't promise anything but a fair opportunity."

Capel would become Krzyzewski's point guard for four years, leading Duke to a national title appearance as a freshman. The next season, Duke would miss the NCAA Tournament with Coach K missing most of the season due to back surgery.

"When I was 17 if you would've told me that in my 40s my coach would be my friend I would've thought you were out of mind," Capel said after Pitt's 86-56 loss to Duke Tuesday night. "Because at times it was rocky. Being his point guard is difficult. There is a lot that is demanded."

On May 18, 2011, Capel joined Krzyzewski's staff after five seasons with the Oklahoma Sooners. Capel was fired in March and hired two months later by his former coach.

He was promoted to associate head coach in 2014, but it was Coach K's kindness when his father, Jeff Capel Jr., was diagnosed with ALS that cemented their relationship.

Capel's father was a stalwart of North Carolina basketball during his life, playing basketball at Fayetteville State and graduating from the school in 1977. He was an assistant coach at Wake Forest before returning to Fayetteville State as the Broncos' head coach. In 1994, Capel coached N.C. A&T to a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title and an NCAA tournament berth. He left North Carolina the following year to become the head coach at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia.

During a game against Wake Forest on Feb. 18, 2017, at Krzyzewski’s request, father and son sat together on Duke’s bench at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"Jeff comes from a very proud family," Coach K said. "And his father and I were really close friends during that time. We (me and Capel) grew even closer together."

Capel left Duke for Pitt after the 2017-2018 season and has been the head coach for the Panthers ever since.

On Tuesday night, nearly 30 years since they first met, Krzyzewski, 75, and Capel, 47, shared a basketball court for what could be the last time. But like Capel's gift, their relationship will remain forged by an iron bond.

"Jeff will always be a part of our family," Coach K said.

David Thompson is an award-winning reporter for the USA Today Network covering NC State and Duke athletics. He can be reached at dthompson1@gannett.com, at 828-231-1747, or on Twitter at @daveth89.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Jeff Capel's parting gift to Duke's Mike Krzyzewski a symbolic gesture