Pittsburgh men's basketball coach Jeff Capel will miss the Panthers' upcoming home game on Tuesday against No. 23 Louisville after testing positive for COVID-19, the team announced Saturday. Subsequent testing within the program upon learning about his positive test revealed no other positives.
Capel is one of many head coaches to have been forced off the sideline because of either a positive COVID-19 test result or the result of being a close contact with someone who did test positive. Among the other coaches to have tested positive include Baylor's Scott Drew, Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Ole Miss' Kermit Davis.
It's unclear at this time just how long Capel will be sidelined, but it could affect Pitt's marquee matchup on Dec. 22 against Duke, where Capel coached as an assistant under Mike Krzyzewski prior to taking the Pitt job. The ACC's protocols say that anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 must be isolated for a minimum of 10 days from the onset of symptoms or a positive test result, and 10 days from now is the day of the Duke game.
The Panthers are 5-1 on the season after losing their first game of the year to St. Francis (Pa.) last month. They opened ACC play last week with a 15-point road win over Miami.
