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Former VCU coach Jeff Capel takes over for Coach K — temporarily

Posted at 12:19 PM, Jan 02, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-02 12:20:37-05

DURHAM, N.C. — Former VCU head men’s basketball coach Jeff Capel will take over at Duke after Mike Krzyzewski announced he would undergo lower back surgery.

Recovery time for Coach K’s surgery — to remove a fragment of a herniated disc — is about four weeks. Krzyzewski will undergo the procedure on Friday.

“We have determined that surgery is the best course of action at this time,” Krzyzewski said. “During my recovery process, the team will be in the capable hands of Coach Capel, Coach James and Coach Scheyer.”

Coach K said he would return to the court once doctors cleared him to do so.

Capel, Duke’s associate head coach since 2014, will takeover the team January 7 when Duke plays Boston College at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Capel left VCU in 2006 when he became the head coach at the University of Oklahoma.

As VCU’s head coach, he led the Rams to a 79-41 record over four years.

Capel, who played at Duke from 1993 to 1997, was just 27 years old in 2002 when VCU promoted him from assistant coach to head coach.

Duke lost its ACC opener to Virginia Tech on Saturday.