Not An April Fools Joke: Capel Rumored For Arizona Job

[9:15 PM CDT Update]: And it looks like it's just about official. Here's a very confident posting from KTAR about Floyd. FOX Sports has picked up on it, seems like Arizona wants Tim Floyd. Unless he has a change of heart or loses interest, looks like the rumors this afternoon turned out to be an April Fools anyways!

[8:15 PM CDT Update]: Just saw this on an Arizona board, but KVOA TV in Tuscon has confirmed Arizona has flown Tim Floyd into Tuscon. I know that doesn't necessarily mean a hire, but certainly looking good for OU.

[7:50 PM CDT Update]: After surfing the net for awhile it appears Tim Floyd of USC and Mark Few of Gonzaga are having their names thrown around a lot. Here's the most credible story I found on Mark Few (although apparently Few's name got shot down after that article was posted). Conquest Chronicles, the USC SBNation blog, has something up about Tim Floyd.

[7:30 PM CDT Update]: Just went over to the SBNation Arizona blog, Arizona Desert Swarm (ADS), who are reporting that the Arizona AD has his man. His source was GoAZCats, which is of course a Rivals board that I'm not going to subscribe to. If ADS is right, we had better hope that it isn't Jeff Capel.

[Original Post]: Before anyone says this is an April Fools joke (which, by the way, would be in horrible taste), I'll cite my sources: Sportscenter mentioned it this afternoon, East Valley Tribune (newspaper near Phoenix) and ESPN Radio.

According to those around the blogosphere and message boards, Jeff Capel might have emerged as the leading candidate for the Arizona job. It has been heard on ESPN Radio and on Sportscenter. Some have even gone so far as to say that an agreement has been reached in principle. That has NOT been confirmed by anyone and is probably just people stirring the pot.

However, where there's smoke, there's usually fire. I can see why Arizona would want Capel - he turned around the Sooners' program in a hurry. Here's the good stuff from the East Valley Tribune:

A source told the Tribune on Wednesday that Arizona is interested in Capel, and the school hoped to wrap up its search in the next couple of days.

It was not clear whether any talks regarding Capel could have occurred through back channels with his representatives.

The Arizona Daily Star reported that no announcement from Arizona will come Wednesday, and the earliest a press conference could happen would be Thursday, although there is nothing scheduled.

And yet, I can't really see this happening. Capel has a top 5 recruiting class coming in next year, has an extremely accomodating athletic director who will probably try to make him as comfortable as possible, and he would have to start the rebuilding process all over again. Arizona seems like more of a lateral move than a step up, but we'll continue to look into the rumor and either put the fire out sometime later, or update you with the latest.

For those of you who this news makes upset, John Shinn of the Norman Transcript attempts to offer some comfort:

Wednesday afternoon, a source close to the Sooner basketball program who would only speak on the condition of anonymity said Capel has had no contact with Arizona as of Wednesday afternoon.

Another interesting tidbit that the first two names on their list were Calipari and Mark Few (Gonzaga):

Arizona first made overtures to John Calipari, who left Memphis to go to Kentucky today, and to Gonzaga coach Mark Few about the job. Both coaches rebuffed the offers.

Right now it's too early to tell anything, but we'll let you know as it develops.