'Something Special'
Caputo kicks off new era for men's basketball
Eric Detweiler, GW Athletics Communications
4/12/2022
After a video touting his resume that included an endorsement from Miami Heat Head Coach Erik Spoelstra, a welcome featuring GW President Mark S. Wrighton and other university leaders and an enthusiastic intro from Director of Athletics Tanya Vogel, Chris Caputo took to the Smith Center dais on Monday afternoon to officially introduce himself to the Buff and Blue faithful.
Toward the end of his opening remarks, the new GW men’s basketball head coach gestured toward his picture on the videoboard overhead.
“I can promise you today’s the last day any of this is about me,” Caputo said. “My focus is totally going to go onto the players. This is their experience, and we are going to build an environment with shared behaviors that are going to allow us to compete not only with the best teams in the A-10 but in the country.
“I know what that looks like because I experienced it and we did it at two other places, and I think it can happen here at GW.”
In his first days on the job, Caputo has hit the ground running in Foggy Bottom with individual workouts, recruiting and interviews to begin building a staff.
Amid the excitement of that busy process, he took center stage Monday to lay out his vision for the future of the Buff and Blue in front of an audience of family, friends and the program's supporters in the arena and streaming at home.
Caputo said GW offered the perfect fit for him, as well as wife Julie and daughters Lily and Charlotte, at the right time following years of being discerning on the job hunt.
After two decades working under Jim Larrañaga at Miami and George Mason and fresh off an Elite 8 run with the Hurricanes, he was ready for the challenge of running his own program in the World's Most Powerful City after what he joked was an 11-year spring break in South Florida.
"For me to leave there, it had to be something special," Caputo said. "GW is something special."
Vogel said she used the same search process that last year landed Caroline McCombs to helm the women's program, and she sought a candidate with similar qualifications, namely deep connections in the DMV, time spent learning under a legend of the game and a track record of adapting to the changing landscape of college basketball.
From a strong candidate pool, Caputo quickly rose to the top of the list.
"Chris is known throughout the country but most specifically in the DMV as a guy who builds incredible relationships," Vogel said. "You've probably noticed that Chris' relationships have tremendous breadth. More important to me, however, is that Chris builds authentic and deep relationships as he works to establish a foundation of trust."
Vogel quoted President Wrighton as endorsing Caputo as "poised, knowledgeable and very able" after an on-campus meeting shortly after Miami was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament by eventual NCAA champ Kansas.
On April 1, the GW athletic director tapped the veteran assistant to lead the Buff and Blue back to its historical heights after being part of eight NCAA Tournament appearances, four Sweet 16s, two Elite 8s and one memorable Final Four run at George Mason in 2006.
"You've earned this opportunity, Chris," Vogel said in closing Monday. "I know you'll take great care of our program."
Caputo opened his remarks with a lengthy list of thank yous, including his hoops mentors Larrañaga and high school coach Jack Curran as well as the student-athletes he's worked with in a career that began as a 22-year-old video coordinator, before detailing his plan for a program built on the values of Attitude, Commitment and Class.
Caputo's blue-print for recruiting success relies on attracting the best and brightest from the talent-rich local hoops scene as well as high-achieving student-athletes from all over the world. Sometimes that will mean dipping into the transfer portal, and he noted that his three most successful teams at Miami all started three transfers.
A former D-III point guard at Westfield State in Massachusetts, Caputo is a coach who prizes process and development behind the scenes, pointing to Miami's success of turning less-heralded prospects like Shane Larkin, Davon Reed and Bruce Brown into NBA Draft picks.
On gameday, he wants the Buff and Blue to be a group built on playing hard and defending well with the flexibility to tailor offense to its personnel.
"We're going to put our players in the best position to succeed," he said, simply.
The on-court work has already begun with a few days of small-group workouts last week.
The get-to-know-you practice sessions have offered a welcome respite from the flurry of calls, meetings and paperwork that come along with his new position.
Over the coming weeks, Caputo will continue to lay the foundation for what's next.
One step, he joked, is more pictures of the student-athletes around Smith Center and less of himself. The more pressing priorities will come into focus soon.
While the ultimate destination is clear, the coach is eager to chart the course for the next era of Buff and Blue.
"I know where we all want to go – I'm going to talk a lot more about how we're getting there," Caputo said. "Obviously, this is a place that's done it, that has every natural resource in terms of location and institution, and I think the potential is there to be a perennial NCAA Tournament team."
