He was living in a hotel, traveling the country to recruit and trying to get to know as many people as possible in his new hometown.
Some of those people happened to be his players.
"He makes time to call us every day if he isn't here," senior guard Michael Neal said. "If he is here, he'll always make sure to speak to everybody individually. I thought he did an awesome job when he came in here. I don't know too many people who could have handled it like he did."
Capel knew it wasn't going to be easy.
"You're in a tough position when you come into a new program," Capel said. "You don't really have much time. I've always tried to carve out time for our new team here and to really try to spend time to get to know those guys. I think it's going pretty well."
From the moment he was introduced as Oklahoma's new coach on April 11, Capel had a long list of people to meet, from university officials to fans.
Also, the eight players on his new team and the five who had signed to play for OU.
When some of the signees began to waiver in their commitment because of Kelvin Sampson's departure, Capel had to try to re-recruit them. After that, he began recruiting for next season.
All the while — about five months in all — Capel was living at the Sooner Legends Inns and Suites in Norman.
"Moving, trying to sell your house, trying to get your family situated, it's not comfortable," said Capel, who got into his new home last month. "You're trying to get to know the area, trying to get to know people and form relationships. You're trying to make an impression on the university and get people more involved and more excited about Oklahoma basketball. That's not comfortable for a while."
Capel admits he hasn't been able to spend as much time with his players as he'd like to, but he believes everyone involved with the team understands the greater goal.
"They understand that we're trying to do this to build our program," he said. "We don't want to just have good teams here. We want to have a really good program.
"They understand why I haven't been able to be here as much as I'd like to. When I'm here, I try to make the most of it."
At home or on the road, Capel has made communicating with his new players a priority.
"He's a real easy guy to talk to," OU senior Nate Carter said. "I try to communicate with Coach just through text messages or just call him to see what's going on.
"Of course, it's gonna be hard talking to him personally because he's not really here that much. But communication is always good, no matter how you communicate."
Neal said Capel's commitment to keeping the lines of communication open will help the team down the road as well.
"Out of nowhere, he'll call to see what's going on, check up on classes, see what I'm doing," Neal said. "It gives us confidence when he does things like that.
"It lets us further know we're going to have a good season because he shows us that he's ready and he's dedicated to what he's doing."
