Chris Capko is recognized as one of the nation’s top assistant basketball coaches with a successful track record of recruiting, player development. He brings 18 years of college coaching experience to the SMU Basketball staff helping lead two different programs to post season play and developing 11 NBA players.
Capko was named one of the top “Power 5 assistants” in the country by The Athletic and one of the 50 Most Impactful high major assistant coaches by Silver Waves Media in both the 2023-24 season and 2024-25 seasons. He was invited to participate in the 2023 NCAA Champion Forum for Men’s Basketball at the NCAA national office in Indianapolis and was invited to the prestigious Athletic Director U’s Collegiate Coaching Consortium at the 2022 NCAA Final Four in New Orleans.
In his first season on the Hilltop, Capko helped lead the Mustangs to a 24-11 overall record and a No.1 seed in the NIT. The Mustangs went 13-7 in the program’s inaugural season in the ACC to tie for fourth and also won the Acrisure Holiday Invitational. The Mustangs were one of just two teams in the nation with six players averaging at least 9.9 points per game and one of just eight teams in the NCAA Top 50 for field goal percentage and field goal defense. SMU signed the nation’s fourth-ranked high school recruiting class, which is the best in program history. Boopie Miller was tabbed 3rd team All ACC and BJ Edwards was selected to the ACC All Defensive team.
In their inaugural ACC season, SMU finished in the top three in the league in multiple offensive and defensive categories. The Mustangs led the league in rebounding offense (38.43) and finished 2nd in FG percentage (47.8), 3 PT FG Percentage (37.8) and assists (15.9). Defensively , SMU led the ACC in steals (8.06) and finished 3rd in FG% Defense (41.3).
Prior to SMU, Capko helped USC to a 176-93 record in eight seasons as an assistant or associate head coach including and Elite Eight trip in 2021. The Trojans had four straight Top 3 Pac-12 finishes from 2019-20 through the 2022-23 season. In the 2022-23 season, the Trojans finished 22-11, including a 14-6 conference record, finishing second in the Pac-12. USC earned a #10 seed in the NCAA Tournament that year. Capko coached a defense that finished with a Top 50 defense nationally and finished 1st in the Pac-12 in FG% Defense and 3RD nationally in two point FG% Defense.
The 2021-22 season start the season 14-0 and reach then highest ranking in school history at #5 ion the Associated Press Poll. USC finished the season with a 26-8 record which tied the school record for wins in a season. That year, USC was a #7 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Capko helped lead a defense that finished within the Top 50 nationally per KenPom and finished 2nd nationally in two point FG% defense and 2nd in the PAC-12 in FG% defense.
During the 2020-21 season, USC made only the second Elite Eight in school history as Evan Mobley was named Pac-12 POY, DPOY, and Rookie of the Year and Tahj Eady was named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team. USC finished 6th nationally in defense per KenPom (the highest national finish in school history) and led the Pac-12 in FG% defense, 3 pt FG % defense and blocked shots, when USC won a school record 15 Pac-12 games and finished with a #8 ranking nationally in the final Associated Press poll.
The 2019-20 season saw USC finish 18th overall in the nation in adjusted defense per KenPom, when USC finished tied for third in the conference. Jonah Mathews was named All Pac-12 First Team and Onyeka Okongwu was selected to the All-Rookie Team.
Capko helped the Trojans bring in eight consecutive Top 30 recruiting classes and played a critical role in recruiting the #1 player in the country, Isaiah Collier, in 2024. The 2022 class ranked #7 and the 2023 class ranked #4. Over his final six seasons at USC, The Trojans had six players selected in the NBA Draft, tied for the 13th-most by any program in the country and signed five McDonald’s All-Americans. USC was one of seven teams to have had at least one player selected in five of the six NBA Drafts from 2018-23.
Capko, who served as USC Director of Operations during the 2013-15 seasons, returned to the Trojans after spending the 2015-16 season as an assistant coach at Florida International University (FIU). Capko also spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Georgia Southern (2011-13) and at Stetson University (2009-11). Prior to his stint at Stetson, Capko served as a graduate assistant at Marshall University.
As a student-athlete, Capko spent his first semester in the basketball program at the University of Florida under head coach Billy Donovan, before transferring to the University of South Florida in Tampa where he played for three years. As a junior, he was fifth in the Big East in assists and as a senior he was the Bulls’ team captain. Capko earned Academic All-Big East honors as a junior and senior at USF. He was also the Bulls’ nominee for Big East Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year in 2007.
Capko earned a Bachelor’s Degree in mass communication from USF in 2006 and a Master’s in adult and technical education from Marshall University in 2009.
A native of Lakeland, Florida, Capko and wife Miranda have two children, Zoe and Asa Capko.
Updated: Oct. 23, 2025
