When Fran Dunphy took the helm at Temple two years ago, he took the conning tower from Hall of Famer John Chaney, a great coach who in all likelihood retired a few years too late. Temple made a great choice, and a magnanimous Chaney (of whom I'm a big fan, despite a rather serious behavioral lapse from the bench late in his career) was fully supportive of the move. All cheered the choice, although many (rightfully) wondered how easy it would be for Dunphy to transfer over to fully blown DI hoops, where scholarships are given, and where he'd be coaching a different kind of kid from the one he coached at Penn, where Dunphy excelled.
I doubt that even Coach Dunphy would have predicted that he'd have the Owls in the NCAA tournament just two years into his gig, but he's done just that. The Owls played well in the later stages of the season and put forth a great effort in the A-10 tournament, capping it off with a 16-2 run early in the second half to finish off another Bubble team, St. Joe's, to win the title. You can read about that victory here.
Fran Dunphy is an outstanding coach and Owls' fans have to be ecstatic. This is Temple's first NCAA tournament berth since 2001. My guess is that there will be many more during the Dunphy years, and recruiting is certain to pick up.
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Yes, it's Dunphy's team now. He's a good coach, notwithstanding the fact that while at Penn, he lost to PU a few times when he had superior talent.
Any predictions on the Cornell-Stanford 14 vs. 3 matchup?
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