Temple Basketball Coach Fran Dunphy Proves He Still Has It

In what was win No. 200 for Fran Dunphy as Temple basketball coach, his lucky number had to be 23 again because, by beating Connecticut, 55-53, the Owls knocked off their second straight No. 23-ranked team in less than a week. When the Owls beat Cincinnati, 77-70, five days prior, the Bearcats were also ranked No. 23.

The numbers are adding up to what could be an eventual trip to the Hall of Fame for the Temple coach, who has a chance of winning 300 games at Philadelphia schools, Penn and Temple, if he completes his five-year contract. He was 310-163 in his 17 years at the Ivy League school and had the Quakers in six NCAA tournaments.

In the what have you done for me lately department, Dunphy, 67, demonstrated he still has plenty left on his fastball on Tuesday night. It was Dunphy’s role in the last play that orchestrated Josh Brown’s floater with 2.5 seconds that won it and that’s something rarely seen from coaches these days. On the last play, Brown was supposed to throw the inbounds pass to Quenton DeCosey, but he was being overplayed, so Brown passed the ball to Jaylen Bond, who gave it back to Brown, who dribbled from the sideline back to the top. At that point, it was Dunphy who waved the other four Owls into the right spots, spreading the floor for Brown, who needed to beat only one man for the score.

In real time, the Owls looking at Dunphy for direction showed ultimate respect.

Dunphy has earned that in his 10 years at Temple. One year ago, he was named the AAC Coach of the Year. Dunphy earned that with a 23-10 season coming off a 9-22 season and restoring the Owls to a national power. They were snubbed for the NCAA Tournament and the selection committee was lambasted for it.

In reality, though, Dunphy just extended the legacy John Chaney created, and that is no small feat. One of the toughest jobs in sports is to be the man who succeeds the man, but Dunphy has proved to be more than up to the task of succeeding Chaney at the Philadelphia school by winning three A-10 titles and putting the Owls in six NCAA tournaments. The fact that he has the Owls in the conversation for another one just makes all of those other numbers add up to something special.