BillyV's Blog

3/18/08

The fact that Philly has three basketball teams in the NCAA tournament is testimony itself as to the quality of the coaches we have in this town.  And Temple’s Fran Dunphy is certainly among the best.  

Temple, along with Villanova and St. Joe’s, is in the Big Dance.

I had an interesting perspective during the Atlantic Ten tournament in Atlantic City, because I sat right behind the benches of the local teams.  The coaches each have their own style.  St. Joe’s Phil Martelli, who is a brilliant man on and off the court, is somewhat crazed as he stands (never sitting down) on the sidelines.  La Salle’s John Giannini is even more manic, going berserk at times.  Fran Dunphy?  Calm and collected at all times.

Giannini is another good coach, whose team performed well late in the year and came close to beating Temple in the A-10 tournament.  I heard Giannini scream at his players, at one point getting so emotional that he punched his clipboard.  Martelli, when he was unhappy with his players, would scream and yank them out of the game but he did wait until he had calmed down before going over to talk to them.

I could hear exactly what they were screaming.  But when I sat behind Temple’s bench, I could never hear a word Dunphy said because he didn’t scream.   Barely raised his voice.  (“I get into them later, back at the hotel,” he told me.)

When Dunphy was chosen to replace the retiring John Chaney as Temple’s coach, many alumni questioned the decision.  Not me.  (I am an alumni—I didn’t question the choice.) That Dunph is a great coach should’ve been obvious from the job he did at Penn, when his teams went to the NCAA tournament 9 times.    

He took over the remnant of what Chaney had left; a team that hadn’t made the NCAA’s since 2001.  Having re-worked the team into one that gradually came together, finishing with 7 straight wins and an A-10 championship, Dunphy and his Owls left for Denver and the NCAA’s today. 

Great job.  Good luck. Go Owls.