So Long, John Chaney

by user Thecrookedcap

John Chaney deserves a lot of respect for his work at Temple. Sure, during his time he had a number of shady incidents. There was the time he stormed into a press conference yelling at John Calipari (who was at the time coaching UMass), or last season when he sent in a "goon" to foul a St. Joe's player, only to have that player break his arm. But few successful coaches are saints; just look at Bob Huggins' graduation rates or Bobby Knight's temper.

Temple never made a Final Four. It came bitterly close; five times a regional finalist to be exact. They made the tournament 17 times, a #1 seed once and a #2 twice. Even in the last few years, when the Owls struggled to make the Big Dance, you could always count on having an uphill climb against them in the A-10 Tournament (just ask George Washington). His teams were always among the best scoring defenses in the country. And he never did it by treading the easy path. Temple always played tough schedules, playing the Dukes and UCLAs that made them so difficult when tourney time came around. After all, the Owls' best tourney finishes usually came as #6, #7, #10, and #11 seeds.

Even if his team wasn't always the best in the Big 5, he still commanded the most respect. I respect the way he went out; no big overblown "final season of coaching" bit, not even coaching the NIT. Chaney deserves a lot of credit for rebuilding a dormant program, and I only hope the next coach Temple chooses has big feet, since the shoes he'll be filling are big.

Date
Mon 03/13/06, 11:18 pm EST