Since the news of his unfortunate passing on Friday, many have shared thoughts of and experiences with John Chaney. The legendary Temple coach meant a lot to a lot of people, from his players to his coaches to other coaches, including those he competed against. He was an indelible part of college basketball in the best big city for the sport, but he was so much more than that.
Unfortunately for me, I got into the game late in his career, so my experiences with him were limited. I never got to know him personally, but he coached long enough for me to cover some Temple games, including what proved to be his last game before he retired in 2006 (he was not with the team in their NIT loss a few days later, as he was with his ailing wife). And as near as I can tell, what I saw was classic John Chaney, with the same touch right to the end.
Before TV and early season tournaments took over the non-conference landscape, one of the great events was the Big 5 Classic. It was a tripleheader with all six Philadelphia schools – the Big 5 plus Drexel – and held at the Palestra, one of the great arenas in college basketball. I traveled to cover that annually, right up until the last time the tripleheader was held, and besides the basketball and being able to cover three games in a day, you got the best of all worlds when the game was over. You had one personality after another, with so many memorable comments from Phil Martelli (Saint Joseph’s), Bruiser Flint (Drexel) and Fran Dunphy (Penn) in particular, while Jay Wright (Villanova) was no slouch. Billy Hahn (La Salle) was non-descript by comparison.
But John Chaney outshined all of them. He was legendary for his post-game press conferences, always giving an “uncut” edition, and he had that touch right up to the end. Anyone who has been to the Palestra, especially to cover a game, knows how unique it is, with the ramps leading to the court and the cozy media room. Chaney had many legendary quotes, but he mixed them in with profound commentary with the best of them. After a Big 5 Classic game one year, he talked about the mecca of basketball that was the Palestra, and it was as good as it gets.
“It’s surprising to come here and find that there’s no excitement, the players are not excited about playing,” he began. “We used to, in this city, recruit kids from within this city, or within the state or nearby New Jersey or what not. Now every team comes with players from around the country, and sooner or later they identify with the frenzy that exists within this building.”
He wasn’t done.
“You know you’re at the Palestra because if you find yourself going to the toilet, you find yourself with fans standing next to you while you stand there urinating.”
Then, asked if he talked to the fans, he replied without a moment’s hesitation: “I sign autographs in there.”
It was vintage Chaney.
He made his mark at Temple in so many ways. He was as competitive as they come, which John Calipari can attest to, and his teams played tough non-conference schedules and won their share of games against the best teams along the way. He was a true believer in coaching as an avenue to mold young men, and he followed through on that, having recruited plenty of players who came from tough neighborhoods and didn’t have a lot of obvious opportunity in their lives. He joined the late John Thompson in the fight against Prop 48, which hit close to home as he recruited his share of players who were affected by it. And all of this at what has basically been the flagship university in Philadelphia.
Indeed, John Chaney was not a Philadelphia native (he was from Jacksonville), but ultimately, he became as important to the city and its basketball landscape as just about any other figure in the game. You would think he lived there his whole life.
Even as Temple trended down in his final years, the Owls were never an easy out. Chaney rarely had five-star talents, anyway, instead coaching up players who were still talented but without the big-time reputations of recruits that the bluebloods get. The Owls still made the NIT in 2005-06, and his last win was an upset of George Washington in the Atlantic 10 Tournament after the Colonials went undefeated in the A-10 in the regular season. The Colonials were a high-scoring, running team, and the Owls made them play a different game, something they did to so many teams over the years.
John Chaney had the masterful coaching touch right up to the end. The world is a little poorer than we were on Friday morning without him.