Legendary Temple Owls men’s basketball coach John Chaney died of a brief illness Friday morning at the age of 89, the university said.
Chaney won the NCAA Division II title as Cheyney State’s head coach in 1978 and coached at Temple for 24 years (1982-2006). He compiled a 741-312 college record and won six Atlantic 10 regular season titles with the Owls.
“John Chaney was a great coach, but he was so much more,” Temple President Richard M. Englert said in a statement. “For generations of Temple University students, he has been a wise advisor, a dedicated teacher, an icon of success, and a passionate leader who has always led by example and with conviction.
He led Temple to 17 NCAA tournament appearances and has qualified for the Elite Eight five times. In 1988, the year the Owls entered the tournament as the No.1 seed, Chaney won consensus Coach of the Year honors. He was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
“Coach Chaney was like a father to me,” said current Temple men’s basketball coach Aaron McKie. “He taught not only me, but all of his players, more than how to be successful in basketball. He taught us life lessons to make us better individuals off the pitch. I owe him so much. He made me the man I am today. . ”
One of Chaney’s fiercest rivals for a time was current Kentucky coach John Calipari, who began his varsity coaching career at the University of Massachusetts in the 1988-89 season when Temple dominated. the A-10 conference. As Calipari developed the Minutemen’s schedule, the rivalry with Chaney increased and Calipari ultimately won a victory over the Owls coach in the 1991-92 season after eight straight losses.
From there, their battles for A-10 supremacy only grew as UMass began to regularly challenge and defeat Temple. The rivalry between the two coaches became known on February 13, 1994 following a UMass one-point victory over Temple, when Chaney stormed Calipari’s post-match press conference, a threatened to kill the Minutemen coach and attempted to suffocate him. after being told that Calipari chastised officials after the game.
Chaney, who served a one-game suspension for the incident, apologized to Calipari three days later, but their rivalry on the pitch continued throughout the 1995-96 season before the start. of Calipari for the NBA. In all, the Chaney and Calipari teams have faced each other 24 times – including three games when Calipari returned to the college ranks in Memphis in the 2000-01 season – with Chaney winning 11 games to Calipari’s 13.
Despite their legendary battles, Chaney and Calipari have become close friends. Calipari took to Twitter on Friday afternoon to congratulate the man he called, “a coaching icon, a Hall of Famer, a moulder of young men, the ultimate contender and a dear friend.”
“Coach Chaney and I have fought in every game we’ve been to – as everyone knows, sometimes literally – but in the end he was my friend,” Calipari wrote. “Throughout my career we’ve been talking about basketball and life. I will miss these discussions and I will my friend. Rest in peace, coach! “
Chaney retired after the 2005-06 season, having led the Owls to the A-10 tournament final and a place in the NIT.
Chaney is a member of the Big 5 Hall of Fame, which honors the greats among the Philadelphia Temple, St. Joseph, Penn, Villanova and La Salle basketball schools.
Contribution: Ellen J. Horrow
