It's official

 

If you're reading this while sipping your morning coffee, the word officially went out late last night that Fran Dunphy has accepted the offer to become Temple's head coach.

When I first heard the news, I was not surprised, but I nonetheless could not help lamenting the end of an extraordinary era of Penn basketball. I will have more to say about this later on, and I am sure my colleagues will too. For now, though, I can't help thinking back to something Dunphy said a few weeks ago when John Chaney retired.

The day after Selection Sunday, the Philadelphia basketball community gathered at the Palestra for the annual Coaches vs. Cancer March Madness Tip-Off Breakfast. Chaney was quite conspicuous by his absence, as his seat at the dais was taken by Owls assistant coach Dan Leibovitz. No one was all that surprised that Chaney was not there, especially because his wife was about to have a major surgical operation done. But when Temple Sports Information Director Larry Dougherty came up to me and Zachary Levine as we sat down to eat, we both realized immediately what was going on.

Later that morning, Chaney officially announced his retirement. The word of what was going on had gotten around to just about everyone before then, though, and the many reporters in attendance were busy asking the other City Series coaches what they thought about the news.

"He's meant so much to so many people that we're at a loss a little bit," Dunphy said. "Nobody's ever going to be able to replace that guy, so it's going to be tough job, whoever it is that does replace him."

Then came a line that rings particularly true now.

"For me," he said, "the good part is that I'll be able to now talk to [Chaney] about his thoughts on coaching."

Considering that Dunphy will be coaching on a floor emblazoned with Chaney's name at midcourt, those conversations will now likely take on an added significance.

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