John Chaney was rightfully inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame last week (did you know such a Hall of Fame existed? And why did it take this long?). In case you’re wondering, he is already in the Naismith Hall.
Anyway, because of Chaney’s latest honor, the Temple News had a little Q & A with the man responsible for that matchup zone that gave so many teams fits.
Fortunately, Chaney hasn’t let retirement soften him. When asked if he had regrets about his time at Temple, he gave the following money quote.
I’ll start trouble, you know. The only regret I have is that I exposed so much of myself to the media. Certainly, I regret the language I used with Calipari [Chaney threatened then-Massachusetts coach John Calipari after a Feb. 13, 1994 game]. I should have waited until after the game was over and then took him outside and beat the hell out of him.
And John Calipari finds the media’s spotlight yet again. Shocker.
But I love Chaney’s honesty. Why can’t he be back in coaching? He also said he wouldn’t consider the Palestra one of the best arenas he ever coached in and called out Dean Smith for being a liar after Smith didn’t return the favor on a home-and-home with the Owls.
I said very clearly, the Top 50 teams, I’ll play them at their place two and three times before they play me one time at Temple. That happened with everybody but [North] Carolina. North Carolina still owes us a game. Dean Smith lied to me. I played down at his place twice, but when we beat them down there, he didn’t come back.
Will we ever see a man like Chaney coach again? It’s unlikely. What he did with Temple seems to be more and more forgotten with each passing year. Eight Elite Eights in 14 years with an Atlantic 10 team? Not happening again.
The 5 a.m. practices, dogged recruiting tactics and commitmenet to bettering young men’s lives in an environment that’s a lot different than what Coach K, Roy Williams, Bill Self and Calipari are put in also can’t be overlooked.
It’s great to see you’ve haven’t changed, coach, even if it has gotten you in trouble from time to time.
Chatting with coach Chaney {The Temple News}
