February 21, 2025
Fran Dunphy, a legend to Philadelphia Big 5 basketball, will be retiring as the head coach of La Salle's men's program at the end of the season, the university announced on Wednesday.
Dunphy, 76, is the winningest coach in Big 5 history, having collected 623 wins and 17 NCAA Tournament appearances across stints with Penn (1989-2006), Temple (2006-2019), and then La Salle (2022-2025).
He's the only person ever to have been the head coach for multiple Big 5 programs, and because of it, has been a mainstay and a massive influence over Philadelphia's basketball-rich community for decades.
A La Salle alum, Dunphy played basketball and baseball for the Explorers from 1967-1970 before taking the leap into coaching, which quickly led him back to La Salle, and Philadelphia, as an assistant in 1979.
He left after a season to join Amercian University's staff for the next five years, then came back to the Explorers in the mid-1980s before taking up his first collegiate head coaching job at Penn in 1989, where he guided the Quakers to 10 Ivy League titles.
At Temple starting in 2006, and as the successor to the great John Chaney, Dunphy coached the Owls to eight NCAA Tournament berths and a run of seven straight trips to the dance from 2007-2013.
He stepped down as Temple's head coach after the 2018-2019 season to make way for Aaron McKie's, and was briefly the school's interim athletic director until it could find a replacement for Patrick Kraft, who had left for Boston College in the summer of 2020.
Legendary La Salle head coach Fran Dunphy will retire from his position at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season.
— La Salle Athletics (@GoExplorers) February 20, 2025
📰: https://t.co/F4agPhHM8a pic.twitter.com/pOFkLuaIpL
Dunphy will remain with La Salle after he retires from coaching, the university said, taking up a role as a special assistant to the school's president on a lifetime contract.
"I will forever be thankful to La Salle as well as all my fellow coaches and players that I've been fortunate to work with throughout my coaching career," Dunphy said in a statement. "I am looking forward to finishing this season strong with our team, and as I embark on the next chapter of my life, I could not be happier to stay at La Salle and work with President [Dr. Daniel Allen], [Athletic Director Ash Puri], and this great University that I call home."
La Salle announced it will honor Dunphy during the men's team's February 26 home game against Duquesne at John Glaser Arena (formerly Tom Gola Arena).
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