‘Beating the shit out of them’ — figuratively

Back when I was a college sportswriter, I covered Temple several times, interviewed John Chaney on a number of occasions and, being a city native, generally liked the man. Sure, he lost his temper a bit too much, and Temple never made the Final Four — although they would have in ‘93 had Chaney not been hit with that technical foul — but, hey, you can’t have everything.

Chaney treated the media well, and was always honest with them so you could say that the adoration he’s received in the past two days is kind of a sham, but I don’t think that explains it all.

Like him or not, Chaney was brutally honest. Looking at an old column I wrote, I found this quote from the grizzled veteran:

“My kids’ confidence may have been destroyed because of me. But, guess what: tomorrow I’m going to beat the shit out of them, and I’m going to keep beating the shit out of them until a light goes off.”

I think that’s why people liked him even when he did wild things like threaten to kill John Calipari or even send in a player for hard fouls (and end up having said “goon” break a St. Joe’s player’s arm). He did things his way (and, well, St. Joe’s does get away with illegal screens).

Whoever Temple hires to coach the basketball team next may not make embarassing headlines like Chaney occasionally did — unless it’s ex-Cincy coach Bob Huggins — but he sure won’t be as interesting. And I doubt the new coach’ll do as good of a job getting disadvantaged kids to graduate college. He might even be really boring. And, in a sports world sometimes devoid of honest, hard-working, interesting people, that’s kind of a shame.

Palestra hosts a Classic [Daily Pennsylvanian]

‘Beating the shit out of them’ — figuratively

Back when I was a college sportswriter, I covered Temple several times, interviewed John Chaney on a number of occasions and, being a city native, generally liked the man. Sure, he lost his temper a bit too much, and Temple never made the Final Four — although they would have in ‘93 had Chaney not been hit with that technical foul — but, hey, you can’t have everything.

Chaney treated the media well, and was always honest with them so you could say that the adoration he’s received in the past two days is kind of a sham, but I don’t think that explains it all.

Like him or not, Chaney was brutally honest. Looking at an old column I wrote, I found this quote from the grizzled veteran:

“My kids’ confidence may have been destroyed because of me. But, guess what: tomorrow I’m going to beat the shit out of them, and I’m going to keep beating the shit out of them until a light goes off.”

I think that’s why people liked him even when he did wild things like threaten to kill John Calipari or even send in a player for hard fouls (and end up having said “goon” break a St. Joe’s player’s arm). He did things his way (and, well, St. Joe’s does get away with illegal screens).

Whoever Temple hires to coach the basketball team next may not make embarassing headlines like Chaney occasionally did — unless it’s ex-Cincy coach Bob Huggins — but he sure won’t be as interesting. And I doubt the new coach’ll do as good of a job getting disadvantaged kids to graduate college. He might even be really boring. And, in a sports world sometimes devoid of honest, hard-working, interesting people, that’s kind of a shame.

Palestra hosts a Classic [Daily Pennsylvanian]

Hoops Quickies: Wrong Chaney retires

There’s lots of basketball news today, so I’m just going to throw them all together into one post (you can skip it if you’re not interested!):

• In the biggest-yet-not-surprising news of the day, Temple coach John Chaney is retiring. Chaney is a well-respected coach and person, but he also has done such fun things as threaten to kill another coach, and send in a “goon” for hard fouls — culminating with a St. Joe’s player breaking his arm. So, uhh, we should all be sorry to see him go. [6 ABC]

• In teams that made the tournament, Main liners Villanova got a No. 1 seed and will play the winner of the play-in game. The Wildcats will also play their first two games at the Wachovia Center. Ivy Leaguers Penn got a No. 15 seed. Penn will play Texas in Dallas, which means Penn won’t have a second game. [Inky]

• Chaney’s farewell tour will take place starting on Tuesday, as the Owls play a home game on Tuesday against noted hoops power Akron. St. Joe’s gets a first-round bye, while La Salle was left out. [AP/Philly.com]

• The 76ers won yesterday — over Memphis! — but Allen Iverson got hurt in the first half. Cue 10,000 callers to sports talk radio saying the Sixers are better without A.I. [Daily News]

Even I think this post is pointless

And now for today’s Philadelphia Will Do media minutiae: There’s a correction in today’s Inquirer that, at face value, seems pretty banal:

A photo of Temple basketball player Keith Butler was misidentified in Sunday’s editions.

Now, a quick perusal of Sunday’s paper will find no mention of Keith Butler (at left). But it will show his photo — next to a story about Antywane Robinson, who Temple Coach John Chaney calls the “one of the great shooters that we’ve ever had here.”

So, obviously, the paper accidentally ran Butler’s photo. (An analysis couldn’t determine if the guy in the photo was Butler or not, but it’s safe to say it was.)

No big deal. Except that, well, Butler left the team after last season and is now sitting out the season after transferring to DePaul. So, you know, it’s easier to find a photo of a guy who left the team than with one who’s currently on it. I suppose that makes sense.

Alterna-title for this post: ‘Slow news week, eh?’ And, yes, it is, to answer your question.

Clearing the record [Inky]
Owls’ Robinson enjoys silence [Inky]
Flyer notes [Dayton Daily News, second item]