PHILADELPHIA — According to several sources familiar with the decision, Fran Dunphy has agreed to be the next head men’s basketball coach at La Salle University, his alma mater.
Dunphy, already the first to be head men’s basketball coach at two separate Big Five schools, after long runs at both Penn and Temple, is about to make it three schools. So what is already a unique Philadelphia coaching career is veering into never-to-be-repeated territory.
According to multiple sources, Dunphy is taking the job after he himself tried to convince several others, including former assistant Matt Langel, now Colgate’s successful head coach, to take it. Dunphy’s concern, one alumnus close to him said, is for the institution itself, beyond the basketball program.
If that sounds lofty, consider it in the context of a Tom Gola Arena renovation fundraising project needing to get to the finish line. Also, remember that Dunphy, now 73, agreed to be Temple’s interim athletic director early in the pandemic. This is not the man’s first tough mission.
Heading La Salle’s program is considered to be the toughest of basketball missions. Between the lack of Atlantic 10-quality facilities, and most of the current team now in the transfer portal, it’s the heaviest of lifts.
Dunphy will replace Ashley Howard, let go after a 13-19 season, his fourth in charge of the Explorers. In 30 seasons as a head coach at Penn and Temple, Dunphy had 24 winning seasons, going to the NCAA Tournament 17 times. But this isn’t about sprucing up a resume. This is about a native son returning to his school, trying to lift it into relevancy, or prevent it from sinking further. One source said Dunphy would only take the job if the school listened when he told them the program needs something, no questions asked. Several sources said Dunphy is the one who could make phone calls and get old guard alumni supporting the program again.
The day Howard was let go, La Salle sent a note to alumni from the office of the president noting that La Salle’s board of trustees had approved “the next phase of the design process for an arena project,” with external fundraising continuing. Then the key part: “In 2013, the University received a restricted planned gift, generously donated by John Glaser, ‘62, specifically to support an arena project. In order to use this estate gift, currently valued at $6.2 million, an arena project would need to break ground during the 2023 calendar year. The University would finance this project exclusively through philanthropic contributions.”
Dunphy had been an assistant at La Salle during some glory years under Speedy Morris. He came off the bench himself as a sophomore and junior for the Explorers. In his final season, Dunphy averaged 19 points, five rebounds and four assists per game.
From the start, this search has been about more than basketball. It’s also been about waiting to see if Dunphy could be convinced to take it. There is a precedent, one La Salle alum close to Dunphy pointed out, and Dunphy is keenly aware of it. When Jim Harding, Dunphy’s former coach, left after one turbulent year for the pros, and also left La Salle with NCAA problems, keeping them out of the postseason that 1968-69 season, Tom Gola, the school’s greatest basketball alum, and at the time the controller of the city of Philadelphia, took charge. The Explorers finished 23-1, with Dunphy as a key reserve during his junior season.
“La Salle needed him,” Dunphy himself said in 2014 in the days after Gola died. “He probably didn’t have the time, but he had that way about him, to help anybody who needed him.”
