John Chaney

[NDLyght37]

What are your thoughts on the recent incident, and Chaney in general?

I actually didn't have a problem with what he did, just with the excecution of his orders. Sports has always had "goons" or "enforcers" or players who police the game on the field/court. I think that Chaney was within his rights to send a guy out there to get physical with the other team. His mistake was that he sent a guy out there to intentionally foul the other team with seemingly no thought behind it. You have to foul with a purpose in that situation. Also the kid was very reckless with the way he was comitting the fouls (as is evidenced by breaking the St. Joe's kid's arm).

As for Chaney's legacy, I think he's a great coach with anger management problems. I also think that people are going crazy with this in the media. Comparing him to Woody Hayes is a bit of a stretch, IMO.

 

[Aerosmith777]

What are your thoughts on the recent incident, and Chaney in general?

I actually didn't have a problem with what he did, just with the excecution of his orders. Sports has always had "goons" or "enforcers" or players who police the game on the field/court. I think that Chaney was within his rights to send a guy out there to get physical with the other team. His mistake was that he sent a guy out there to intentionally foul the other team with seemingly no thought behind it. You have to foul with a purpose in that situation. Also the kid was very reckless with the way he was comitting the fouls (as is evidenced by breaking the St. Joe's kid's arm).

As for Chaney's legacy, I think he's a great coach with anger management problems. I also think that people are going crazy with this in the media. Comparing him to Woody Hayes is a bit of a stretch, IMO.

I'm pretty pissed, but I'm also pretty biased. I just graduated from St. Joe's last year, and I actually met John Bryant a couple times and had a class w/ him my last semester, so I feel bad for him. He's a great guy, and a good clean player, regardless of what Chaney thinks of him. I never had a problem w/ the owls before (st. joe's was always more of a rival w/ Villanova, while Temple fans duke it out w/ Drexel and Penn fans) but now I kinda do and hope the Hawks beat the crap out of them in the A-10 tourney. Hehe, I do remember my senior year that, since SJU doesn't have a football team, there were guys from Temple on our campus passing out flyers trying to get us to go to their crappy team's games at the Linc. Their whole add line was, "You don't have a football team, now you do." We were all like, Thanks but no thanks, we'd rather not have one given that option.

 

[NDLyght37]

I can definitely see where you're coming from, and I think that Chaney should sit out the remainder of the season (including postseason) as a result of this. I think that the broken arm escalated the situation, and I put that on the boneheaded-ness of the kid. There's a proper way to foul hard, but you never undercut someone.

Another question, where were the refs? It's up to them to dictate the flow of a game when it comes to fouls. If they saw that this thug from Temple was intentionally fouling hard, they should have booted him and hit Chaney up with a "T".

 

[Guest]

I think he has to be fired....

If your gonna send a goon in, keep it private don't tell the media. He dug his own grave.

chaney will have a hard time recruiting, I wouldn't send my son to play for him, so he could be a goon.

 

[Aerosmith777]

Agreed. I never got John Chaney. He's been coaching at Temple forever, but he absolutely hates Philadelphia with a passion. Now, after living there myself, I can understand where he's coming from on that one cause I wasn't overly fond of it either by the time I graduated, but I at least left after 4 years. When the Eagles were trying to sign John Runyan a few years ago, Chaney ran into him in a restaurant and went up to him out of the blue and told him whatever he does do not sign w/ the Eagles and come to Philadelphia, and that its a terrible city to live in & especially to play in. If he hated the damn place so much, I would have thought he could have found another job somewhere years ago when he was a bit younger and not as much of a head case. I don't, just never understood that guy.

 

[guff]

Hockey has goons, not basketball. And in hockey the goons are known for their goonery. No one was ever surprised that Bob Probert punched someone. This is basketball game and the player was unknown. It is one thing to put a player in the game that is a physical presence in order to change the tempo. It's another to put a player in with the sole intention committing five flagrant fouls that serve no purpose.

Is there a double standard out there? What would the media be doing to Bobby Knight now?

Chaney should be fired. A kid played his last basketball as a direct result of Chaney's actions, Chaney should have coached his last.

 

[Vince Young]

I'm glad to see Chaney showing some contrition after-the-fact, but come on... the vile, awful offense committed by the other team was illegal screens. OoOoOo! Chaney thinks that merits violence as a response? Suspending himself showed some class, but it was class that showed up about a day too late.

Firing him doesn't go far enough. If I did the exact same thing that Chaney did, getting a friend to attack someone who was annoying me, I'd be charged with conspiracy to commit assault and tossed in jail.

As for the player himself, he's old enough to know better. "I was only following orders" doesn't cut it.

 

[jiggafini19]

Chaney is only at Temple this long because he has won. Simple as that. This kind of behavior is tolerated by schools and atheltic depts. because of victories. And victories, as we all know, lead to dollars. What angers me about this situation is not that someone got hurt. The injury to the player is secondary. Chaney, as a coach and educator, deliberately gave instructions to one of his players to go into the game and cause harm to the opponents.
This is a sick man. He is also a successful man, so his behavior has been tolerated. The end justifies the means to Temple, just as it did for Indiana for so many years.

 

[NDLyght37]

A few things:

- I don't think this is a fireable offense. I think the suspension for the rest of the season is fair. If the Bryant kidis out for the rest of the year, Chaney should be out for the remainder of the year as well. But you don't fire a hall-of-fame coach over something like this.

- The refs seem to be getting a pass from the media & the public in general. They could have stopped any of this from happening. Even a rec-league ref would have known what was going on and would have tossed the kid. Chaney is ultimately to blame, but the officials (and St. Joe's for that matter) are not blameless.

- Say what you will about the Temple kid, but I'm sure that 99% of us would do the exact same thing. I would (obviosuly I'd foul a lot smarter, though). You're a 4 year bench-warmer, John Chaney has kept you on his team, mentored you, been like a father figure. I doubt many of us could say no to him asking us to go out and be the enforcer.

- Double-Standard? I don't see it. Any coach on that level is going to be granted some leeway. Coach K, Beiheim, Pitino, they would all be in the same situation.

- Finally, the only difference between Chaney & any other coach is that he was up-front about what he does. Almost every basketball coach in the NCAA has a few football players on the roster for the expressed purpose of getting physical if the need arises.

 

[Aerosmith777]

I don't really blame the kid, I understand when your coach tells you to do something you do it. But its one thing to send in someone to play hack-a-shaq so to speak, I get that & that its part of the game. its another when he starts throwing elbows and closed fists. Chaney should have benched him himself when he saw that b/c that's not basketball. That's not even hockey when its played right. I don't know if he should be fired, but one way or the other, I really think he has to look himself in the mirror and give a long thought to retirement. Between all of this going on & now w/ the NCAA coming out and saying Temple basketball isn't as academically sound as we used to think it was, I just think the guy's lost it. Plus, one of the things that really bothered me was, when John Bryant was getting helped up, all the fans were spitting at him. I mean, what the hell is that? I know you can't exactly blame that on Chaney, but when I was at St. Joe's at least I know we all took the stuff Phil Martelli said to us about how to behave to heart. SJU fans don't do that kind of stuff, & we don't get into fights or riots in the stands either (happened several times at Temple while I was at SJU). I don't know, I just think that Chaney could do something about that, but I haven't heard anything about it or him ever chastising his own fans. it just all adds up to me. maybe he shouldn't be forced out b/c of what he's meant to the university, but much like Joe Pa over in PennState, I think its time he left voluntarily on his own.

 

[NDLyght37]

it just all adds up to me. maybe he shouldn't be forced out b/c of what he's meant to the university, but much like Joe Pa over in Penn State, I think its time he left voluntarily on his own.

Ironically, I think Chaney has been the only honorable "adult" in this mess. The Temple AD/President have appeared weak & confused. And the A-10 commish has been very submissive. At least Chaney has been proactive (unlike say a Bob Knight). He's spoken with the family & apologized to the kid. He's suspended himself for the rest of the year, and he's been contrite (again, unlike Knight).

If I were Chaney, I'd have to come back next year...you can't go out like this. But I would announce that 2006 would be my last season. I would groom my replacement and go out on a positive note.

 

[jiggafini19]

Bottom line, he should be thankful that he's been winning consistently for so long. A coach as eccentric as Chaney that was mediocre would have been fired long ago.

Isn't he 70 or close to it?

 

[Aerosmith777]

Ironically, I think Chaney has been the only honorable "adult" in this mess. The Temple AD/President have appeared weak & confused. And the A-10 commish has been very submissive. At least Chaney has been proactive (unlike say a Bob Knight). He's spoken with the family & apologized to the kid. He's suspended himself for the rest of the year, and he's been contrite (again, unlike Knight).

Maybe, but he flip flopped worse than John Kerry on that one. Did you hear his press conference right after the game? He didn't sound contrite at all. In fact, he sounded like he'd do it again if he had the chance. That hurt a little of his credibility w/ this "apology" for me. Seems like he didn't care all that much until after he heard John Bryant was really hurt and it started looking like he & Temple might get sued.

 

[NDLyght37]

Maybe, but he flip flopped worse than John Kerry on that one. Did you hear his press conference right after the game? He didn't sound contrite at all. In fact, he sounded like he'd do it again if he had the chance. That hurt a little of his credibility w/ this "apology" for me. Seems like he didn't care all that much until after he heard John Bryant was really hurt and it started looking like he & Temple might get sued.

True, but to be fair I don't think anyone involved gave the incident a second thought until they found out how hurt Bryant really was.

Jiggafini - Yeah Chaney's 72 I think. So I think he's got one more year left in him. That will give him next year to restore/repair both his and Temple's image...and give them adequate time to groom his successor.

 

[jiggafini19]

True, but to be fair I don't think anyone involved gave the incident a second thought until they found out how hurt Bryant really was.

Jiggafini - Yeah Chaney's 72 I think. So I think he's got one more year left in him. That will give him next year to restore/repair both his and Temple's image...and give them adequate time to groom his successor.

Thanks Lyght. I knew he was up there.

Again, the fact that someone got injured is secondary to the real issue. Chaney's intentions as a coach and educator are very alarming. The injury is magnifying the situation, right or wrong.

This kind of behavior is unacceptable. It would be a shame that this would be the lasting impression on his reputation. That and attacking John Calipari, threatening to kill him.