OT - John Chaney dead at age 89
- Thread starter King Of All Message Boards
- Start date
Remember when he and Callapari went at it.
Mark Macon, Mike Vreeswyk killed WVU every year. Love Chaney. Always considered him like a Huggins or Tark. Didn’t give AF about being a part of college hoops royalty. Just coached his guys, disciplined them and won.
Oh man, I remember that. That is when Eastern basketball was awesome.
Not a fan as he was a black version of Bobbie Knight, but respect the fact that he was a good coach and his teams played hard. RIP.
In some regards similar but only in the end stages for Coach Chaney but to those who don't approve we may recall those poetic words of BK....
"When my time on earth is gone,
and my activities here are passed,
I want they bury me upside down,
so my critics can kiss my ass!
One of my older brothers was a freshman at Temple in 1982, Chaney’s first year at Temple. He told me about the new coach and said he was a badass.
He started off playing football there and stayed in the athletes’ dorm. We went to visit him his sophomore year and in the hallway introduced me to Terrence Stansbury, who played in the NBA for the Pacers and Sonics.
I had just started playing basketball and Terrence was being cool to me since I was a young kid and wanted to talk basketball. He was such a good guy and had a big smile on his face the entire time. Then I asked how he liked playing for Chaney, and his smile went away and he said, “It’s intense, little man. It’s intense.” But he did say he had learned more in one year playing for him than all the years he played combined; about basketball and life. Said he was tough but a good man.
When my brother graduated, Chaney was standing outside of the building in the middle of all the people with his guys that graduated and those that were still on the team. I was only 14 years old and nervous to say hello, but he saw me and noticed I was hesitant, so he said hi, asked me my name, and shook my hand. He asked if I played basketball and told me to master the fundamentals and play defense and I would be a coach’s dream. He also told me to study hard and do well in school.
He had an intimidating presence about him, but he seemed genuinely interested in what I said to him. I’m from Williamsport and brought up that he played for the Williamsport Billies, essentially a minor league basketball team. He LOVED hearing that, so he thought I was cool. So he introduced me to a few players and had me confirm that he played for the Billies, and they laughed.
Good guy.
He started off playing football there and stayed in the athletes’ dorm. We went to visit him his sophomore year and in the hallway introduced me to Terrence Stansbury, who played in the NBA for the Pacers and Sonics.
I had just started playing basketball and Terrence was being cool to me since I was a young kid and wanted to talk basketball. He was such a good guy and had a big smile on his face the entire time. Then I asked how he liked playing for Chaney, and his smile went away and he said, “It’s intense, little man. It’s intense.” But he did say he had learned more in one year playing for him than all the years he played combined; about basketball and life. Said he was tough but a good man.
When my brother graduated, Chaney was standing outside of the building in the middle of all the people with his guys that graduated and those that were still on the team. I was only 14 years old and nervous to say hello, but he saw me and noticed I was hesitant, so he said hi, asked me my name, and shook my hand. He asked if I played basketball and told me to master the fundamentals and play defense and I would be a coach’s dream. He also told me to study hard and do well in school.
He had an intimidating presence about him, but he seemed genuinely interested in what I said to him. I’m from Williamsport and brought up that he played for the Williamsport Billies, essentially a minor league basketball team. He LOVED hearing that, so he thought I was cool. So he introduced me to a few players and had me confirm that he played for the Billies, and they laughed.
Good guy.
