Temple legend, Hall of Fame coach John Chaney dies at 89

Mike Jensen of the Philadelphia Inquirer has confirmed that legendary Temple Owls coach and Hall of Famer John Chaney has died at the age of 89. 

Chaney guided Temple to five Elite Eight appearances and 17 NCAA tournaments while serving as the program's coach from 1982 through 2006. As Cassandra Negley of Yahoo Sports noted, Temple never qualified for back-to-back NCAA tournaments before Chaney's arrival. 

Per Negley, Chaney won United States Basketball Writers Association National Coach of the Year honors in 1987 and 1988. According to the NCAA's official website, Chaney sits 22nd all-time among Division I coaches with 741 career victories. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. 

Before his time with Temple, he helped Cheyney University win the Division II title in 1978.  

"I just want to be remembered as someone who cared," Chaney told The Athletic for a piece published in February 2019. "It’s that simple. What we need more of these days — I don’t care how you look at it — is caring for others, whoever that is.

"I always think I could have done more, when I think about things that are meaningful. You always can do more. You find obstacles. I go back to my old house and see people sitting there, people who don’t know me. And they’re still in poverty. And I think that could have been me sitting there. And I choke up. It’s unbelievable. I was fortunate. I remember an old lady asked me to go get her some cigarettes at the store. And she gave me a quarter. And my mother made me give it back. Because I wasn’t allowed to take money for doing people a favor."