A look at Fran Dunphy's road to 500
Facts and figures as Fran Dunphy nears his 500th career victory.
A look at some of the notable of Fran Dunphy's first 499 wins:
1: Beat Lehigh on Nov. 25, 1989, in Dunphy's first game as head coach. "I'm glad it's out of the way," he said afterward.
37: A generally nondescript win over Cornell in the 1992 season finale ended up being the first of a record 48 consecutive Ivy League victories for Dunphy and the Quakers.
57: Clinched first of four consecutive Ivy League titles by beating Yale on March 5, 1993.
84: Seeded 11th, Penn beat Nebraska in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 17, 1994.
100: On a team generally led by Matt Maloney and Jerome Allen, Ira Bowman carried the day with 20 points and eight steals in a victory over Dartmouth on Feb. 17, 1995.
200: Beat Yale, Feb. 2, 2001.
228: Broke Lon Jourdet's Penn coaching record for wins by beating Columbia on March 1, 2002. "It's one of those things you don't even think about," Dunphy said that night. "I hope that in about 20 years, I have a host of grandchildren and I can look back and feel very good about the guys who coached with me and played with us."
300: Beat La Salle, his alma mater, on Jan. 25, 2006. "It feels good to just get it over with," Dunphy said. "I'm appreciative of it, don't get me wrong, but I would just as soon not ever have to talk about it again."
310: His final win at Penn was at Yale on March 3, 2006. It clinched his ninth and final Ivy League title.
311: His first win at Temple was against Rutgers on Nov. 29, 2006.
343: Beat Saint Joseph's to win the first of three consecutive Atlantic 10 Tournament titles.
400: Beat ninth-ranked Georgetown on Dec. 9, 2010. It was the third consecutive year the Owls had knocked off a top-10 opponent.
420: Dunphy and the Owls (seeded seventh) beat Penn State in a 2011 NCAA Tournament game. Temple had been eliminated after one game the previous 3 years.
468: Held on to beat NC State in a 2013 NCAA Tournament game. The Owls, seeded eighth, nearly stunned top-seeded Indiana 2 days later.
485: Overwhelmed 10th-ranked Kansas by 25 points on Dec. 28, 2014 in a game that just may get the Owls into the NCAA Tournament.
Most crushing of his 269 losses:
* Hung with top-seeded Indiana before losing late in a 2013 NCAA Tournament game. It would have been Temple's first win ever over a No. 1 seed.
* Temple was thumped by 12th-seeded Cornell and former Dunphy assistant Steve Donohue, 78-65 in 2010. It was the 11th consecutive NCAA Tournament loss for Dunphy, third while he was at Temple.
* Bitten by another 12-seed when South Florida beat Temple in an ugly affair, 58-44, in 2012.
* In Dunphy's first game against Penn, in 2007, Mark Zoller hit three free throws with 1.4 seconds left to beat his old coach in a classic, 76-74. "I was never more nervous in my entire life," Zoller said. "It'll definitely be good talk down the road."
* Penn was up 33-9 at half and 40-13 with 15 minutes to go, but still lost to Princeton, 50-49 in a 1999 game. Often overlooked is that the Quakers rebounded to win their final seven Ivy League games. They won the conference by beating the Tigers by 25 in Princeton on the final day.
* Penn lost to Princeton in overtime of a playoff game to decide the 1996 Ivy League championship. The Tigers then stunned defending champ UCLA a week later in the NCAA Tournament, giving coach Pete Carril the biggest – and final – win of his legendary career.
- Ed Barkowitz
BY THE NUMBERS
Fran Dunphy's Career
Penn Temple Total
Years. . . 1989-06 2006-15 1989-15
Seasons. . . 17 9 26
Wins. . . 310 189 499
Losses. . . 163 106 269
Win pct.. . . .655 .641 .650
20+ wins. . . 9 7 16
Losing seasons. . . 4 2 6
Conf. titles. . . *10 3 13
NCAA Bids. . . 9 6 15
NCAA W-L. . . 1-9 2-6 3-15
*Penn shared the regular-season title with Princeton in 1996 but lost in the playoff game that determined the NCAA bid.
Local Coaches
Most wins among coaches for Big 5 schools:
Final yr. Wins
John Chaney, Temple. . . 2006 516
Fran Dunphy, Penn/Temple. . . - 499
Al Severance, Villanova. . . 1961 413
Phil Martelli, Saint Joseph's. . . - 375
Harry Litwack, Temple. . . 1973 373
Rollie Massimino, Villanova. . . 1992 357
Jay Wright, Villanova. . . - 316
Bill Ferguson, Saint Joseph's. . . 1953 309
Herb Magee, of Division II Philadelphia University, holds the city record with 1,009 wins and counting.