John Chaney, Finally Realizing How Tired He Looks, Retires

The number of college basketball coaches that fall into the “just don’t give a f—k” class decreased by one when John Chaney announced he would retire following Temple’s exit from the NIT.

That leaves only the walk-on punishing Bobby Knight and Eddie “I’ll Piss Where I Want" Sutton to carry on the torch for crazy, old, politically incorrect men to direct the young athletes in our country. Jim Calhoun, the one coach who can still intimidate his players to the point where they are downright terrified of him, might be able to be mentioned in this category, but he probably still needs a few more years of threatening the media to become a full-fledged member.

To be fair, Chaney did a lot for college basketball. He’s helped plenty of African-Americans gets jobs as head coaches and seems to have always placed education well ahead of basketball. On the court, Temple rarely played a cupcake on a schedule that usually ranked among the top five in country in terms of strength. Recently, that ridiculous schedule has relegated the Owls to the NIT, but they did reach five Elite Eights under Chaney.

Of course, most people will not remember Chaney for the good. And rightfully so.

He once stormed into a John Calipari’s post-game press conference and threatened to kill the young, cocky head coach. That still ranks as one of the all-time classic blow-ups by a coach.

Last season, you’ll remember that he sent a bench-warmer who he later referred to as his “goon” into a game against St. Joseph’s to commit hard fouls. The guy ended up breaking someone’s arm and Chaney suspended himself. That still ranks as one of the all-time low moments in sports.

Chaney has also challenged the Philadelphia media to fights, slammed George Bush, and attempted to choke a coach.

For people to say that the game and more so the world has not passed him by is foolish, but Chaney deserves to be considered both an old-school hard-ass and a pioneer for the sport.

Get some sleep, John.

Article Author: Dan McGowan

Dan McGowan is a 23 year old student and freelance writer. He is the editor of

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