Fran Dunphy Named Finalist For National Coach of the Year - Temple (original) (raw)

3.8.10 | Men's Basketball

PHILADELPHIA - Temple University head coach Fran Dunphy has been named as one of the 15 finalists for the 2010 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award as announced by CollegeInsider.com. Dunphy earned his first career conference Coach of the Year honor when he was tabbed as the 2010 Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year Sunday.

Dunphy, in his fourth year at the helm, guided the Owls to their first A-10 regular season championship since 2002. He also led Temple to a 26-5 overall mark, tying for the second most regular season wins, and its first national ranking since 2001. Picked tied for fifth in the preseason poll, the Owls have been among the Top 25 in both polls for 11 straight weeks.

Dunphy, who compiled 310 wins and 10 Ivy League Championships in his 17-year tenure at Penn, never won a conference Coach of the Year honor prior to Temple as the Ivy League does not award it.

Joining Dunphy as finalists for the award are: Steve Alford (New Mexico), Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), John Calipari (Kentucky), Jamie Dixon (Pittsburgh), Steve Donahue (Cornell), Fran Dunphy (Temple), Ben Jacobson (Northern Iowa), Frank Martin (Kansas State), Chris Mooney (Richmond), Matt Painter (Purdue), Bo Ryan (Wisconsin), Bill Self (Kansas), Brad Stevens (Butler), Mark Turgeon (Texas A&M) and Jay Wright (Villanova).

The Jim Phelan Award is given annually to the nation's top coach, as voted on by the 20-member panel. The winner will be presented with the award at the Final Four in Indianapolis.

Prior to 2003 the award was known simply as the CollegeInsider.com National Coach of the Year. It was renamed to honor longtime Mount St. Mary's head coach Jim Phelan, who retired with 830 career wins following the 2002-03 season.

Previous winners were Calipari (Memphis, 2009), Ryan (Wisconsin, 2008), Tony Bennett (Washington State, 2007), Ben Howland (UCLA, 2006), Tubby Smith (Kentucky, 2005), Phil Martelli (St. Joseph's, 2004) and Mark Slonaker (Mercer, 2003).

The Owls, 26-5, 14-2, are the #1-seed in the A-10 Tournament and open play against the winner of Tuesday's First Round game featuring #9-seed Duquesne at #8-seed St. Bonaventure on Friday at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall. Tip time is noon with the game being televised live by Comcast SportsNet and broadcast on 1210 AM WPHT.