PHILADELPHIA -- You didn't have to like John Chaney to respect him. And you didn't have to agree with him to understand the man's impact on college basketball, Temple University and the countless lives he touched.
When Temple president Peter Liacouras went outside the box and tapped Chaney to lead the Owls in 1982, many in Philadelphia thought it was another example of the controversial Liacouras missing the mark. This was the same president who had promised a Sugar Bowl by 1985, and the same basketball program which hadn't won an NCAA tournament game since 1958.
But Liacouras was right this time, and in Chaney he landed an unapologetic icon who lifted the basketball team, the region's largest institution of higher learning and half a city.