Chaney, John
Basketball
b. Jan. 21, 1932, Jacksonville, FL
Chaney played basketball at Bethune-Cookman College in Florida. After graduating in 1953, he played for ten years in the Eastern Professional Basketball League, where he was twice named Most Valuable Player.
He then coached at the junior high and high school levels in Pennsylvania before becoming head coach at Cheney State College in 1972.
In ten years at Cheney State, Chaney had a 225-59 record and guided the school to the NCAA Division II championship in 1978. He then took over at Temple University in 1982 and immediately began producing winners. Temple won four Atlantic 10 championships in Chaney's first eleven seasons. His 1987-88 team won 32 of 34 games and was ranked first in the nation after the regular season, but didn't make the NCAA final four.
Though known for teaching tough defense, Chaney was a high scorer in his playing days at Bethune-Cookman, hitting a high of 57 points. His Temple teams are always a factor in NCAA tournament play because Chaney likes to play challenging non-conference teams away from home or on neutral courts early in the season, rather than fattening up a record against easy opposition.
Chaney has taken Temple to the NCAA tournament 18 times, including 12 appearances in row. The U. S. Basketball Writers Association named him Coach of the Year in 1987 and 1988
Through the 2002-03 season, Chaney was 431-179 at Temple and 656-238 overall as a college. He ranks 15th all-time in Division I victories.