One of the winningest active coaches in men’s college basketball is calling it a career.
La Salle coach Fran Dunphy, a Philadelphia basketball staple who previously coached at Temple and Penn, will retire at the end of the 2024-25 season, the university announced Thursday.
The 76-year-old Dunphy is in his third season at his alma mater, where he has compiled a 43-51 record, including a 12-15 mark this season. The Explorers had gone 45-71 in the four seasons before Dunphy was hired in April 2022.
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Once the season is over, Dunphy will assume a new role with the university, special assistant to the president, that comes with a lifetime contract.
Dunphy has the most wins of any coach in the history of Philadelphia’s Big 5, a group that was originally made up of Villanova, Temple, Saint Joseph’s, Penn and La Salle and was recently expanded to include Drexel. He has 623 victories over 33 seasons as a head coach, a run that previously featured stops at Penn (1989-2006) and Temple (2006-19). He’s the only coach to have overseen multiple Big 5 programs and he has led more teams to the NCAA Tournament than any other Big 5 coach.
He made Penn into an Ivy League powerhouse in the 1990s and 2000s, leading the Quakers to 10 conference championships in his final 14 seasons. From there, he succeeded legendary coach John Chaney at Temple and guided the Owls to eight NCAA tournaments in 13 seasons. His stint there was highlighted by a 2009-10 team that went 29-6, the third-most wins in a season in school history.
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Dunphy stepped down at Temple after the 2018-19 season, but resurfaced three years later at La Salle.
“I will forever be thankful to La Salle as well as all my fellow coaches and players that I’ve been fortunate to work with throughout my coaching career,” Dunphy said in a statement. “I am looking forward to finishing this season strong with our team, and as I embark on the next chapter of my life, I could not be happier to stay at La Salle and work with President Allen, Ash Puri, and this great University that I call home.”
Dunphy becomes the latest decorated and long-tenured men’s college basketball coach to have stepped down or announced his impending departure over the past six months. Virginia’s Tony Bennett and Miami’s Jim Larrañaga both left their respective schools late last year and earlier this month, Florida State announced Leonard Hamilton will be resigning at the end of the season.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: La Salle basketball coach Fran Dunphy will retire at the end of the season
