La Salle coach Fran Dunphy, ‘Mr. Big 5,′ to retire from coaching at the end of the season
Dunphy, 76, will finish his third season leading La Salle and will then assume the role of special assistant to the president.
Fran Dunphy, the winningest coach in Big 5 history, will retire from coaching at the end of the 2024-25 basketball season, La Salle announced Thursday.
Dunphy, 76, will finish his third season leading La Salle, his alma mater, at next month’s Atlantic 10 men’s tournament. He will then assume the role of special assistant to the president at La Salle and has agreed to a lifetime contract with the university for that position, the school said in a release.
“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 [Daniel] Allen, [athletic director] Ash Puri, and this great university that I call home.”
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A national search for Dunphy’s successor will begin immediately, La Salle said.
“Fran has been instrumental in bringing pride and the high standards of success to La Salle basketball,” Puri said in a press release. “We will forever be thankful for his contributions to our university as a player, alumnus, coach, and mentor. I am grateful to call Fran a friend and fortunate to continue to rely on his guidance. Once an Explorer, always an Explorer.”
Dunphy, a basketball coach since he graduated from La Salle and the only coach to lead multiple Big 5 programs, has been on a Big 5 bench for most of the last 40 seasons. His first head-coaching position was at Penn, from 1989 to 2006. He led the Quakers to nine Ivy League titles and nine 20-win seasons before leaving for Temple, where he succeeded John Chaney.
Dunphy, who lived in southwest Philadelphia as a child and later moved to Delaware County, coached the Owls for 13 seasons, leading them to eight NCAA Tournament appearances.
In 2020, after handing off the Temple head coaching job to Aaron McKie, Dunphy transitioned into a role as interim athletic director.
Two years later, he picked up the phone when La Salle, where he played from 1967 to 1970, needed a new head coach.
“Because it’s my alma mater, and they asked me to do this,” Dunphy said last year when the school announced that he would return for another season.
Asked last April whether the 2024-25 season would be his last, Dunphy said: “I know I’m the basketball coach at La Salle tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and we’ll figure it out as we go along. I just want to do a good job for my school.”
Coaching Division I basketball these days is nothing like it was when Dunphy became a Division I assistant at Army in 1971.
“It’s stressful to a point, but it’s also the excitement of trying to put a roster together,” Dunphy said last year. “You love coaching, but you also like putting things together. And I hope we can do that.”
The Explorers, with an almost entirely new roster built through the transfer portal, started strong this season, winning six of their first eight games. But conference play has not been as kind. La Salle is 4-10 in A-10 play, sitting 14th in the 15-team league.
The Explorers next play on Wednesday night at John Glaser Arena against Duquesne in what will be Dunphy’s 1,000th game as a head coach. Through 999 games, Dunphy’s record is 623-376.
Penn head coach Steve Donahue, who was an assistant with Dunphy from 1990-2000 and captured six Ivy League titles during that span, told the Inquirer that the longtime coach was “one of the most impactful people” in his life.
“He gave me an incredible coaching opportunity more than 30 years ago, and I learned so much during the 10 years I spent on his staff here at Penn,” Donahue said. “He opened doors for me that I would never have thought possible. It has been a real treat to be back in Philly this last decade; it has allowed me to see his impact on this community through a different lens — not just the basketball community but so many others.
“He is truly a special coach and person. I’m saddened to see him retire from coaching, but if I know him, he won’t be slowing down, and I’ll be seeing him at plenty of basketball gyms around this city for many more years.”
Dunphy — a member of the Halls of Fame for the Philadelphia Big 5, La Salle Athletics, Penn Athletics, and Philadelphia Sports Writers — became the 43rd coach to reach 600 wins in November of 2023.
“I’ve been in coaching a lot of years,” Dunphy said on the day he won his 600th game, the milestone itself not meaning much to him. “I’m appreciative of the guys that have played for me, the guys that have coached with me.”
Off the court, Dunphy, along with his wife, Ree, has been instrumental in helping grow the Philadelphia chapter of Coaches vs. Cancer to one of the largest in the country.
La Salle will hold a news conference Monday with Dunphy.
Inquirer writer Conor Smith contributed to this report.