AAC Basketball: Top 10 head coaches of the century (2000-20)

By Joey Loose | Jul 10, 2020

ARLINGTON, TX - APRIL 07: Phillip Nolan #0, Shabazz Napier #13, his mother Carmen Velasquez, and head coach Kevin Ollie of the Connecticut Huskies look on after defeating the Kentucky Wildcats 60-54 in the NCAA Men's Final Four Championship at AT&T Stadium on April 7, 2014 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

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DAYTON, OHIO – MARCH 19: Head coach Fran Dunphy of the Temple Owls (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

8. Fran Dunphy – Temple (2013-2019)

Before his retirement in 2019, Dunphy built quite an impressive coaching career, with much of it coming in Philadelphia. He spent 17 impressive years at Penn, leading the Quakers to nine NCAA Tournaments before taking the Temple job in 2006. His Owls had made the last six NCAA Tournaments by the time they joined the new AAC in 2013, though life was a bit harder in their new digs.

After initially struggling in 2014, Temple found their way in the new league, making a pair of NCAA Tournaments and a pair of NITs under Dunphy. The Owls won the AAC regular-season title in 2016 and finished in third place on two other occasions. They certainly weren’t as dominant as they were in the Atlantic 10, but this was a new conference with much tougher opposition. Despite that transition, Dunphy was still winning around 20 games a season.

Dunphy retired in 2019 after a long, successful career. Even though Temple failed to make a real impact in their first six years in the AAC, he left behind an incredible legacy. That pair of Tournaments was not what fans were used to, but they were in a more powerful league at this point. Dunphy is responsible for a ton of success around Philadelphia, and those last six seasons justify his spot on this list.