Can Fran Dunphy lead La Salle back to college basketball relevance?

To understand the depth of the challenge that Fran Dunphy faces as the new men’s basketball coach at La Salle, all you need to do is listen to him talk about his decision to accept the job.

“It wasn’t something where I said, ‘Man, I want to get back in and let me do this,’” Dunphy said Thursday of the weeks-long process that ultimately led him to unretire at the age of 73 to coach his alma mater. “There wasn’t any of that.”

» READ MORE: Fran Dunphy may be 73 taking over La Salle, but he hasn’t slowed down

After a brilliant 30-year coaching career that saw him build consistent winners at Penn and Temple, Dunphy is well aware of the burden that he has yoked himself to at La Salle. It has been 29 years since the Explorers have had three straight winning seasons, a stretch that has seen them finish above .500 five times total. The last three coaches have combined to go 294-351 with no conference titles and one NCAA Tournament berth in 21 seasons. Last month, the school parted ways with Ashley Howard, a former Villanova assistant who went 45-71 in four seasons.

While calling basketball games for ESPN+ over the last three years, Dunphy has had an up-close look at the challenges that confronted Howard as he attempted to build a program at La Salle. The school has seen a dramatic change in its place in the hierarchy of athletics and higher education since the former point guard shared a court with two future NBAers as an Explorers senior in 1969-70.

Financial issues at the university level have led an already small athletic department to contract even further, complicating efforts to invest in a basketball program whose arena and facilities rank among the smallest in Division I. While a $6.2 million posthumous alumni gift earmarked for a new home court has raised hopes of renovating the 3,400-seat Tom Gola Arena, La Salle is less than two years removed from eliminating seven scholarship sports in a cost-cutting measure. Attendance and enthusiasm — prerequisites for most successful capital campaigns — are near record lows.

“Listen, I wrestled with this thing,” Dunphy said. “It wasn’t like when the ask was made, I said, ‘Yeah, I’m jumping in feet first.’ I measured this. I have two little grandsons that I can’t get enough of and that means I’m going to spend less time with them. That’s sacrifice. But my family is behind me. ... It’s my alma mater. It’s what we do. When we are asked to serve, we do.”

» READ MORE: Take it from a La Salle alumnus who loves the place: It will take more than Fran Dunphy to save it

But Dunphy said his pragmatism should not be mistaken for a lack of enthusiasm or commitment. While he initially envisioned himself occupying an off-the-court role in helping La Salle to turn its program around, he eventually found himself convinced by the insistence of alumni and administrators that he needed to actively lead the effort.

“We’re gonna need everybody,” Dunphy said. “Listen, this is a daunting task that we all have to be a part of. It’s a team. The alums, those people who have been around La Salle a long time, I need them. I need the students of today to come to the games and support our guys in each and every game that we play ... I want as many La Salle people to say, ‘You know what, we can do this. We can arrive.’ Whether or not somebody thinks that I’m a rallying point, I’ll try my best. That’s all I can do.”

While Dunphy’s reputation as a coach’s coach is well-earned, his tenure at La Salle will ultimately hinge on his ability to recruit the sort of talent that has largely eluded his three immediate predecessors. His first task will be addressing the future of the five members of this year’s team who have entered the NCAA’s transfer portal. From there, Dunphy will need to figure out a way to convince high school kids and potential transfers that La Salle can offer them something that other small, private schools can’t.

“A unique kid who can see the value of coming to a small little school in the Germantown/Olney section of Philadelphia,” Dunphy said. “I know the kind of guys I went to school with and how committed they were. Just complete and total commitment. ... We’re not in that situation where somebody’s necessarily committed to you for the next four years or five in the world we’re living in today. It’s just going to take a unique guy, and maybe it’s also some guys from Philly who went away for school like a Clifton Moore, who we now have in the program who went to Indiana and then decided to come back and play for Ash and La Salle.

“Maybe it’s some of those guys as well who are making a different decision after going away and seeing that maybe home is where the heart is and maybe I can make my life in Philadelphia.”

The work has already begun. This weekend, Howard’s assistants will fan out to high schools around the country for their regularly scheduled recruiting trips as Dunphy evaluates potential combinations for his 2022-23 coaching staff. Sometimes, the first step toward fixing the future is to focus on the present.