Former Temple coach Fran Dunphy has a lot of familiarity with both North Carolina and Duke

Fran Dunphy isn’t quick to offer a prediction for Saturday’s Final Four bout between No. 2-seed Duke and No. 8 North Carolina. He believes that is smartest considering his ties to each program.

The former Penn and Temple coach sparked an unlikely friendship with Roy Williams, Tar Heels coach Hubert Davis’ predecessor, after an unlikely matchup in 1999. And Dunphy has known Duke’s Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski for more than 50 years.

Ahead of Saturday’s game, the first-ever matchup between Duke and North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament, Dunphy talked to The Inquirer about his connections to both programs.

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Before the start of the 1998-99 season, Dunphy got an unexpected call from Williams, then coaching at Kansas.

Williams inquired about a home-and-home series with Penn after beating the Quakers at a neutral site the year prior. The oddity of that call was Williams suggested they play the first game of the series in Philadelphia.

Nearly a decade into his 17-year coaching stint at Penn, Dunphy responded, “We can but I’ve never had anybody ask to do that before, especially at your level of program.

“Usually when people were asking to play, they always talk about coming to their place first,” Dunphy said. “Two of his radio guys had never done a game in The Palestra before so he wanted to bring them there.”

The Jayhawks got the better of Penn in both contests, beating Penn 61-56 at the Palestra in 1998, and 105-59 in Lawrence the following season.

Since that phone call, the two have forged a strong friendship. Dunphy, who later coached at Temple (2006-2019) and Williams, who returned to his alma matter North Carolina in 2003 and coached there until retiring last April, shared time on the Coaches vs. Cancer Council. They have also played golf together on numerous occasions, and recently sat together for this year’s Sweet Sixteen matchup between North Carolina and UCLA at the Wells Fargo Center.

What kinds of things do two legendary coaches with 1,483 combined wins talk about while watching a game together? Coaching from the stands? Reminiscing on old times? Simply enjoying the atmosphere?

“[Williams] He was into the game. He was into every bounce, every pass, every shot,” Dunphy said. “We talked a little bit about the kids because he had recruited most of them and how proud of them he was the way they developed over the year. He was thrilled that they were in that position.”

Now North Carolina has a chance to be the fifth eight seed to reach the NCAA title game (1980 UCLA, 1985 Villanova, 2011 Butler, 2014 Kentucky). Villanova, who beat in Georgetown in the title game in 1985, remains the lowest seed to ever win the tournament.

Dunphy hasn’t known another college basketball coach as long as he’s known Krzyzewski. And he doesn’t think Krzyzewski has known another coach longer than him.

They met in January of 1971, playing together for the U.S. Army touring basketball team. Dunphy indicated there’s a pretty strong bond between two guys who served in the Army together, played on the same basketball team, and then ended up in the same profession.

Contact is relatively infrequent between the two nowadays but when they see each other it’s like no time has passed. Dunphy recalled one time he and Krzyzewski bumped into each other on the recruiting trail in Orlando in 2014.

“We sat down and talked for a whole game,” Dunphy said. “I’m not sure either one of us saw much of the game. We reminisced about a lot of different things — his USA basketball experience and the kinds of guys that he had on his staff at Duke who had helped him. It was really good to catch up.”

Dunphy’s finest memory with the winningest coach in NCAA history came on Jan. 4, 2012 when his Temple Owls upset Duke. But what he remembers most fondly, prophetic of Krzyzewski’s future success, came from their playing days.

As a player, Krzyzewski acted almost as an extension of the coaching staff. He’d ask during a dead ball what they saw or confer about certain adjustments, which Dunphy says were always, “right on point.”

Dunphy has seen up close Krzyzewski’s transformation from player to a coach making his 13th Final Four appearance.

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“For most of us when we are younger [coaches] we have a bunch of insecurities and think we have to do everything,” Dunphy said. “Then as you get a little bit older and more mature, you say I need to include my staff in many of these decisions because they work hard and need some ownership. And when you really get good you include the players who are actually out on the floor doing the work.”

That maturation was on full display in Duke’s 78-73 Sweet Sixteen win over Texas Tech.

During a second half huddle, the players urged their head coach to switch from zone defense to man-to-man. Krzyzewski cracked a smile postgame recalling the timeout. He likened it to a boy’s church choir, harmoniously pleading, “We want to go man [defense]!”

Krzyzewski sits just two wins away from a storybook ending to a legendary. But his biggest rival, North Carolina, stands in the way.

Dunphy will surely be watching but he’s still not picking a side.