Midnight on Broad Street

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I headed to the first Midnight Madness of Fran Dunphy's tenure at Temple last night with no idea what to expect -- which, incidentally, is exactly how Dunphy later told me he approached the evening.

But it was clear from the start that this night, as Midnight Madness is supposed to be, was all about the fans. Slam-dunk and three-point contests included, of course.

Seeing Dunphy out on the court with a talented group of athletes again reminded me just how great of a move the job change has been for him. One Temple student told me offhandedly that, while some diehards were not pleased with Athletic Director Bill Bradshaw's hiring of Dunphy, many have come around to Fran since then.

The fan interest that his program received last night probably rivaled any he had seen while at Penn. And as a coach, that's got to feel awfully good.

My other thoughts from the evening:

Temple may not have a Coach Lake-type figure for its awful football program, but it may have his equal for its basketball team. Dressing in simple Temple bookstore sweats, student marketing coordinator Carlos Bates specializes in a rousing refrain of "Your TEMPLE OWLS" that is enought to grab anyone's attention. You might not see Bates, who has been employed with the Owls for "around five years," at a Temple home game, but you sure will hear him.

Best Dressed? That would be every student who coughed up $10 for an "I Love Temple Athletics" shirt. Plain cherry and white lettering, I thought they looked great.

How about worst? None other than the event's organizers, who chose to dress in black t-shirts that had only the ghastly outline of a gigantic owl on the front. Worse, they replaced the owl's eyes with a pair of gold clocks, ostensibly for Midnight Madness. They were flat-out creepy.

Temple administrators are the kings of the gimmick. With raffles for lunch with the Dunph, a semester stipend or endless bookstore giveaways -- along with free pizza for all, no one could claim that the athletic department didn't give enough incentives for students to show up.

Dunphy isn't the only one who's been making a name in the charitable world. While Dunphy has earned praise for his work with Coaches vs. Cancer, women's basketball coach and former WNBA stalwart Dawn Staley has a self-named foundation that offers programs for at-risk children. Not terribly unusual, but I give Temple Athletics credit for promoting it heavily last night.

Which made me realize what a big deal Dawn Staley really is. Apparently she is -- what else could justify this spiffy techno music?