Men’s basketball coach Fran Dunphy was named the Atlantic Ten Conference Coach of the Year, while guards, redshirt-senior Ramone Moore, senior Juan Fernandez and junior Khalif Wyatt also earned conference honors on Monday.
This is Dunphy’s second Coach of the Year award since becoming Temple’s head coach in 2006. He led the Owls to their first outright A-10 regular season title since 1989-90 this season and a 24-6 record overall while missing starting senior forward Scootie Randall for the entire season and graduate center Micheal Eric for 13 games.
“I appreciate the vote of confidence by our fellow coaches,” Dunphy said in a teleconference call Monday. “They did not have to do that, and I appreciate it. I’m grateful for that. It’s just a stroke of good luck. We have some good players and the kids did a nice job. Obviously it’s never the head coach, it’s the players and the assistant coaches doing all the work and we take the lead. Certainly you can’t do anything without good people around you, but I appreciate the respect from the coaches in the league.”
Moore was beat out by St. Bonaventure senior forward Andrew Nicholson for A-10 Player of the Year, but was named to the A-10 First Team All-Conference. Wyatt was named to Second Team All-Conference, while Fernandez was named Third Team All-Conference and to the All Academic Team.
“It’s meaningful stuff for these kids and I appreciate the time that the coaches spend on this,” Dunphy said. “It’s terrific, we’re appreciative of how tough this league is and how many great programs and how many great players are in it.”
Moore averaged 17.8 points per game, good for first on the team and second in the conference, in his final season at Temple. Wyatt ranked third in the A-10 in scoring with 17.1 points per game, and fourth in steals per game (2.1) and free-throw percentage (.849). Fernandez led the Owls in assists per game (3.8) while averaging 11.4 points per game and maintaining a grade-point average of 3.08.
Here’s a complete list of the A-10 end-of-the-year awards.
Coach of the Year
Fran Dunphy, Temple
Player of the Year
Andrew Nicholson, St. Bonaventure
Defensive Player of the Year
C.J. Aiken, Saint Joseph’s
Rookie of the Year
Kendall Anthony, Richmond
Sixth Man of the Year
Ronald Roberts, Saint Joseph’s
Chris Daniels Most Improved Player
Earl Pettis, La Salle
All-Academic Team
Luke Fabrizius, Dayton
Nemanja Mikic, George Washington
Brian Conklin, Saint Louis
Kyle Cassity, Saint Louis
Juan Fernandez, Temple
First Team All-Conference
Chaz Williams, Massachusetts
Andrew Nicholson, St. Bonaventure
Brian Conklin, Saint Louis
Ramone Moore, Temple
Tu Holloway, Xavier
Second Team All-Conference
Kevin Dillard, Dayton
Chris Gaston, Fordham
Ramon Galloway, La Salle
Langston Galloway, Saint Joseph’s
Khalif Wyatt, Temple
Third Team All-Conference
Chris Braswell, Charlotte
T.J. McConnell, Duquesne
Kwamain Mitchell, Saint Louis
Juan Fernandez, Temple
Mark Lyons, Xavier
All-Conference Honorable Mention
Chris Johnson, Dayton
Earl Pettis, La Salle
Carl Jones, Saint Joseph’s
Halil Kanacevic, Saint Joseph’s
All-Defensive Team
T.J. McConnell, Duquesne
Darrius Garrett, Richmond
Andrew Nicholson, St. Bonaventure
C.J. Aiken, Saint Joseph’s
Jordair Jett, Saint Louis
All-Rookie Team
Pierria Henry, Charlotte
Jerrell Wright, La Salle
Jonathan Holton, Rhode Island
Kendall Anthony, Richmond
Dezmine Wells, Xavier
