PHILADELPHIA — Fran Dunphy made his first promise as he pointed to the spot in the back of the room where he stood only four weeks ago listening to John Chaney deliver a rollicking, rambling, extended farewell speech.

"I will not talk as long," Dunphy said, smiling and standing at that same podium.

The brevity in Dunphy's remarks are far from the only change at Temple now that he took over from Chaney on Monday. The early-morning practices will likely go the way of the set shot. No more stories stuffed with cussin' and Cosby.

Oh yeah, say goodbye to the goon.

Temple is counting on another transformation with the 57-year-old Dunphy — making the Owls NCAA tournament regulars again.

"I'd be delighted if we could get a lot more of those opportunities now that I'm at Penn — sorry, Temple," Dunphy said, correcting himself. "First of many times, probably."

Dunphy, who has deep ties to Philadelphia basketball, can be excused for the slip. After all, he won 10 Ivy League championships, three Big 5 city series titles and went 310-163 in 17 seasons at Penn. His 191 Ivy League wins put him second on the career list.

Now Dunphy will try to win games with scholarship players, and in the Atlantic 10 instead of the Ivy League. And he'll do it all with the blessing of Chaney, who kept a low profile Monday.

"I will meet with him whenever he desires," Chaney said. "He made some nice overtures to me that he wanted my support and I'm going to support him."

The 74-year-old Chaney retired last month after guiding Temple to 17 NCAA tournament appearances in 24 seasons. Dunphy inherits a program that went 17-15 this season and has dipped this decade, playing in five straight NITS.

The Owls have only had four other coaches since 1942 and two are in the Hall of Fame.

Dunphy's connection to Philadelphia basketball stretches back more than 35 years. He started at La Salle, where he was a co-captain and helped the Explorers to a 23-1 record in 1969 under coach Tom Gola. Dunphy considered returning to La Salle two years ago after the program was rocked by a rape scandal before deciding to stay at Penn.

"Things change in a two-year period of time," Dunphy said.

Penn is one of only two schools that won its conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament nine times since the 1992-93 season. This season, the Quakers lost to Texas in the first round.

"We would have liked to have won more, but I thought we had great opportunities during those years," Dunphy said.

Hired as coach in 1989 after one season as an assistant under Tom Schneider, Dunphy had losing seasons his first two years at Penn before leading it to a 16-10 mark in 1991-92. That started a run of Ivy League dominance that included the last two conference titles, four of the last five, six of the last eight and 10 of the last 14.

Dunphy, who earned a master's degree at Villanova, is the first person to coach two Big 5 teams.

"This is a wonderful opportunity and now it's up to me to seize it and surround myself with some pretty good guys," Dunphy said.

He hasn't decided about his assistants, though he would consider members of the Penn and Temple staffs. Mark Macon, perhaps Temple's greatest player and third-year assistant, wants to stay with the program.

"I'm a Temple alum, am loyal to Temple, but this is business," Macon said.

Dunphy was considered the top candidate almost immediately after Chaney stepped down. Each day brought another rumor that Dunphy would finally be offered the job.

It's all his now.

"I absolutely enjoyed playing for him," said Penn guard Eric Osmundson. "He demands perfection as all good coaches do."

The Owls showed flashes this season that they could still play with the nation's elite, knocking off three Top 25 teams, including an upset over top-seeded George Washington in the Atlantic 10 tournament.

"It had to be someone who absolutely knew what Temple was all about," athletic director Bill Bradshaw said. "Someone who had a chance to take us where all of us want to be. I would say a program with 23 straight postseason appearances isn't exactly chopped liver."

Compared to where Chaney had the program — the last of five NCAA regional final appearances under the Hall of Famer was in 2001 — the past five seasons have been a disappointment.

Plus, the Owls lose their two leading scorers in Mardy Collins, a projected NBA first-round pick, and Antywane Robinson. Chaney made a habit of recruiting city players, even taking chances on the academically challenged, and made his players work during his infamous pre-dawn practices.

Dunphy shook the hands of all his new players, saying to one, "We'll do good things."

"I was getting very impatient, but I'm happy to have him," guard Mark Tyndale said. "He's a great guy. I've heard a lot of great things about him."

Dunphy can recruit different kinds of players now that he has scholarships to offer. But winning the regular season title no longer means an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The competition in the A-10, even in a down season like this past one, is still tougher than anything in the Ivy.

And, except for about three games or so, he'll no longer coach at the famed home of Penn and the Big 5, the Palestra.

"I'm going to miss the Palestra, I'll be the first one to tell you that," Dunphy said.

They'll miss him at Penn, also. But now that he's at Temple, Chaney wanted to let everyone in on a little secret.

"Frannie can cuss, too!" he said laughing.