Hailing from Alabama, Jason Ivey didn’t know a damn thing about Temple.
The first thing then-head coach John Chaney told him about the North Philadelphia basketball program was that while he couldn’t guarantee Ivey playing time, he could promise the 6-foot-7 forward that he’d graduate a better man.
Ivey went on to receive his degree, playing in 126 games for the Owls from 1992-96. A former teammate of Aaron McKie’s, Ivey is now back at his alma mater as the Director of Player Development on McKie's staff.
As a true freshman in 1993, Ivey was the sixth man during Temple’s march to the Elite Eight. Across his time playing under Chaney, Ivey was a part of four NCAA tournament teams. He would go on to start in 40 games for the Owls, scoring 624 points and hauling in 564 rebounds throughout his career.
Here are some excerpts from OwlScoop.com’s interview with Ivey.
Ivey on some of his memories with Chaney:
“There are so many, it’s hard to open up with any one. The main one that comes to my mind is when I was getting recruited. A lot of people were saying, you know how it is when you’re recruited, you could be this or be that. He was one of the only people that said, ‘I don’t know if you’ll ever play for me, but I can guarantee that you’ll get your degree and you’ll come out as a better man and a better member of society,’ and that always resonated with me.”
Ivey on what comes to mind when he thinks of Chaney:
“The toughness, the grit, the love. [He] was almost like a second father. That’s kind of what it felt like losing him, like I was losing my father all over again. Just that, somebody we could always talk to or lean on. I was lucky enough to talk to him the day after his birthday, which was just a couple of days before [he passed]. He was just like make sure you guys are taking care of those kids, meaning the players, and ‘I’m glad you and Mark Macon are back. Just take care and watch his back.'"
Ivey on Chaney’s legacy:
“His legacy reaches from Temple to the guys he coached, the one’s at Cheyney [State], I’m sure the ones at Simon Gratz [High School]. Anybody that he touched is his legacy.”
Ivey on the biggest lesson he learned from Chaney:
“The biggest lesson I learned from him was just to be a productive member of society. Basically, everything he taught us, he taught through basketball, but he taught us through life. So, everything he put out for us was to make things better than [they were] previously. Go out in the world, be a better man, be a better father, be a better husband, bring something positive to the world. That was always his lesson for us.”
Ivey on first learning about Temple:
“I’ll tell you a funny story. This is true, too, which is crazy. When I was a really young kid, never really heard of Temple, didn’t know what the Big 5 is, I was probably 11 years old, maybe 12, and my mom bought me a bloopers tape, an old sports bloopers tape.
"It was all mostly pro sports, until they go to basketball and the basketball was just Big 5 things, whatever that is, just at the time. [Former La Salle head coach] Speedy Morris, [Former Villanova head coach] Rollie [Massimino], then [Chaney] tells a story about Speedy splitting his pants. They get to coach, and he’s doing this one-eye death stare at the referee, and he’s yelling and screaming, all the other coaches looking like they’re smiling.
“At like 12 years old, I said ‘Man, that guy’s crazy, I’d never play for him in my life.’ That’s a kid in Alabama, who doesn’t know what the Big 5, is and I said I’d never play for him. And the best decision I ever made in my life was going to Temple to play for him.”
Front page photo by Mike Albans, Associated Press
