Killings leaves for UConn, reminisces about time at Temple
Dwayne Killings said the decision and the emotions that came with it were “almost impossible.” His mind was saying one thing, his heart another.
But at the end of the day, he decided it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
Killings, who worked for Fran Dunphy as an assistant coach at Temple over the past five seasons, became the newest member of Kevin Ollie’s UConn staff in a move that was announced Wednesday. The Amherst, Mass. native replaces former Huskies assistant Karl Hobbs, who left in April to accept the associate head coaching position at Rutgers.
Killings was part of Dunphy’s staff from 2006 to 2009 as the program’s assistant director of basketball operations before moving on to a post in the NBA D-League and then an assistant coaching position at Boston University before returning to Temple in 2011. During his five seasons on North Broad Street as an assistant coach, the Owls went 104-63 and made three trips to the NCAA Tournament. The Owls won the American Athletic Conference regular-season championship this past season before eventually losing to Iowa in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Saying his goodbyes to so many people at Temple this week and now transitioning to UConn’s campus in Storrs, Conn. continues to be a whirlwind.
“It’s one of those things you get really emotional about, and it was probably the toughest decision of my adult life,” the 35-year-old Killings said. “I got married here (to his wife, Ana), had a daughter (Alecia) here. Philadelphia went from being a place I lived to being a place I called home. Sometimes people thought I was from Philly or sometimes I got stuck and said I was from Philly, but there were so many moments and so many people who helped me here, from Coach Dunphy to people like (Temple assistants) Aaron McKie and Shawn Trice. I loved every day at work, loved being on Broad Street, being around the people and the supporters, fans and family you interacted with. And I think the world of Coach Dunphy and learned so much from him. He doesn’t get enough credit for what he’s capable of doing and who he is as a coach, and when you put him between the sidelines, you have an unbelievable coach and an unbelievable competitor and basketball mind that’s capable of leading a team to some special, special things.
“So when you’re making the decision, all of that is going through your head. At the end of the day, I quieted my mind and talked to a couple people I really trust in this business, and I thought, this is an opportunity to learn from someone like Kevin Ollie, and it could be the thing you need to do to reach your ultimate goal, which is to become a head coach. And if I get that chance, I’ll pull from all my experiences, from working with the Charlotte Bobcats (from 2003 to 2006) to working with (former Boston University coach) Pat Chambers to Coach Dunphy. I’ve been blessed in so many ways, and I hope I’ve provided value wherever I’ve been.”
That, he has, especially when it came to bringing in talent that contributed to Temple’s success over the last five seasons. Killings was widely regarded as Dunphy’s best recruiter and was instrumental in helping the staff land players like the Owls’ top returning scorer, Obi Enechionyia, Trey Lowe and two members of Temple’s incoming freshman class, Quinton Rose and Damion Moore. He was also involved in recruiting Jake O’Brien as a graduate transfer out of Boston University to North Broad Street. O’Brien went on to average 9.3 points per game for an Owls team that beat North Carolina State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2013 and nearly knocked off No. 1 seed Indiana in the second round.
Now Killings will move on to a UConn program that won the national championship in 2014 but has lost to Temple in four of its last five matchups. The Huskies, after dropping four consecutive regular-season contests to the Owls, beat Temple 77-62 in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament en route to winning the league title. Ollie’s ninth-seeded UConn team turned aside Colorado in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to No. 1 seed Kansas in the second round.
With Wednesday being the first day of July’s live open recruiting period for Division I college basketball coaches, Killings is facing an immediate turnaround and transition. Temple, meanwhile, must find Killings’ replacement at a critical time in the recruiting cycle.
“The timing of it absolutely stinks, and that’s totally on me,” Killings said. “I’m very appreciative of (Temple Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and former Athletic Director) Kevin (Clark), Coach Dunphy and (Temple Athletic Director) Pat Kraft allowing me to take my time with it, because the conversation started a couple weeks ago and they were very patient with me, which is great. But at the same time, the barrel of the gun is staring everybody in the face because you’ve got the July recruiting period on your heels.
“And now, for me, you awkwardly go and switch polos and go right back out there and do what you do. Your schedule changes and maybe some of the guys you’re recruiting changes a little bit, but you’re still hitting the trails and watching kids and trying to evaluate who’s going to help you and help the program you’re working for.”
Getting used to that, Killings said, will take a while because of the memories he helped build at Temple.
“We beat (No. 3) Syracuse at Madison Square Garden (in 2012),” he said. “We beat (No. 21) VCU at home on Senior Day later that year. It was an amazing game and it was great to see how proud people were of wearing a Temple shirt. Watching guys like Ramone Moore graduate and get his degree was tremendous. Watching a guy like Quenton DeCosey come on campus, become and all-league guy and get his degree was great. Having guys like Chris Clark and Luis Guzman come back to be part of the coaching staff after they were players was a great opportunity, because you go from being a coach to a mentor to a peer, so things came full circle there.
“Every day I valued in so many different ways. People were great to me, great to my family. I’ll be forever appreciative of it, and I loved every second of it.”
Putbacks: Several sources familiar with the situation said Dunphy will have Dave Duke, Temple's director of player development, on the road to recruit this month to replace Killings. Duke has been on Dunphy's staff during his entire tenure on North Broad Street and spent his first eight seasons as one of the three assistant coaches who was on the road recruiting. Duke, whose coaching resume includes eight seasons with Penn as an assistant to Dunphy and eight seasons as the head coach at Lehigh, was instrumental in the recruitment of past Temple players like point guard Will Cummings and forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson.
It is unknown at this point if Duke will move back to that role permanently to replace Killings or if Dunphy will go outside the program to find Killings' replacement.