After a drawn-out interview and negotiation process, Fran Dunphy has accepted an offer from Temple and will be formally introduced as the next head coach of men’s basketball at the school at a press conference at 3:00 pm on Monday afternoon. Dunphy, who leaves Penn as the all-time winningest coach in school history (310-163 in 17 seasons), now faces the tough task of succeeding a legend in Hall of Fame coach John Chaney. Temple was an NCAA Touranment mainstay and national power for much of Chaney’s tenure, but has settled for NIT bids each of the past five seasons, so Dunphy will be charged with restoring the program to Top 25 status. Multiple sources close to the program said yesterday that longtime Dunphy assistant Dave Duke — and possibly 2000 Penn graduate and current assistant Matt Langel — were expected to migrate to Temple along with Dunphy. Meanwhile, Penn athletic director Steve Bilsky isn’t wasting any time looking for a successor. The formal search process reportedly began late last week, and sources at other schools said Bilsky had requested permission to speak with potential replacements even prior to that.

Slant: The timing isn’t great for Penn, which should be at the top of this recruiting cycle and has the potential for a special season in 2006-07. It’s an eerily similar situation to what we saw at Princeton two years ago, and Bilsky would do well to keep the lessons from Joe Scott’s first two seasons in mind when interviewing candidates for the Penn vacancy. In the meantime, he needs to do what he can to ensure the program continues to be in good hands during this period of limbo. He probably could do that by giving job security to Langel — and possibly third assistant Shawn Trice — by insisting they be part of the next coach’s staff. As for Dunphy, he clearly thinks he can restore Temple to its place as a national power, or he wouldn’t have accepted the job. If he is able to do that, a run at 500 wins is possible if he sticks around at Temple for a decade.