'Goongate' finally settled

PHILADELPHIA -- The peace treaty was signed Wednesday afternoon near the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The Chaney-Martelli War is over.\nTemple basketball coach John Chaney and Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli talked to each other for the first time in more than six months. The coaches spoke briefly in the immediate aftermath of "Goongate," the Feb. 22 incident that led to St. Joe's senior John Bryant missing six games and Chaney eventually being suspended through the end of the regular season and the Atlantic 10 Tournament for ordering Nehemiah Ingram to take "hard fouls," the last of which led to the fracture of Bryant's right arm.\nThe coaches hooked up at Colleen's, the meeting arranged by the Philadelphia Daily News. The agenda was open, but both men knew the deal. It was time.\nA new school year had started. Their problems with each other, if they continued, would take away from a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Big 5, an A-10 season with much promise and all those Coaches vs. Cancer events that mean way more than any disagreement.\nWhen they got together in a very private location in the restaurant, one of Chaney's favorite hangouts, the two men spent 15 minutes talking about Martelli's experience with USA Basketball this summer in Argentina, a place Chaney knows well from visits there. They were almost like two old friends who were catching up, picking up where they left off.\nBut they had come to resolve an issue that festered. What both men needed was time, distance and perspective. They finally had all three and a willingness to let the past be the past.\nWhat they had to get away from were all those third parties who managed to tell each man what the other man was saying about him. They needed to put away all the feelings of mistrust, which had built up over time. They needed to forget what they thought and find out what was. They needed to get past the half-truths and find a truth they could agree on. They needed to talk it out with each other. And they did.\nWhen they were done, they agreed to take the bad feelings and reverse them into a good cause. Chaney suggested that Martelli donate some money to the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund and he would double it. Martelli said he already had made a pledge. Chaney immediately wrote a check.\n"After talking with Phil, I just thought this would be a great idea," Chaney said. "I've got at least four or five people I've been trying to reach down there . . . \n"Look, I was the culprit here. I admit that. That's an incident that occurred. We felt that at this time we want to make sure something like that never happens again. We certainly want to be able to do something in a constructive manner together. We felt this was the most constructive thing we could do."\nChaney admitted he was wrong in February, but feelings were so strong at both schools that nobody was really hearing what the other said or why they said it. When it was revealed two days after the game that Bryant had a fractured arm and that he probably would miss the rest of his final college season (he eventually came back to help St. Joe's reach the NIT championship game), feelings hardened. Nobody knew what or who to believe. With time, feelings change.\n"This was man to man," Martelli said. "This was a much-needed meeting. We're going into a new year in the Atlantic 10. With Coaches vs. Cancer in Philadelphia, the closeness of the schools, the brotherhood and camaraderie that we developed, it was really important that we move forward.\n"It's going to be a great year for the Atlantic 10. John Chaney has always been and Temple has always been the flagship for this league. So, as the year started, a lot of efforts went into this so we could move forward."\nIt is now over.\n"It is resolved and it's not revolving, as far as I'm concerned," Chaney said. "We broke bread together. I'm giving more money than Phil because I want to be on top of his (butt) after he done kicked my (butt) all these times."\nSurely, there will be lingering questions for people. Some of them might have even have answers. When the teams meet Jan. 8 at the Palestra, the incident and its aftermath will be brought up. Replays will be shown. Judgments will be passed. That is inevitable.\nSo is this.\n"We're going to put our money where our mouth is," Martelli said. "We've made a pledge. We need all of our coaches. Let's get the Atlantic 10 to step forward as in this is our relief fund and it's being headed by John and Phil."\nFor six months, the two coaches did not think they had much in common. Wednesday, they found out they did.\n"If John and I can light the fires of the Atlantic 10 coaches and I'm talking about every coach, I'm talking softball, I'm talking about the assistant coaches in men's and women's sports, the Atlantic 10 can take a leading role in collegiate relief fund-raising," Martelli said.\nAt Martelli's request, Chaney agreed that he would coach in a Sept. 17 game at the Palestra, pitting Drexel's Bruiser Flint, Villanova's Jay Wright, La Salle's John Giannini, Penn's Fran Dunphy and Martelli against a team headed by a man who had the high bid at a Coaches vs. Cancer benefit last spring. Chaney even said he was going to tee it up at the annual Coaches vs. Cancer golf outing on Sept. 26 at Huntingdon Valley (spots still available).\nWith that, Martelli and Chaney headed out into the sunshine. They stopped to pose for pictures. They put their arms around each other and smiled.