Temple University Athletics
Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- durkin@temple.edu
- Phone:
- 215-204-2964
- Alma Mater:
- Mount St. Mary's College '75
Dan Durkin, formerly the winningest head women's basketball coach at Duquesne University, is in his fourth season as an assistant at Temple.
Over the summer of 2011, Durkin was elected as a Division I Representative for the Assistant Coaches Committee by vote of WBCA members. As part of this role, Durkin now shares the responsibility of planning the assistant coaches programming for the WBCA National Convention.
Durkin spent 14 years (1993-2007) at the helm of the Duquesne program, helping the Dukes to University marks for most wins in a season, most conference wins as well as posting the school's highest seeding in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. The 1998 A-10 Coach of the Year, Durkin produced two WNBA draft picks in Korie Hlede and Candice Futrell. Hlede was Duquesne's first ever All-American, garnering four Kodak District II honors and a Kodak National All-America Honorable Mention Award. She spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Detroit Shock after finishing her professional playing career. Duquesne also excelled in the classroom during Durkin's tenure, posting the highest Division I team GPA in 1998 and 1999 as announced by the WBCA. Individually, six Dukes were named to either the CoSIDA National or District 2 Academic team a total of 12 times, while they were lauded as A-10 Academic All-Conference selections a total of 11 times.
Prior to Duquesne, Durkin served as an assistant coach at Penn State for eight seasons. He served as the recruiting coordinator the last six years of his tenure, which began in 1986. During this time, Penn State assembled a 181-64 record, made seven NCAA post-season tournament appearances and twice advanced to the Sweet 16. They were consistently ranked among the top 20 nationally and within the top 10 on numerous occasions throughout his appointment. While there, Durkin coached two Kodak All-Americans - 1992 graduate Susan Robinson and Pittsburgh native and Olympic medalist Suzie McConnell-Serio, who played for the WNBA's Cleveland Rockers and was the head coach of the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx before taking over for Durkin at Duquesne. He also helped coach three Academic All-Americans.
Durkin began coaching at the collegiate level in 1985 as assistant women's basketball coach at New Mexico State.
From 1980-84, Durkin lived in Northern Ireland where he headed Team Corona in Belfast. Corona was a Division I men's professional team in the Irish National League. Durkin's squads posted a 105-33 record and claimed three national titles under his tutelage. He also headed the girl's Under 17 National team during the 1983-84 slate.
A 1975 graduate of Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Md., Durkin earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. Upon his graduation and until 1980, he worked at Bishop McDevitt High School in Wyncote, Pa., assisting with the boy's freshman and varsity basketball teams.
He is a member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and was elected to its Board of Directors in 1996. In 2006, Durkin was named the A-10 Conference Captain serving as the liaison between the WBCA and A-10 coaches. He was also appointed chair of the A-10 Women's Basketball Committee. He has been an NCAA YES (Youth Education through Sports) clinician, a member of the Kodak All-America Committee (2001, 2002) as a District I representative and has been a voting member for the USAToday/ESPN Top 25 Coaches' Poll.
He and his wife, the former Bernadette McCann, a native of Northern Ireland, were married in Belfast in 1985 and have two daughters - Diane, age 22 and Keara, age 19.
