VOD Not Available
This video is not available.
Duquesne And Keith Dambrot Make A Perfect Match
Duquesne basketball had bottomed out, while Keith Dambrot just wanted another shot. The two parties just may have found an ideal situation.
March 28, 2017
Duquesne basketball had bottomed out, while Keith Dambrot just wanted another shot. The two parties just may have found an ideal situation.
Duquesne officially named former Akron head coach Keith Dambrot as its new men’s basketball coach on Tuesday morning after he spent the past 13 seasons with the Zips and led them to three appearances in the NCAA Tournament following MAC Tournament titles in 2009, 2011 and 2013. He compiled a 305-139 mark during his time at the school and won at least 20 games in 12 straight seasons. Akron set a program record for wins this season (27) but was taken down in the MAC championship game by Kent State, relegating the Zips to the NIT.
Before his stint at his alma mater, Dambrot coached NBA superstar LeBron James while at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron. He coached James for his first two seasons at the school, where together they won state championships in both years. James credited Dambrot and other coaches from his past for disciplining him when necessary.
Dambrot was reportedly inked to a seven-year contract to take over a Dukes team that finished the 2016-17 college basketball season with a 10-22 record under Jim Ferry, who went 60-97 in five seasons.
While Pittsburgh struggled in its debut season under Kevin Stallings this season, Duquesne hasn’t offered Pittsburgh-area basketball fans much hope in many years. While Ferry was brought in to elevate the program past what Ron Everhart had accomplished, whoever was hired this time around would have to understand that winning at the school would take time. Michigan State assistant Dane Fife will surely one day get a head gig, but rising coaches at major programs like him likely weren’t going to touch this Dukes vacancy.
Enter Dambrot, who won consistently at a MAC program but had struggled to get recognition for bigger openings because of a mistake he made in the past.
Once the head coach at Central Michigan, the Chippewas fired Dambrot in 1993 for using a racial epithet, as described in a book that James wrote with Buzz Bissinger in 2009. Dambrot had said the word was used to motivate and not denigrate his players. But he realized that is was ill-advised and was contrite over the incident. Since then, Dambrot has spent a long time winning basketball games and trying to rehab his image, with James remaining one of his biggest boosters.
So it’s onto Duquesne, which badly needs an image rehab of its own. The Dukes have struggled in the 21st century, reaching only one NIT tournament and three CBI tournaments. Its biggest win in years arguably came from the Everhart-coached squad that upset No. 9 Xavier on February 7, 2009. After taking the team to the Atlantic 10 championship game and NIT in his third season—the program’s first postseason tournament since the 1994 NIT—Everhart would be dismissed a few seasons later, as the administration decided that the program had not advanced enough.
For fans of the Dukes, though, it unfortunately went backward. Perhaps Dambrot, whose father played at Duquesne, can be the difference-maker.
One of his immediate orders of business is keeping freshman guard Mike Lewis II and freshman forward Isiaha Mike at the school. Via their Twitter accounts last week, they voiced their unhappiness with their situation. Lewis II announced he asked Duquesne for permission to contact other schools, while Mike announced he requested his release from the school. If Dambrot can sell them on his vision and keep them in the fold, then the focus immediately shifts to the life blood of any program: recruiting.
Even though some college basketball fans may consider this a lateral move because of the current state of Duquesne hoops, the A-10 is a better overall league than the MAC. And Dambrot should find it much easier to recruit when he has the backing of one of the greatest NBA players of all time. James supporting Dambrot matters. It matters a lot. His recruiting pitch is made a lot easier because of it, as high school players across the country will recognize the respect that James has for the new coach.
After the incident at Central Michigan, Dambrot was able to get a second chance at Akron. He succeeded. Now, he has a chance to give back to a program that is starving for similar success. It’s a marriage that just may work, one that both parties greatly need.
