Keith Dambrot, Akron native and Duquesne basketball coach, retiring after NCAA Tournament

Former University of Akron men’s basketball coach Keith Dambrot announced Monday that he’s retiring after this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Dambrot is going out on a high note as his Duquesne Dukes earned a spot in the tournament this past weekend by beating Virginia Commonwealth in the Atlantic 10 championship game, his first since arriving there.

Dambrot is 115–96 in at Duquesne. He initially signed a seven-year contract to coach the Dukes. He is leaving after fulfilling it. And for Dambrot they've proved an eventful seven years. He took a moribund program, and invoking the legacy of his father who starred there in the 1950s, turned it around.

The Dukes were 10-22 in the season before he arrived with an abundance of optimism. He likely didn’t expect the peaks and valleys that came. But no one could have foreseen the arrival of a global pandemic.

The Dukes went a respectable 56-38 in his first three seasons, including going 21-9 in the 2019-20 season. Then Dambrot saw the COVID pandemic damage the program in those two seasons from 2020-22 when the team went 15-34 before rebounding to 20-13 last season.

"Clearly it's been a tough seven years. We had COVID, we were two years out of the building, which quite honestly, if I would've known we were going to be two years out of the building, I probably would've stayed at Akron," Dambrot said at a news conference Monday. "We built a beautiful arena, but we were two years out of the building. The rule changes, the (transfer) portal, the immediate eligibility, my wife's illness, my dad's death, having to reboot it twice.

"We thought we had it turned around the first time after 21 wins, and then we went, and then we had to turn it around again. But the one thing about my career is, I'd been through that before, so I was kind of built for it. I thought we could do it."

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Ultimately, Dambrot accomplished his goal in turning the Duquesne program around. The Dukes beat Virginia Commonwealth 57-51 at the Barclays Center Sunday in the Atlantic 10 Championship to earn an NCAA tournament bid, the program’s first since 1977.

Dambrot left UA in 2017. After 13 years with the Zips, Dambrot compiled a 305-139 record, earned MAC Coach of the Year three times and won three MAC Tournament titles to reach the NCAA Tournament each time.

It was clear in his Monday press conference, however, how deep those roots are, not just to the university, but to his hometown of Akron, also. He thanked those who helped him return to coaching after a controversy seemingly derailed his career at Central Michigan.

He offered appreciation for Dru Joyce III, who served as an assistant at Duquesne, but also can be given some credit in his reviving his career when he decided that he would buck area tradition and attend high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School. Joyce III was the glue that held the "Fab Four," later "Fab Five" together. With Joyce III came LeBron James, Sian Cotton, Willie McGee, and later, Romeo Travis.

They maintain close enough ties that James took the time to call his coach after Duquesne earned a spot in the tournament. James did not know Dambrot's announcement was coming.

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"I talked to him yesterday, which is a tribute to him. It just shows how much he cares about us. Maybe not so much as Dru, but he's been great with me as well," he said. "When a superstar like him calls you after a game, that means something, right? And so I am sure he probably knows, knows me well enough to have an inkling that this was going to be it for me.

"But I'm just thankful to have the relationship with him. He's a better, this is a hard statement. He's a better human being than he is a basketball player, which tells you a lot. He did a lot for our community."

James was among the first with reactions.

"THE BEST," James wrote on Twitter after the announcement.

Dambrot will leave the coaching ranks with more than 500 career Division I wins. He doesn't know what's next.

"It depends how much my wife likes me. I don't know. You never say never. I don't see it really," he said when asked if he'd coach again. "I don't know whether maybe I'll go to a bunch of practices or maybe I'll do part-time scouting for an NBA team. I don't know. I really haven't thought much about it. It's been such a whirlwind prep. That's probably a mistake in some regards. Like I said, I really don't have many hobbies, so it's going to be interesting."

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Keith Dambrot retiring as Duquesne basketball coach after season