Keith Brett Dambrot (born October 26, 1958) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach and the current men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

head coach of

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened as the Pittsbu ...

. During his high school head coaching career, he coached future

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

star

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest pl ...

for two years. During 13 seasons of head coaching at the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classified ...

, he had a regular game season 305–139 record and was the winningest coach in the program's history. He is a three-time

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

Coach of the Year.Keith Dambrot Named Duquesne Head Men's Basketball Coach - Atlantic 10 Conference Official Athletic Site
/ref> In 2010, he was elected into the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2013 he won the

Red Auerbach Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach (September 20, 1917 – October 28, 2006) was an American professional basketball coach and executive. He served as a head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA), most notably with the Boston Celtics. ...

Coach of the Year Award as the country's top Jewish college basketball coach.

Early life

Dambrot was born in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

, and is Jewish.» Blog Archive » Keith Dambrot Wins 2013 Red Auerbach Award
/ref> Dambrot's mother, Faye, was a psychology professor at the University of Akron while he was growing up.'Lucky' Dambrot thriving in Phase Two , FOX Sports
/ref> His father Sid Dambrot had played on

Duquesne Dukes men's basketball The Duquesne Dukes represent Duquesne University in college basketball. The team, which started in 1914, has only ever played in NCAA Division I and has had five appearances in the NCAA Tournament. The Dukes play in the Atlantic 10 Conference, o ...

basketball teams ranked No. 1 in the nation from 1952 to 1954. His uncle

Irwin Dambrot Irwin Dambrot (May 24, 1928 – January 21, 2010) was an American basketball player, best known for his college career at the City College of New York. Early life Dambrot was born in the Bronx and attended William Howard Taft High School in the ...

played basketball for the 1950

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

(CCNY) team, the only school to win both the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Tournament and the NIT in the same season, and was the MVP of the NCAA tournament that season and the No. 1 draft pick (selected seventh overall) by the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

in the

1950 NBA draft The 1950 NBA draft was the fourth annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). This is the first draft after the Basketball Association of America (BAA) was renamed the NBA. The draft was held on April 25, 1950, before the 1950–5 ...

. Dambrot attended

Firestone High School Firestone Community Learning Center (Firestone CLC), previously known as Harvey S. Firestone High School, is a public high school located on the northwest side of Akron, Ohio. It is one of seven high schools in the Akron Public Schools. The high s ...

, playing baseball and point guard in basketball for the school teams. In college at the

, he played

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

on the

Akron Zips Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

baseball team (of which he was captain and MVP) for the school, establishing what at the time was a school record for career

hit by pitch In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided ...

, with 28. He graduated in 1982 with a degree in Management. In 1984 he earned an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from the University of Akron.

Early coaching career

His first basketball coaching job came while he was a college student, when he helped coach the high school junior varsity at his alma mater Firestone, and they won the Akron City Series JV championship. Upon graduating college, he started as an assistant basketball coach at Akron. Dambrot began his head coaching career at Division II schools

Tiffin University Tiffin University is a private university in Tiffin, Ohio. It was founded in 1888 and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The university offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs at the main campus in Tiffin, Ohio; the Unive ...

for two seasons from 1984 to 1986 and at

Ashland University Ashland University is a private university in Ashland, Ohio. The university consists of a main campus and several off-campus centers throughout central and northern Ohio. Ashland was founded in 1878 as Ashland College. It is affiliated with The ...

for two seasons from 1989 to 1991, At Ashland, he led his team each year into the NCAA D-II Men's Basketball tournament. In between, he was an assistant coach at

Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

Central Michigan University

At 32 years of age, Dambrot replaced

Charlie Coles Charlie Coles (February 6, 1942 – June 7, 2013) was an American college basketball coach and the former men's basketball head coach at Miami University and Central Michigan University. He was born Charles Leroy Coles in Springfield, Ohio and ...

as coach of

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

for the 1991–92 season. He coached the team for two seasons, and was fired for making a controversial comment before a game against

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

. He had asked the players if he could use a controversial word in addressing the team before he actually did, and they agreed, but he still was fired.Akron's Keith Dambrot on Jason Popp suspension: 'People can learn from their mistakes' - Terry Pluto , cleveland.com
/ref> He sued the university in a wrongful discrimination lawsuit, and all 11 black players on the team joined him in the suit, claiming the university's policy against discriminatory language was too vague, but he lost the suit, though the students prevailed in overturning the school's language policy.

St. Vincent-St. Mary High School

The incident at Central Michigan essentially blackballed Dambrot from college coaching. Dambrot was only able to coach at the Akron

Jewish Community Center A Jewish Community Center or a Jewish Community Centre (JCC) is a general recreational, social clubs, social, and Fraternal and service organizations, fraternal organization serving the Jewish community in a number of cities. JCCs promote Jewish ...

and in some summer leagues. In 1998, he became the head coach at St. Vincent–St. Mary HS in

. During his three seasons there, he guided the Fighting Irish to a 69–10 record. During the last two years of his tenure as coach there, future NBA star

was on his squad, and they won two consecutive state championships, as well as were nationally ranked. James took part in $1 clinics Dambrot conducted at the local Jewish Community Center. Before playing for Dambrot, James had met with him, and followed up on the accusations made about him during his stint at Central Michigan. In his book, ''Shooting Stars'', James said that he did not believe that Dambrot was a racist."LeBron's Band of Brothers" ''Vanity Fair'', October, 2009
/ref>

University of Akron

Dambrot left St. Vincent-St. Mary in 2001 to return to coaching as an assistant at the collegiate level at his alma mater, the University of Akron. Since becoming the head coach of Akron in 2004, Dambrot led Akron to the postseason in four-straight and five of the last six seasons – participating in the NCAA Tournament in 2009, 2011 and 2013, the National Invitation Tournament in 2008 and 2006 and the College Basketball invitational (CBI) in 2010. Akron has won 20-plus games in each of the last six years – one of only 20 teams in the country to do so – and posted 19 victories in Dambrot's first season (2004–05). Only three other schools in the nation - also Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas - had accomplished that feat. The Zips have won at least 21 games in each of the 12 seasons – a feat unmatched in program history. Additionally, Akron has competed in the Mid-American Conference tournament title game in six of the last eight years and is just the second league school to have appeared in at least five-straight finals (Miami (Ohio) 1997–2001). In his first seven seasons in charge of the program, Akron amassed a 162–75 () overall record, including an 80–36 mark in MAC play and a 91–15 tally in home games (50–8 in MAC play at home). Those 162 victories tied for the most by a MAC team and tied for 29th-best nationally during that seven-season span. In 13 seasons as a collegiate head coach he owned a 270–145 () overall record. Dambrot entered the season in fifth place in league history with a .628 win percentage while coaching in the MAC (182–109 overall; 162–75 Akron, 20–34 CMU), eighth in overall wins (182), 11th in league games winning percentage (, 90–60) and 10th in conference wins (90). Named the 2009 Best Mid-Major Coach by Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports, Dambrot's time at UA was highlighted by mentoring a total of 20 All-MAC honorees, 10 MAC All-Tournament selections, two tournament MVPs and one player of the year honor. Also during his watch, seven players were added to the school's 1,000-point scorer's list and he coached Akron's all-time assists leader (Dru Joyce, 503), all-time blocked shots leader (Romeo Travis, 165), all-time winningest player (Chris McKnight, 97 victories over a four-season span) and the all-time games played leader (Steve McNees, 141). The list of accolades received by UA players over the last seven seasons also include Romeo Travis being named Honorable Mention All-America (the program's first such honoree since 1989) and MAC Player of the Year (first in program history) in 2007, Cedrick Middleton (2007) and Brett McKnight (2009) earning MAC Sixth Man of the Year (only two honors of that kind in program history), and

Nate Linhart Nathaniel Andrew Linhart (born November 14, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who is currently a free agent. He played college basketball for the University of Akron before playing professionally in Austria, Germany, Italy, Isra ...

(2009) and Jimmy Conyers (2010) being selected as the MAC Defensive Player of the Year. Linhart also earned league tournament MVP honors in 2009. In 2011, Zeke Marshall earned league tournament MVP honors after helping the Zips to their second MAC title in three seasons. In 2010, Dambrot was elected into the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame for his contributions at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, and at The University of Akron as both a student-athlete and head coach. He was also a finalist for the Red Auerbach Coach of the Year Award, which is awarded by the Jewish Coaches Association. In 2013, he won the Red Auerbach Coach of the Year Award as the country's top Jewish college basketball coach, and was named the MAC Coach of the Year. Dambrot left Akron after 13 seasons, with a 305–139 record, as the winningest coach in school history.Keith Dambrot leaves Akron for Duquesne (photos) , cleveland.com
/ref> He won back-to-back Mid-American Conference regular season titles, in 2016 and 2017, and coach of the year honors those seasons. The team averaged 23.5 wins during his tenure. His teams won 21 games or more in each of his last 12 seasons, a feat matched during that time by only Duke, Kansas and Gonzaga.Dambrot, in first glimpse as Duquesne coach: Won't 'settle for middle of the pack' , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
/ref> In his career, Dambrot took the team to three NCAA Tournaments and five NIT appearances.

Duquesne University

On March 30, 2017, Dambrot was named the 17th head coach at Duquesne in the school's 101-year history.
/ref> He signed a 7-year, $7 million contract.Dambrot hire means tourney drought is coming to a close • The Duquesne Duke
/ref> The Dukes had finished 10-22 the season before he took over as head coach. Duquesne improved to 16-16 while finishing 10th in the Atlantic 10 in its first season under Dambrot. In his second season as Head Coach, Dambrot led the school to its first winning record since the 2011–12 season with 19 wins and 13 losses. Duquesne ended the season sixth in the Atlantic 10, the program's best finish since it finished fourth in the 2010–11 season. The 2019/2020 season saw an even better start for Duquesne and Dambrot as the Dukes started the season 10–0, the best start since the 1953/1954 season. Duquesne went 11–7 in conference play and finished tied for 5th place in the A10. The 2020 A10 Tournament and subsequent March Madness tournaments were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

Duquesne profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dambrot, Keith 1958 births Living people 21st-century American Jews Akron Zips baseball players Akron Zips men's basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches Ashland Eagles men's basketball coaches Basketball players from Akron, Ohio Central Michigan Chippewas men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Duquesne Dukes men's basketball coaches Eastern Michigan Eagles men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in Ohio Jewish American sportspeople Tiffin Dragons men's basketball coaches