4x NBA champ LeBron James applauds Duquesne HC Keith Dambrot amid decision to retire at the end of season: "THE BEST"
Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot announced his retirement at the end of the 2023-24 season, prompting a response from 4x NBA champ, LeBron James. Dambrot led the Dukes to the Atlantic 10 championship game win over VCU on Sunday, beating the Rams 57-51 to complete a 24-11 overall record this season.
The win clinched Duquesne its first March Madness appearance since 1977. Dambrot then announced that he would leave the program after the NCAA Tournament, completing seven years as coach.
Dambrot was four-time NBA champion LeBron James' coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, before the Lakers star famously skipped college and declared for the NBA draft.
Dambrot's program was also the first college basketball team to offer James' son, Bryce James, a scholarship two years ago.
"King James" congratulated his former high school coach and his former teammate and Duquesne assistant coach Dru Joyce III on X in two posts for making the NCAA Tournament after Selection Sunday.
He wrote:
"YESSIRRR!! Punch that ticket to the Big Dance @DuqMBB!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Love you Coach Dambrot & @CoachDruJoyce."
"THE BEST!!!!!!"
Keith Dambrot will lead his 11th-seeded team to Omaha, Nebraska, to take on the No. 6 seed, the BYU Cougars.
Keith Dambrot confirms retirement
Keith Dambrot released a statement on Monday confirming the speculation about his future and retirement as a coach.
"I appreciate all the people of Pittsburgh," Dambrot said. "I'm glad I made the decision to come here. It was challenging. Hopefully, we still have a good amount of games left. I told the guys 'We're good enough to win. We're going to try to win. We're going to finish it off strong.
"I want to thank everyone for the opportunity. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do. I don't have a lot of hobbies... I might be coming to all y'all's games all the time. I just felt like it was time. I was going to be 66 in the next year.
"I love it, but I felt like I had made a lot of sacrifices to get to this point and our family had made a lot of sacrifices. I also knew my personality."
Duquesne University President Ken Gormley released a statement praising Keith Dambrot after the decision on his future was announced.
"Keith was born to be a leader of the Duquesne Dukes," Gormley said. "He is a little guy, a wirey guy. But he is tough, tenacious and he willed this team to national prominence."
The NCAA Tournament will be a fitting way to wrap up a 40-year coaching career that has seen him nurture perhaps the greatest NBA player ever.