The Duquesne Dukes Men’s Basketball team will be playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1977 after winning the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament on Sunday. And just a day later, the team received some shocking news from longtime head coach Keith Dambrot.
Dambrot has coached at Duquesne for the last seven years, overall coaching 22 years at the collegiate level.
His work with bringing Duquesne back to the NCAA Tournament is perhaps his best coaching job to date considering the long history of struggles that the program has had as of late. But it turns out that his 22nd year will be his last as a coach.
On Monday, Dambrot officially announced that he will be retiring once Duquesne’s NCAA tournament run comes to an end.
The Last Dance.
After 26 years as a head coach, Keith Dambrot will retire at the end of the season. pic.twitter.com/PE3AsJfDoP
— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) March 18, 2024
It’s certainly interesting to see Dambrot announce this before the start of the NCAA Tournament. You could make the argument that this could be a pretty big distraction for his team as they prepare for their Round of 64 matchup against BYU on Thursday.
On the other hand, if this is truly the end for Dambrot, there is perhaps no better way to end his coaching career than in the NCAA Tournament, where he and his team will have a chance at cutting down the nets as National Champions.
[Duquesne Basketball on Twitter/X]
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.