Appreciating Keith Dambrot, and Moving Forward

In 2001, the Akron men’s basketball program was an average one, at best.  Dan Hipsher, who would lead the Zips as head coach for eight seasons, had a few decent squads but couldn’t get his team past the MAC Tournament Quarterfinals.  His teams didn’t qualify during his first two seasons and went 1-7 in the Tournament during the rest of his tenure.  It had been fifteen years since the Zips took on Michigan in their last NCAA Tournament appearance, and it didn’t look like Akron was anywhere near getting back to that point. 

It was in 2001 that Akron hired Keith Dambrot as an Assistant Coach.  Dambrot came from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, where he coached the LeBron James-led Irish to consecutive state championships.  Ironically, due to James’ star-power, Dambrot’s Irish arguably had a bigger fan following than the Zips at that time.  It was a hire that received very little attention outside of the city of Akron.

In 2003-2004, Dambrot helped bring local recruits Romeo Travis, Dru Joyce, and Jeremiah Wood to Akron.  All three earned significant playing time immediately, although the Zips still struggled, finishing the season at 13-15.  That offseason, UA made a coaching change, releasing Hipsher and promoting Dambrot to Head Coach.  It would be the last coaching change they would make for the next thirteen seasons.

Over those thirteen seasons that followed, the Zips became a dynasty in the Mid-American Conference.  They accomplished the following:

•         12 straight seasons of 21 wins or more        
•        9 MAC Championship game appearances
•            3 MAC Tournament Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances
•           5 NIT appearances, one CBI appearance, and CIT appearance
•           20 All-MAC honorees, 10 MAC All-Tournament selections, two tournament MVPs, two MAC Players of the Year (first and second in program history), an Honorable Mention All-America (the program's first such honoree since 1989), two MAC Sixth Man of the Year winners (only two honors of that kind in program history), and two MAC Defensive Player of the Year winners.
•           During his tenure, seven players were added to the school's 1,000-point scorer's list.  He also coached Akron's all-time assists leader (Dru Joyce, 503), all-time blocked shots leader (Zeke Marshall), all-time winningest player (Chris McKnight, 97 victories over a four-season span) and the all-time games played leader (Steve McNees, 141).
•           Dambrot was named MAC Coach of the Year twice

It’s fair to note that during those thirteen seasons, Dambrot’s Zips never won an NCAA Tournament game, while rivals Ohio and Kent State did.  Some of that was bad luck, but the Zips certainly had opportunities to get that elusive tournament win.  Some will argue Dambrot had moved the program as far as he could.

What isn’t debatable is that Dambrot’s teams were consistently contending for MAC Championships, were filled with several high-character players, many of whom went on to playing/coaching careers after graduation, and always gave Akron students and fans something to take pride in.  He also gave the program consistency at the top that is almost unheard of in Division I college basketball, especially at a mid-major school.  Not only did he stay in the same place, his top Assistant, Rick McFadden, also spent twelve of Dambrot's thirteen Akron seasons with him, first as Director of Basketball Operations, then serving as Recruiting Coordinator.  Assistant Coach Terry Weigand spent thirteen seasons at Akron as well, while Charles Thomas spent seven seasons with Dambrot and the Zips.  Coaching staff consistency - so important, yet so rare in today's NCAA.

That is why March 27^th, 2017 was such a tough day for Zips basketball fans.  Keith Dambrot had been offered positions elsewhere before, but had never decided to make a move.  He attended Akron, his family loved Akron – there was little reason to go.  And so, when rumors that Duquesne was making a push for Dambrot began to surface, many didn’t pay them much attention.  Heck, Duquesne had come calling before (unsuccessfully).  But Dambrot listened, and Duquesne offered a compelling case and commitment to building a winning program. 

Dambrot accepted the job, shocking Zips Nation.  Almost immediately, Tavian Dunn-Martin announced he was following Dambrot to Duquesne as a transfer.  Mike Hughes tweeted he was going too (before deleting the tweet), and Ty Dalton followed, hinting that several other players would also go.  The rest of that evening was spent nervously watching Twitter, hoping, as one Zips fan pointed out, that we’d still be able to field a team. A few others eventually announced transfers, including Antino Jackson, Josh Williams, and Noah Robotham.  

Aside from feeling stunned, fans were initially angry and disappointed.  This was a 13-year relationship that ended, for many, unexpectedly.  Emotions were running high.  There was also some feeling initially that Dambrot was trying to take his best Zips with him to the Dukes, although that turned out to be unfounded (only Dunn-Martin and Hughes made the move). 

Not long after Dambrot’s departure the Zips locked in John Groce to be the next head coach, which stabilized the program.  A new era of Zips basketball was, shockingly, about to begin.  

Only Keith Dambrot knows what led him to leave Akron.  Certainly, Duquesne’s ties to his father, Sid Dambrot, who spent four years as a player for the Dukes in the 1950s turning them into a regional and national power, played a significant factor.  Playing in the Atlantic 10, a league that sent three teams to the NCAA Tournament last year, was surely a factor.  Some may argue Akron had become spoiled by the Zips’ success under Dambrot and complacent in efforts to elevate the program’s facilities, including their home arena.  Duquesne, desperate for a successful program, pitched giving Dambrot just about anything he wanted if he thought it would help him win.  Whatever it was, it was enough to finally push Dambrot to another program.

When all is said and done, Akron’s basketball program is in good shape.  When Dambrot took over, it was an also-ran in the conference with very little history of success.  That it was an attractive job to a coach like Groce is enough alone to appreciate the transformation Dambrot led here.  Groce is a talented coach and an elite recruiter, and the Zips are expected to be back at the top of the conference soon.  The program, hit by so many transfers, will undergo a challenging transition year with an incredibly young roster.  Duquesne, ironically, was looking at the same challenge.  Duquesne should do well eventually, too, though.  The Dukes have already started the 2017-2018 season at 9-4 – they won just 10 games in all of the previous season. 

Although it was a tough breakup, time heals all wounds.  Dambrot and his family still own a home in Akron, and still love the University.  He is the winningest coach in the school’s history, and will one day be honored permanently at James A. Rhodes Arena.  Dambrot and his staff changed Akron basketball for good and turned a mediocre program into one with a winning culture and a reputation of being championship-caliber.  For that, for the thirteen seasons we were at or near the top of the MAC, for all the Saturdays we spent at Quicken Loans Arena watching our Zips play for a championship, and for the dedication and commitment Coach Dambrot and his family gave to The University of Akron during his tenure, we should all be thankful and appreciative.  As 2017 turns to 2018, it’s time for Zips fans to turn the page and stop debating the past and look forward to this new, unexpected, but exciting era of Zips basketball, which will include top-flight transfers Eric Hester, Deng Riak, and Loren Jackson joining an already young-but-talented Zips roster starting in 2018-2019.  But we should always remember and appreciate what Coach Dambrot and his staff did here, and wish them well in bringing Duquesne a winner.  Not only is it easy to root for Dambrot, McFadden, Terry Weigand, and Charles Thomas, but also Steve McNees (Director of Basketball Operations) and Jake Kretzer (Graduate Assistant).

And if 2017 taught us anything, it’s that when we do get back to the NCAA Tournament (hopefully as early as March 2018), we should take a minute before the opening tip to remember where we were in 2001, to realize how far we’ve come since, and to truly appreciate the moment.