Keith Dambrot embraces challenge of rebuilding Duquesne

Keith Dambrot understands the gravity of the situation at Duquesne, but he vows to keep fighting.

“This dog ain’t going to quit,” he said.

The Dukes are 6-9 (1-2 in the Atlantic 10) and losers of two in a row. Most recently, they lost to Fordham by one point in the Bronx, N.Y., and to Dayton by 20 on Saturday at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

Next up is St. Bonaventure (10-4, 2-1) on Friday night in a nationally televised game (ESPN2) at Cooper Fieldhouse where the Dukes are an underwhelming 3-4.

Currently unranked, the Bonnies climbed as high as No. 16 in the Associated Press poll after a 5-0 start. Their 6-foot-10 center, Osun Osunniyi, leads the A-10 and is 11th in the nation with an average of 3.1 blocks per game.

“That’s an NCAA Tournament team,” Dambrot said.

This might not be the ideal time to confront Osunniyi. Duquesne has lost 6-10 forward Austin Rotroff for the next four to six weeks with another foot injury. He had been averaging seven rebounds over the past four games while playing 18 minutes and shooting 13 of 16 from the field.

Plus, graduate transfer Rodney Gunn Jr. has played in only one game after suffering a season-ending high ankle sprain. That’s on top of the seven players who transferred either during or after last season.

“Yeah, it’s hard. This job’s hard, period,” he said. “Duquesne’s not an easy job, obviously, right?”

Need anyone be reminded that Duquesne hasn’t landed a berth in the NCAA Tournament since 1977?

“We had to reboot. I know people don’t want to hear that. They’re tired of waiting 55 years,” he said, exaggerating to make his point. “And I don’t blame them. Ultimately, I take responsibility (for overhauling the roster).”

Dambrot is in his fifth season at Duquesne, and he will carry a 71-56 record into the Cooper Fieldhouse on Friday. The Dukes won 21 games in 2019-20, and their 9-9 A-10 record in 2020-21 was the last of three consecutive non-losing seasons in the conference (a first at the school).

Yet, the past is of no consolation in the present.

“Duquesne didn’t make the commitment to me to be competitive. They made the commitment to be in the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “And I’m man enough to know that.

“Listen, I could have stayed at Akron (his previous job from 2004-17) for the rest of my career and was pretty much on cruise control. I knew what I signed up for (at Duquesne). I chose it. I feel like we have all the pieces in place now, finally, to get it done.”

Dambrot likes the new faces on his team, even though he said he would like to see better defense and ball sharing. A string of victories could lead to what he especially desires: a culture where winning is expected more than it is celebrated.

“We’ve beaten every team (in the A-10). Now, we have to put it back together again, just like we did the first go-round and just take it a step further,” he said.

One necessary step: “Do a better job of retaining our players or getting the right people,” he said.