Keith Dambrot
Encyclopedia
Keith B. Dambrot is an American
college basketball
coach and the current men's basketball
head coach of the University of Akron
. Dambrot also coached NBA Star, LeBron James, while serving as head coach of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.
for two seasons from 1984 to 1986 and at Ashland University
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
.
as coach of Central Michigan
for the 1991–92 season. However, he only lasted two seasons, and was fired for making a controversial comment before a game against Miami University
. According to the transcripts of the wrongful termination suit that Dambrot had filed against Central Michigan (which he subsequently lost), he had said, "You know, we need some tough niggers on our team." According to the court records, he claimed to have said this to connote, "a person who is fearless, mentally strong, and tough," rather than as something racist. Moreover, Dambrot's suit showed that he had asked several players for permission to use the word before he had said it, and apparently, several players had said it was OK.
. 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 LeBron James
was on his squad, and they won two consecutive state championships, as well as were nationally ranked. 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.
In his seven seasons in charge of the program, Akron has amassed a 162-75 (.684) 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 are tied for the most by a MAC team and are tied for 29th-best nationally during that seven-season span. In 13 seasons as a collegiate head coach he owns a 270-145 (.651) overall record. Dambrot enters 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 (.608, 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 has been 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 have been 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 (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.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
college basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
coach and the current men's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
head coach of the University of Akron
University of Akron
The University of Akron is a coeducational public research university located in Akron, Ohio, United States. The university is part of the University System of Ohio. It was founded in 1870 as a small college affiliated with the Universalist Church. In 1913 ownership was transferred to the City of...
. Dambrot also coached NBA Star, LeBron James, while serving as head coach of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.
Early coaching career
Dambrot began his head coaching career at Division II schools Tiffin UniversityTiffin University
Tiffin University is a university in Tiffin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1888, Tiffin University enrolls over 4,900 students in undergraduate and graduate degree programs offered at the Tiffin campus in Tiffin, Ohio, at the University of Bucharest in Romania, and at several locations in Ohio,...
for two seasons from 1984 to 1986 and at Ashland University
Ashland University
Ashland University is a mid-sized, private, non-profit university that is located in Ashland, Ohio.The University offers 73 undergraduate majors and nine pre-professional programs. The majors include toxicology/environmental science and entrepreneurship, which are unusual for an institution of its...
for two seasons from 1989 to 1991, At Ashland, he led his team each year into the NCAA D-II Men's Basketball tournament
NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championship
The NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship is an annual championship tournament for colleges and universities that are members of NCAA Division II, a grouping of schools in the United States that are generally smaller than the higher-profile institutions of Division I...
. In between, he was an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...
.
Central Michigan University
Dambrot replaced Charlie ColesCharlie Coles
Charlie Coles is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Miami University....
as coach of Central Michigan
Central Michigan
Central Michigan, often called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. Southern Michigan can be considered as a subregion of Central Michigan. As its name implies, it is the central area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said to resemble a mitten, and...
for the 1991–92 season. However, he only lasted two seasons, and was fired for making a controversial comment before a game against Miami University
Miami University
Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
. According to the transcripts of the wrongful termination suit that Dambrot had filed against Central Michigan (which he subsequently lost), he had said, "You know, we need some tough niggers on our team." According to the court records, he claimed to have said this to connote, "a person who is fearless, mentally strong, and tough," rather than as something racist. Moreover, Dambrot's suit showed that he had asked several players for permission to use the word before he had said it, and apparently, several players had said it was OK.
Coaching LeBron James at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School
The incident at Central Michigan had essentially blackballed Dambrot from college coaching. In 1998, he became the head coach at St. Vincent–St. Mary HS in Akron, OhioAkron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
. 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 LeBron James
LeBron James
LeBron Raymone James is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association . Nicknamed "King James", he was a three-time "Mr. Basketball" of Ohio in high school, and was highly promoted in the national media as a future NBA superstar while a...
was on his squad, and they won two consecutive state championships, as well as were nationally ranked. 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.
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 has led Akron to the postseason in four-straight and five of the last six seasons – participating in the NCAA Tournament in 2009 and 2011, 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). The Zips have won at least 23 games in each of the last six seasons – a feat unmatched in program history. Additionally, Akron has competed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament title game in each of the last five years and is just the second league school to have appeared in at least five-straight finals (Miami (Ohio) 1997-2001).In his seven seasons in charge of the program, Akron has amassed a 162-75 (.684) 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 are tied for the most by a MAC team and are tied for 29th-best nationally during that seven-season span. In 13 seasons as a collegiate head coach he owns a 270-145 (.651) overall record. Dambrot enters 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 (.608, 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 has been 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 have been 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 (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.