Keith Dambrot

Dambrot was born in Akron, Ohio, and is Jewish. Dambrot's mother, Faye, was a psychology professor at the University of Akron while he was growing up. His father Sid Dambrot played on Duquesne Dukes men's basketball teams that were ranked No. 1 in the nation from 1952 to 1954. In college at the University of Akron, he played third base on the Akron Zips baseball team (of which he was captain and MVP) for the school, establishing what at the time was a school record for career hit by pitch, with 28. He graduated in 1982 with a degree in management. In 1984 he earned an MBA from the University of Akron. ==Early coaching career==

His first basketball coaching job came while he was a college student, when he helped coach the high school junior varsity at his alma mater Firestone, and they won the Akron City Series JV championship. Upon graduating college, he started as an assistant basketball coach at Akron. Dambrot began his head coaching career at Division II schools Tiffin University 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. ==Central Michigan University==

At 32 years of age, Dambrot replaced Charlie Coles as coach of Central Michigan University for the 1991–92 season. He sued the university in a wrongful discrimination lawsuit, and all 11 black players on the team joined him in the suit, claiming the university's policy against discriminatory language was too vague. He eventually lost the suit, though the students prevailed in overturning the school's language policy. ==St. Vincent-St. Mary High School==

The incident at Central Michigan essentially blackballed Dambrot from college coaching. Dambrot was only able to coach at the Akron Jewish Community Center and in some summer leagues. ==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. After becoming the head coach of Akron in 2004, Dambrot led the Zips to 19 victories in Dambrot's first season (2004–05). Akron was one of only four schools - along with Duke, Gonzaga, and Kansas - to win 21 or more games in 12 seasons before Dambrot left in 2017. In 2013, he won the Red Auerbach Coach of the Year Award as the country's top Jewish college basketball coach, and was named the MAC Coach of the Year. He won back-to-back Mid-American Conference regular season titles in 2016 and 2017, and coach of the year honors those seasons. ==Duquesne University==

On March 30, 2017, Dambrot was named the 17th head coach at Duquesne in the school's 101-year history. The Dukes had finished 10-22 the season before he took over as head coach. Duquesne improved to 16-16 while finishing 10th in the Atlantic 10 in its first season under Dambrot. The No. 11–seeded Dukes upset the No. 6–seeded BYU squad 71-67, before falling to Illinois in the second round. == Personal life ==

Dambrot is married to his wife Donna. Their son, Robby Dambrot, is a professional soccer player. ==Head coaching record==