http://www.ohio.com/blogs/ua-zips/universi...elease-1.292071

I love you Keith.

+1

Refreshing to see in today's world. I, for one, hope KD spends the rest of his career in Akron.

+∞

There are things in life that you can't put a price tag on, KD gets it.

Time for KD to get PAID!

Glad he told Duquesne to shove it!

This just made my day.

KD is a special person. He's fortunate to have his dream job, and UA is fortunate to have him. Ideally it would be great if he could continue to build Zips basketball to a higher level, and then when he eventually retires has a young assistant with the talent and abilities of a Shaka Smart to turn the reins over to.

Keith Dambrot on the Sports Time Machine. Talks about his experiences and his sense of history.

It is great he is staying. My only concern is the attitude. WHY do we have to be the BEST MID Major. Why are we not shooting to be the best major?
Am I missing something here?
This is like the being the best of the worst No glory in that.
I don't expect a Duke but why not aim higher than a mid major? Are we locked into be a mid major?
Maybe I don't understand.

I believe every "Major" conference is an American Football BCS conference. Until our American football team improves, our basketball and futball team are stuck at the "mid-major" level.

One step at a time my friend...

@Carol, as @bobbyake says, the MAC is a mid-major conference. You can't be a major team in a mid-major conference. But there are always rumors out there that UA is looking to move up. If the Zips moved to a conference like the Big East, for example, they would become a major team overnight. Then the problem becomes one of consistently winning against higher-level competition as the Zips under KD have consistently done against lower-level competition. Becoming a mid-major power by regularly knocking off major teams in OOC play as Gonzaga has done would be a good first step.

All I can think of to say about that is:
Not to mention,

UA "restructuring" KD's contract.

This is expected based on the circumstances, and richly deserved as well.

How to overstate and understate the accomplishments of KD and UofA basketball all in one paragraph.

"This season, Dambrot led the Zips to their first-ever Mid-American Conference regular-season championship. He has guided the program to seven-straight 20 win seasons as Akron is one of just 17 programs nationally to reach the 20-win mark during that stretch. Akron's 184 wins in Dambrot's eight-year tenure are the most in the MAC. The Zips have appeared six-straight MAC title games, the second longest active streak in the nation, and has appeared in the postseason in six of the last seven seasons."

Overstatement: Akron is one of only 17 programs to reach the 20-win mark during that stretch (the last 7 years).

The truth: There are scores of teams that have had 20 win seasons during the last seven years.

Understatement: The Zips have appeared (in) six-straight MAC title games, the second longest active streak in the nation.....

The truth: No team has a a longer active streak of appearing in MAC title games. We are #1.

I think they're referring to seven consecutive 20-win seasons.

U may be correct, but it doesn't say that.
R U sure they're not referring to seven nonconsecutive 20-win seasons?

Dambrot deserves at least a base of $600,000. If a bad school like Duquesne can afford it, we can too. Forget about soccer and football for a second, and shelf over some money for basketball. Attendance and Zips basketball is on the rise. Many games were packed last season, and with any luck we can carry over our success and start the season strong in 2012-13. I've always felt UA took KD for granted. They really don't know the impact he has had, and the crushing blow it would be to our program if he left. You aren't going to find another KD out there UA, if you don't secure him it WILL cost people their jobs.

No he doesn't. No, we can't.

Do you think you might be overreacting a little?

Dambrot doesn't deserve a raise and he doesn't deserve to be the highest paid coach in the league. He did less this year than the year before with more in his favor. In the real world, that doesn't get you a raise.

Forget about football after just bringing in the best coach at the school? That's nuts. The soccer program is a national championship contender and we are going to forget about them? That's nuts as well.

I'm going to save Big Zip some typing since he as been saving me some typing recently. KD leaving wouldn't crush the program if we had a competent AD. Takes me back to when Bill Cowher retired and every handwringing Yinzer worried they would never get a coach as good...They got one better. KD has been at Akron for going on nine years. We have seen two senior classes go through. He is what he is at this point and the program may be at the highest point it is going to be with him. If you like winning 20 games, making the MAC Championship game (losing more often than not), making the post season and probably going one and done, he is a great choice. It's not a bad place to be and we should all be proud of the program. There are better places to be though.

$600k for a coach that has only one MAC regular season title, zero NCAA tournament wins, and no major upset on his resume? That is reaching...

It's great he is from Akron and all and wants to stay but he is only a competitive coach in the MAC..Akron is not competitive in the mid-major ranks, let alone even sniffing a chance at winning in the tournament which we rarely get to because he blows the championship game.

He has done a great job at getting this team to be competitive in the MAC, but with how soft the schedule is, I would be alarmed that he isn't getting 20 wins. Akron is also near the bottom in the NCAA in attendance. Has zero major wins for the program to hang its hat on. Only made it to the NCAA tournament twice despite 6 league championship games and still doesnt have the best program in one of the worst conferences in the NCAA.

A real discussion needs to take place if we don't start growing and whether or not we actually have the right coach for the program if we have another couple of years of failing to live up to expectations.

KD has done a lot of the things that some of his biggest critics have requested.

The Zips need to bring in quality transfers if they can't get enough quality players directly out of HS. KD brought in three good ones.

The Zips need more athletic players. KD brought in a bunch of them.

The Zips need a tougher OOC schedule to get a higher RPI. KD scheduled a top 100 SOS for the first time this season and earned an RPI in the 50s for the first time.

When considered objectively, the efforts to improve the Zips are clear to see. Some of the results are also clear to see. But it's not unreasonable to point out that the big result that everyone wants to see -- winning one or more NCAA tournament games -- has not yet been reached.

The real question is whether progress is being made toward the big goal, or if the team is just treading water or slipping backwards. On any issue like this there are going to be disagreements that have been made clear in this thread and previous threads on this subject. It's fair to say that whatever the results, fans always want more.

Personally, I'm pleased with some of the results and disappointed with others. But overall I like where KD is taking the program, and the way he's going about doing it. I enjoyed watching this season's team much more than previous editions even if they didn't reach that higher goal we were all hoping for. But I expect to see further improvements next season and beyond. For example, I'd like to see all the players be in better physical condition, especially as it relates to endurance, and I'd like to see them press more on defense and run more on offense.

If I ever thought that KD had peaked and that the Zips were no longer making progress toward the next level, I'd join in with those looking for a replacement.

Roo... respectfully, are you nuts?!

Fact 1) Akron's basketball program at the D-I level has never, ever, been stronger or more competitive than it is today. Fact 2) Keith Dambrot is the reason for Fact 1). He's made an impact since year one, the only team more talented than the one he had this year will likely be taking the floor next year. While you might not be overly impressed with the job he's done here, people who know more about college basketball than any of us fans do seem to hold KD in pretty darned high regard and consider him an outstanding coach.

Was this year disappointing? At the end, yes, sure it was. Did we lose to an inferior team in the MACC game? No, we did not. We lost by a whisker to a damned good Ohio team that missed the Elite 8 by a single missed free throw. We'll get another bite at the apple next season, and maybe things work out better, or maybe the MAC gets more than one team in the tourney. But whatever happens over the next couple of years, there is no conceivable scenario I can imagine where there could be a serious discussion about retaining one of the best coaches in the history of our program.

As long as TW is the AD, there is no way I would ever allow him to get rid of KD. I wouldn't trust TW to hire a quality replacement.

I'm in general agreement with the rest of what you said, but I don't believe this one bit. If he doesn't deserve to be the highest paid coach in the MAC, then who do you think should be paid higher?

I seem to remember Proenza making a statement a few years ago that we want all of our coaches to be in the top 25% of the MAC for salary. Christian at OU moves to #1, KD should always be in the top 2-3 of the league. In the MAC, 600K just does not fit. But I like the idea of reworking his contract. This was the best regular season that we have had - no bad losses in the MAC, a top 50 OOS schedule, a win over a team that was in the top 25, I saw a lot of progress this year. 3 years ago if we beat Gonzaga, that would have been a fluke and we would have gotten hammered by UNC in round 2. The level of talent in the program took a step up this year. Good things are going to happen, I don't see the program at a stalemate. I see a team built to be a top 50-60 program for the next 3 years.

Gary Waters is one of the best coaches that I have seen come through the MAC in 20 years. In 16 years his teams have made the NCAAs 3 times and he has 2 wins. He has 2 more wins than us, I get that, but it is not like he is regularly making the tourney.

How far do you want to take it? If we pay him the most, then every year when another coach gets more we have to pay him more. That is an upward spiral neither we, nor the other schools in the league can afford. Will it be a $1 million in five years? Can we cut his pay if he doesn't win the MAC again next year?

KD isn't going to leave Akron because the only jobs he will get will be the Duquesnes of the world, which wolud be career suicide. He isn't going to get an offer for a BCS level school where guys make over a million a year because he is too old at this point and his resume doesn't warrant it.

KD likes to play everything safe. He has a safe style of basketball. He recruits safe players who probably will never be a problem. He likes to schedule in a safe manner that gives him 20 guaranteed wins a year. He likes playing in the MAC because most of the teams are relatively easy to beat and the path to 20 wins is relatively easy. Akron is a safe zone for KD. He has organized his entire career to limit risk to his job. With that limiting philosophy comes a limiting of income and I'm sure he knows it and is very comfortable with it. He could be the coach at Akron for the next 15 years even if the program never got better and never produced greater accomplishments greater than they already have. The fans love him and he is well protected by the Board of Trustees. The truth is, he does do a good job and we should be happy with him. When I worked in corporate America, we called guys like him "survivors". They were good at their job, liked their jobs, never said/did anything controversial and underpaid for what they could make somewhere else. Everything they did centered around them surviving for another year. There is nothing wrong with the "survivors" as they are frequently valuable employees.

KD is running the UA basketball program exactly the way UA wants him to run the basketball program. If he was doing something they didn't like, they'd instruct him to change. If he didn't, they'd replace him.

Duquesne's men's basketball program also brings in close to $1 million more a year in revenue than we do. Really no need for us to break the bank to secure KD when the only serious interest he has gotten is from a "bad" school. If a good school ever does come around, they will still be able to offer him a lot more than $600K, so it really doesn't help there.

Does anyone on this forum really know for a fact that KD hasn't gotten an offer for more money from a bigger program than Duquesne, or is this an assumption based on the fact that no previous offer has showed up on Twitter?

I believe his question was who deserves to be paid higher?

If this were a discussion on dating, I think that's like saying Gary Waters has dated only two more supermodels than KD.

Waters 2
Dambrot 0

isn't a huge disparity if we were talking baseball. But it's a huge disparity in supermodel dating, just like it is in NCAA tourney wins.

You also can't overlook Waters' team being taken to the Elite 8 by Stan Heath. The absolute worst case scenario for Waters coaching that Huffman/Gates/Mitchell/Shaw team is 1 NCAA win. 2 or 3 wins being much more likely.

Waters' last two CSU teams have choked in February, for some odd reason. This year, injuries are the scape goat. But when comparing CSU to the Zips, or Waters to Dambrot, Waters has the edge in every category. Wins. Championships. Players in the NBA. Head-to-Head.

That's just the way it is. Hope it starts to change this upcoming season.

KD has had enough success that replacing him at this point would be a PR disaster for the program and you of all people should know that. What you are really saying is KD and the University are on the same page with the direction of the program. They want him to survive as bad as he does and they will put up with the lack of success in post season beyond the MAC Tournament to keep the safety in place.

Big time programs tend to have big time media around them and things get out. There aren't many reports out there about Dambrot being looked at by big time programs because he isn't being looked at by big time programs. He might get a sniff, but not beyond that.