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Dambrot Mentioned in SI Article on LeBron


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A few excerpts:

He trained with his first coach at St. Vincent--St. Mary High, Keith Dambrot, who had barely worked with him since he was a rookie. "A lot of people are intimidated by LeBron, but he wants the truth," says Dambrot, now the coach at Akron. "He's not too big to take criticism. I told him, 'You have to do more things you don't want to do. You have to do more offensive and defensive rebounding, moving without the ball, all the basics that made you great going back to the beginning.'"

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When the Heat has won 101--98, James finds Jay-Z's nephew in the courtside seats and slips his headband around the boy's neck. He removes his Nikes and hands those over as well. He tells the Heat's TV announcers he never thought he would hear MVP chants in an opposing arena again. Still, he will receive a text from Dambrot saying he needs to grab more rebounds.

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I'll care about this "invaluable" publicity when it actual benefits the University in some way.

Show us that it's NOT benefitting us. Tell me, what are the chances that Keith and UA are even relevant to even be mentioned in a publication like SI at this time of the year, if it is not for the connection to Bron?

Publicity is publicity. You could spend millions buying advertising about the U of A, and still not get a single person to notice as much as a simple tweet from maybe the biggest athlete/celebrity on the planet.

He is, by far, our biggest asset to gaining any national publicity. AND it's free. That's the point.

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Show us that it's NOT benefitting us. Tell me, what are the chances that Keith and UA are even relevant to even be mentioned in a publication like SI at this time of the year, if it is not for the connection to Bron?

Publicity is publicity. You could spend millions buying advertising about the U of A, and still not get a single person to notice as much as a simple tweet from maybe the biggest athlete/celebrity on the planet.

He is, by far, our biggest asset to gaining any national publicity. AND it's free. That's the point.

Show what it has done. We haven't gotten any huge sponsors, commits, or TV time for the Zips basketball program even though we wear Lebron's shoes, he has his AAU tourney here, and he talks about us on twitter all the time. We haven't gotten a boost in attendance. Akron and Northeast Ohio players still don't look at Akron as a place to play and would rather go to low level BCS schools like Penn St, Northwestern, Minnesota just to name a few.

This does nothing for the school or the basketball program.

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Show what it has done. We haven't gotten any huge sponsors, commits, or TV time for the Zips basketball program even though we wear Lebron's shoes, he has his AAU tourney here, and he talks about us on twitter all the time. We haven't gotten a boost in attendance. Akron and Northeast Ohio players still don't look at Akron as a place to play and would rather go to low level BCS schools like Penn St, Northwestern, Minnesota just to name a few.

This does nothing for the school or the basketball program.

Zips players are familiar with LeBron. They've played basketball with him. They have a relationship with him. Facilitating a relationship with the greatest basketball player on the planet is a nice perk, and benefits Zips recruiting.

Everyone wishes LeBron would do more visible for UA...like toss-in a few mil for an arena...but it doesn't seem like he's in a hurry to do it.

But having a relationship with the guy helps Dambrot contact recruits that otherwise wouldn't consider UA. Maybe it isn't their 1st or even 2nd reason for considering UA (if a kid chooses his college solely because he got a phone call from LeBron, he has issues), but it's an edge that no other mid-major has.

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Zips players are familiar with LeBron. They've played basketball with him. They have a relationship with him. Facilitating a relationship with the greatest basketball player on the planet is a nice perk, and benefits Zips recruiting.

Everyone wishes LeBron would do more visible for UA...like toss-in a few mil for an arena...but it doesn't seem like he's in a hurry to do it.

But having a relationship with the guy helps Dambrot contact recruits that otherwise wouldn't consider UA. Maybe it isn't their 1st or even 2nd reason for considering UA (if a kid chooses his college solely because he got a phone call from LeBron, he has issues), but it's an edge that no other mid-major has.

link to a recruit who has chose to play for UA because Lebron shows up here a few times a year?

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Zips players are familiar with LeBron. They've played basketball with him. They have a relationship with him. Facilitating a relationship with the greatest basketball player on the planet is a nice perk, and benefits Zips recruiting.

Everyone wishes LeBron would do more visible for UA...like toss-in a few mil for an arena...but it doesn't seem like he's in a hurry to do it.

But having a relationship with the guy helps Dambrot contact recruits that otherwise wouldn't consider UA. Maybe it isn't their 1st or even 2nd reason for considering UA (if a kid chooses his college solely because he got a phone call from LeBron, he has issues), but it's an edge that no other mid-major has.

Bingo.

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He is, by far, our biggest asset to gaining any national publicity. AND it's free. That's the point.

Our basketball players are our biggest asset to gain publicity. If they play well, people around the country see them on TV and see there is something good going on at UofA. If they fall short, we hope for another mention about James in an SI article or some other publication.

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Zips players are familiar with LeBron. They've played basketball with him. They have a relationship with him. Facilitating a relationship with the greatest basketball player on the planet is a nice perk, and benefits Zips recruiting.

Everyone wishes LeBron would do more visible for UA...like toss-in a few mil for an arena...but it doesn't seem like he's in a hurry to do it.

But having a relationship with the guy helps Dambrot contact recruits that otherwise wouldn't consider UA. Maybe it isn't their 1st or even 2nd reason for considering UA (if a kid chooses his college solely because he got a phone call from LeBron, he has issues), but it's an edge that no other mid-major has.

Michael Jordan was at the JAR?

In all seriousness, I don't think it helps or hurts as much as either side argues. Any time you're mentioned in a national publication it's a good thing. At the same time, this stood out to me:

"He trained with his first coach at St. Vincent--St. Mary High, Keith Dambrot, who had barely worked with him since he was a rookie."

I'm sure they keep in contact, but I don't think LeBron is as close to this program as some would like him to be. He's not calling recruits (and recruits aren't coming because of him), he's not helping with the arena, and he's no longer holding his camp here. That's fine - he didn't go here, and he shouldn't be expected to do any of this.

He occasionally tweets something nice about us, shows up a few times over the summer, and that's about it...and that's OK.

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However, Marshall said he chose Akron because of its information technology department, along with his ability to connect with Dambrot and his staff. He said Akron was the first school to recruit him in the ninth grade, and even though a number of high majors were recruiting him, he is sticking with his commitment to the Zips. "I would like to be the person that they can build on," Marshall said. Marshall said he didn't even know there was a James connection to the school until he came for his visit.

"LeBron didn't make me see it, but when I did get here, I did realize that LeBron was an asset for the school," Marshall said. "I didn't know that he supported the school or that he grew up here."

From what I've gathered, Zeke came to Akron because we recruited him early and sold him on our academic programs. Maybe Mama Zeke can chime in on how much LeBron impacted Zeke signing a LOI here.

Again, I'm not saying the LeBron connection hurts, so I don't mind it...I just don't think it helps nearly as much as some believe it does.

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Right and since it wasn't the reason Zeke came here, then we can obviously conclude that no player has considered it in the past 8 seasons :rolleyes:

show me a link. The burden of proof is on all of you. Capn' Kangaroo's link proved no such thing.

I admire that he gives back to UA, shows up here a few times a year, etc. However, stating this publicity as being priceless if just asinine.

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show me a link. The burden of proof is on all of you. Capn' Kangaroo's link proved no such thing.

I admire that he gives back to UA, shows up here a few times a year, etc. However, stating this publicity as being priceless if just asinine.

I'd say that's about 100 times less asinine as stating that it has no impact.

"Priceless" might not be the right word, but would you like to venture a guess at what it would cost to pay one of the greatest celebrity/athletes in the world to talk about the U of A ?

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show me a link. The burden of proof is on all of you. Capn' Kangaroo's link proved no such thing.

“It has been a huge coup for Dambrot.”

“Dambrot has received unprecedented advertising for his program.”

"There's no question that this allows us to get with better players now that we're one of his main people [in gear] and that he plays open gym here and put his camp here and the AAU event here," Dambrot said.

“We've found that the LeBron connection helps us.”

“James said he recognizes that by putting the tournaments in Akron, he has given the city and the school a place on the college basketball recruiting map.”

"LeBron didn't make me see it, but when I did get here, I did realize that LeBron was an asset for the school," Marshall said.

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