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Dambrot says 'yes' to Duquesne this time


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Why is the $250,000 extra in pay not a factor for you guys? Keith is not Shaka Smart (34) or Brad Stephens (35) he is 54 and I don't know if he is going to get a lot of opportunities at that age. If the contract is for seven years -- we are talking $1.75 million dollars extra (minimum) over the next seve years.

By the way what makes you thnk if Keith were at Duquesne McNeese doesn't stay at Duequesne? I'm not sure if McNeese transfers if five of the kids on the basketball team weren't shot around the time he was supposed to arrive. Wasn't he already committed to Duequesne?

Does Zeke end up there too if KD was at Duequesne? Heck does Zeke even end up here without Boals?

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Why is the $250,000 extra in pay not a factor for you guys? Keith is not Shaka Smart (34) or Brad Stephens (35) he is 54 and I don't know if he is going to get a lot of opportunities at that age. If the contract is for seven years -- we are talking $1.75 million dollars extra (minimum) over the next seve years.

By the way what makes you thnk if Keith were at Duquesne McNeese doesn't stay at Duequesne? I'm not sure if McNeese transfers if five of the kids on the basketball team weren't shot around the time he was supposed to arrive. Wasn't he already committed to Duequesne?

Does Zeke end up there too if KD was at Duequesne? Heck does Zeke even end up here without Boals?

You are a glass half empty guy despite the fact that our glass is totally full.

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You are a glass half empty guy despite the fact that our glass is totally full.

Wow glass half empty because I was pointing out the facts of the situation? I'm happy he is staying but I can't believe there is a single person on this board that would forgoe a $250,000 raise.

By the way I've watched this team since the Huggins era. We've made significant progress since then, but I'll continue to say they haven't met expectations lately. We've already had that discussion.

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Wow glass half empty because I was pointing out the facts of the situation? I'm happy he is staying but I can't believe there is a single person on this board that would forgoe a $250,000 raise.

By the way I've watched this team since the Huggins era. We've made significant progress since then, but I'll continue to say they haven't met expectations lately. We've already had that discussion.

Glass half empty because you assume that everyone is motivated by money, and that our coach could be bought despite constantly saying how loyal he is.

Not to mention if I'm in his situation Duquesne is a wasteland (as I described before) and he likely made $500,000 after bonuses and loyalty awards and what does his Summa endorsement contract look like?

By the time you total everything up here, and factor in the mess that is Duquesne, why would he ever consider leaving for that job at just $250,000 more?

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By the way I've watched this team since the Huggins era. We've made significant progress since then, but I'll continue to say they haven't met expectations lately. We've already had that discussion.

I'm concerned you may be right even through next season. We MAY become the only MAC basketball team that recruited a high school All American and didn't win an NCAA game during his time at the school. I don't think that is too far fetched to say. We beat up on a crappy MAC and bad OOC teams. Lose to Duquesnes and CSU's of the world. KD will be going on his 9th season next year. On the surface, we have beat a bunch of bad teams. Can anyone describe what is below the surface when you really dig deeper?

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I noticed this article last night.

Funny thing is the blogger really only compared the A10 to MAC and talked about money. If this were Xavier or Dayton I can understand, but Duquesne is in the "MAC west" of the A10. Not competitive! He says Dambrot has done everything he can in the MAC. Meaning MAC schools don't make noise nationally...

Really? Did Ohio just made the Sweet 16? Didn't Can't make the elite 8? Didn't our soccer team make 2 straight national championship games?

Funny thing is Duquesne hasn't made the tournament in 30 years. All but 2-3 MAC teams have at least 1 tournament appearance during that time frame.

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@Big Zip, several times in my professional career I passed up offers for big raises to leave American companies and go to work for foreign-owned companies with operations based in the U.S. I did so because I've always felt a strong sense of loyalty to what I believe in the most, not who lined my pockets with the most money. I'm not as wealthy as I could have been, but I'm comfortable and have a great sense of fulfillment that I did the right thing for me. No regrets.

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@Big Zip, several times in my professional career I passed up offers for big raises to leave American companies and go to work for foreign-owned companies with operations based in the U.S. I did so because I've always felt a strong sense of loyalty to what I believe in the most, not who lined my pockets with the most money. I'm not as wealthy as I could have been, but I'm comfortable and have a great sense of fulfillment that I did the right thing for me. No regrets.

What would Chris Rock say in response to this post?

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  • 2 months later...

If the main things keeping Dambrot in Akron was money and a transfer, I have lost a lot of respect for him. He's a great coach and I'm glad he's still here, but you shouldn't be saying statements like the that when you declined the job. We get it, you're a valuable commodity, we should worship the ground you walk on, etc.

I just hope his quotes were taken out of context by the writer, but I have a hard time believing that's the case.

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At the end of the day, he's in Akron. I don't care what kind of article some idiot in pittsburgh wrote. Of course they are going to make it seem like he wanted the job. What kind of journalist is going to publish a story saying "Oh well the school sucks, I never wanted to go there."

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I just find it funny that EVERY article from a Pittsburgh/Duquesne supporter says that Dambrot would have had a better chance making it to the NCAA Tourney had he taken the job. Really? Apparently we haven't made it twice in the past four years. It's never an Akron vs Duquesne comparison, it's always an A10 vs MAC. We get it the A10 is better, but Duquesne is a bottom feeder and no bigger than a BGSU or Miami(OH) type school on a national level.

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I don't care what kind of article some idiot in pittsburgh wrote.

There are a lot of quotation marks around a lot of the article. KD wrote a lot of it for him. He should have never taken the interview if he was going to be that honest.

I'm not sure how I would take this article if I was one of his players.

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It definitely doesn't give me the warm and fuzzy about him being around if we have an NCAA tourney run next year. All I can say is that we better get the arena plans finished quickly and pray that the football has a good year so we can get out of the MAC. We finally have solid coaches in all of our sports programs. We can't afford to lose them once we get a little bit of success. We don't have that name or tradition to rely on. We need to capitalize now.

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His dad's alma mater... big fat pay raise... still a relatively "local" job... 4-bid conference... he's always felt slighted that football is dumping a ton of money into facilities and coaches that net a paltry one or two wins per season, while he's winning 20+ game/year and playing in a HS gym.... he's at that at the point in his life where he's probably got time for one last shot at the big-time... of course he thought about it seriously.

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Why the surprise over KD's honest answers? I'd say that is one of several traitss he is known for. If being honest is a negative, I'll take it. If I was an Akron player I would be thankful that Duquesne's bench =is very thin due to several transfers which ocurred prior to KD receiving their offer. What in the article makes you think the players would react negatively? Big time raise and guaranteed 6 or 7 years of said raise, to a mid 50's coach? Chance to coach in an overall better conference? A much larger budget, meaning big raises to several assistant coaches he woul like to keep with him?

A chance to have his dad experience a possible resurgance of a once strong program he was a big part of?

What isn't stated is obvious; with all the above positives I believe he knows this years team has a very good chance to be special if they steer clear of injury. Ohio isn't going anywhere so the MAC might see two teams dance this year and if Akron has the kind of results they believe they can more opprotunties and money will await KD.

That is why in the discussion thread about a new arena in the future, I interjected some comments about the present. I certainly hope the administration, both Dr.P and Tom W. will make some IMMEDIATE IMPROVEMENTS to the JAR. I'm not talking about a major rehab, it's too late for that, what I am talking about is some serious discussion, consideration and then action on making the JAR a tougher arena for opponents and a more enjoyable venue to attend games in. I believe Coach D and his staff are keeping their end of the bargin as this years team will be more athletic and talented than last years Zips team. That is saying something as I've read all the comments about last years team being the most athletic in Zips history.

From what we read, the administration stepped up and paid Coach D and hopefully his staff more in salary; that's a good start. Locker room improvements, a new player lounge and weight/strength room built last year were good investments. Training room improvements as well as some serious improvements to the JAR's seating, aesthetics and game night atmosphere are desperately needed to take advantage of the current teams ability and to provide a bridge to the ultimate improvement of a new facility. Timing is everything.....and I'm thrilled Coach D's window of time is STILL open here.

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His dad's alma mater... big fat pay raise... still a relatively "local" job... 4-bid conference... he's always felt slighted that football is dumping a ton of money into facilities and coach's that net one or two wins per season, while he's winning 20+ game/year and playing in a HS gym.... he's at that at the point in his life where he's probably got time for one last shot at the big-time... of course he thought about it seriously.

Succinct and totally accurate take there, Captain.

This isn't so much about loyalty/disloyalty to Akron, in my mind. Dambrot likes it here, but he's a professional coach and a guy with a family. You go where your career takes you in the manner that's best for you and for your family. Period. That's what I've done in my life. That's what everybody does. It's life.

I have no doubt KD loves Akron, but at this stage of his career, he's looking to achieve the things he believes he's capable of achieving. (A lot more money ain't too shabby, either.) I don't think it's disloyal of him to expect that Akron has to help create and continue the conditions where he believes he can achieve those things here. If they do, he won't leave. If they don't, he'll go. It's that simple, imo.

Besides, if leverage from the fear of losing KD is what builds a new arena for the Zips (as it looks like it's going to), who could be disappointed by that?

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