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The idea that everyone thought we would pick up where we left off last year was a wonderful idea, but not accurate. We now know why the Dukes were picked where they were in the A-10. Duquesne isn't a school/team where 20 win coaches for 5 seasons are going to come here. We all supported Dru when he got the job and we must continue to do so. It took Keith 7 years for him to get us to the tournament. No, no one wants to wait another 7 years but I believe Duquesne is in a much better place today, then when Keith began. The idea that everyone thought we would pick up where we left off last year was a wonderful idea, but not accurate. We now know why the Dukes were picked where they were in the A-10. Duquesne isn't a school/team where 20 win coaches for 5 seasons are going to come here. We all supported Dru when he got the job and we must continue to do so. It took Keith 7 years for him to get us to the tournament. No, no one wants to wait another 7 years but I believe Duquesne is in a much better place today, then when Keith began. You do have a point when it comes to student attendance. It's important. I think if they go on a some sort of winning streak now they will have the students support by conference play. The $1 dollar specials is a great point too. Advertised to students correctly, that will surely bring a crowd. I get your point Fam, in that we lost a lot of talent from last year and that coach Dru needs time to get things rolling. It is unfortunate that the early season results will almost certainly keep fans from filling the Coop. I agree now would be a good time for the athletic dept to incentivize people to come to the games. Last edited by Tony84 (11/26/2024 8:22 pm) Coach Dru will be an excellent coach but he is currently in the “on the job” training part of his gig. The first year in any new job in any profession has lessons that need to be learned. Here is an example. There is a ton of talent in the transfer portal, but looking for a transfer from winning programs is a little nuance that might play into a team’s success. Jimmy Clark transferred here after winning a JUCO title. The Drame twins had the tournament run for St. Peter’s and played for Coach Dunphy. Coach Dru is smart and he will pick up on these kinds of subtle nuances. I will not be surprised if we are close to .500 when the OOC ends. I have confidence in Dru Joyce. Coach Dru has a great bunch of kids. We played defense well enough to win nearly all of these games. Finding an offense is taking some time, but looked closer yesterday. BUT, just like last year going 0-5 to start the A-10 season, that just killed attendance. Let the students in with promotions, sell the upper deck at big discount for the near future. Invite the Grade school teams back to play at half-time was great entertainment and all their parents showed up. (Give the parents free tickets to watch the kids) Give the Catholic Schools upper deck tickets on certain nights. But most important, give me free beer. (Just saying). Its gonna be like a crypt in there all year now, so might as well try everything to get some butts in the seats. FAM it is not true that DU could not hire another successful head coach, I had heard that when Dambrot announced that he was going to retire that Harper received interest in the job from several successful head coaches. You may also recall the rumor discussed on this board about Bob Huggins calling Harper, Later I heard he was not calling for himself but for Jared Calhoun, the head coach for Youngstown State at that time. I am not stating this as fact, just what I heard. The point is that just about everyone on this board bought into the dream that if we hired Dru that Bronny would come to Duquesne and LeBron would pour money into the program, The voices became louder when Dambrot said that Dru should be hired., and this put tremendous pressure on Harper when he didn't announce Dru right away. I love the way people on this board want free giveaways. You can’t run a successful program without running it in the black. Support Duquesne donate or support sports teams with NIL money. . Free hot dogs,beers,etc…Spend your own money not others. FAM it is not true that DU could not hire another successful head coach, I had heard that when Dambrot announced that he was going to retire that Harper received interest in the job from several successful head coaches. You may also recall the rumor discussed on this board about Bob Huggins calling Harper, Later I heard he was not calling for himself but for Jared Calhoun, the head coach for Youngstown State at that time. I am not stating this as fact, just what I heard. The point is that just about everyone on this board bought into the dream that if we hired Dru that Bronny would come to Duquesne and LeBron would pour money into the program, The voices became louder when Dambrot said that Dru should be hired., and this put tremendous pressure on Harper when he didn't announce Dru right away. Good points. He is still trying to find his demeanor on the sideline. I am not sure of the style his father and brother coach but there have been the comments about Joyce being a more modern coach without the theatrics. As if he would be a coach players want to play for since he will not have a screaming fit. Yesterday he was noticeably more animated on the sideline… but of course nowhere compared to Dambrot. There were the occasions of foul calls that he didn’t argue as mentioned above as well. I have confidence Coach will find a happy medium of fire and chillness that the players react to. Sometimes a group of 18-22 year olds need a jolt to get something lit under them. Yes, there were times KD was jumping and screaming and players rolled their eyes like he was crazy… but then there were times you can tell he made a difference. I can see Joyce continuing to be more aggressive on the sidelines as time goes on. This style isn’t working right now. The players obviously respect him, and maybe part of the reason for that is because he is more relaxed on the surface. That is even a further point to show that in the occasion he does lose his cool, the team will realize they personally need to do something different to win. I am not advocating for him to have a Keith Dambrot vs Penn State incident at PPG. I just think he is trying to figure out how to best reach the team. And I have confidence he will figure it out at some point. Duquesne basketball success will be determined by its donors .Players want money and if the money isnt I think Lebron treasures his close friends and Dru is a close friend so hopefully he throws some money Hey athletic department, I think you need a "bunch" of dollar beers/dollar hot dog nights. Well there’s going to be at least one dollar beer night. New Year’s Eve vs. URI. A10 opener. The way this season is going we will certainly need it...
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Dru Joyce
Being transparent, the only thing that actually bothers me is that student attendance and adult attendance is likely to plummet even more if he doesn't win a few games. It happened at Pitt. No one wants to go back to the Danny Nee days when you could hear folks unwrapping their gum 20 rows away. Duquesne finally gave back to us last year. It is up to us to now give back to Duquesne...keep going to games, "try" to get others to go, and not lose hope.
Hey athletic department, I think you need a "bunch" of dollar beers/dollar hot dog nights.
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Re: Dru Joyce
FAM wrote:
Being transparent, the only thing that actually bothers me is that student attendance and adult attendance is likely to plummet even more if he doesn't win a few games. It happened at Pitt. No one wants to go back to the Danny Nee days when you could hear folks unwrapping their gum 20 rows away. Duquesne finally gave back to us last year. It is up to us to now give back to Duquesne...keep going to games, "try" to get others to go, and not lose hope.
Hey athletic department, I think you need a "bunch" of dollar beers/dollar hot dog nights.
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Re: Dru Joyce
I disagree about Duquesne being unable to attract a quality coach. After the Jim Ferry era ended, Dave Harper hired a coach who met the 5 seasons of 20 wins criteria. Keith Dambrot left the DU job more attractive than when he accepted it.
Hopefully before long Coach Joyce enjoys similar success.
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Re: Dru Joyce
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Re: Dru Joyce
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Re: Dru Joyce
Students show up for tv games or good opponents, not sure we have many of them coming up. But I dont think you can motivate students for a $5K giveaway today, maybe 50 of them.
The $1 beers would help get casual fans, but it needs hyped up, just not one tweet on Elon's site. Run an ad on WDVE, people will come. But the beer stands better be stocked(and cold) and well manned.
They can run a promo for HS teams, the team of the week gets their players/coaches a free ticket, and a tour of the Coop pre game, HS picks the game. The kid games at halftime are a good idea. BOGO on cheap seats. No one sits there anyway, so why not try to get some money from them.
T shirts always help, do free t shirts about 1/3 of the games. Copy the Pirates plan! HA!!!
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Re: Dru Joyce
At this point I am not saying that this was a wrong decision. If you hire someone with no head coaching experience, you have to be patient and expect some growing pains. Sometimes it works out like Marcus Freeman, and sometimes it doesn't like Darell Porter. We need to support Coach Dru and hope he can turn this around soon,
BTW, Jared Calhoun went to Utah State and is 7-0. and has an NET of 14.
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Re: Dru Joyce
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Re: Dru Joyce
CLK wrote:
At this point I am not saying that this was a wrong decision. If you hire someone with no head coaching experience, you have to be patient and expect some growing pains. Sometimes it works out like Marcus Freeman, and sometimes it doesn't like Darell Porter. We need to support Coach Dru and hope he can turn this around soon,
BTW, Jared Calhoun went to Utah State and is 7-0. and has an NET of 14.
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Re: Dru Joyce
available Dukes become cellar dwellers once gain.I am hoping Lebron comes to the rescue to help Dru.
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Re: Dru Joyce
at Duquesne to help Dru be successful coaching the Dukes.No reason Dru cant be successful here as long
as he can offer money that other prominnent programs in A10 offer their recruits.Dru is stuck in major rebuild.
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Re: Dru Joyce
FAM wrote:
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Re: Dru Joyce
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