Announcement from the team's website:

https://goduquesne.com/news/2024/3/28/joyce-iii-named-duquesne-mens-basketball-head-coach.aspx

The press conference is on Monday. The location & time will be announced on Sunday.

There is no debating the success enjoyed by KD in the last 3 weeks of his time at DU. Further, he has left the program in infinitely better shape than he found it. I am happy for him, his staff, the players, Dave Harper, the university community at-large, and, most of all, we long suffering fans. However, he most certainly did not do what he said he would do.

Upon taking the job he spoke repeatedly of multiple championship banners being hung, winning big with or without a new arena,erasing all the built-in excuses for not winning, & said, specifically, that he would have failed if 5 years in Duquesne was a "middle-of-the-pack" A-10 program. There is also no debating that he habitually used construction delays effect on his team's success & exageratted player injuries as excuses for poor results, his average finish in the conference regular season was 8th (never better than 5th), & had the team dead last after 5 years.

I am posting this now because I know that for years to come I will have to read how awesome the entire Dambrot era was to be a Duquesne fan just as we do for the RE years. I am trying to get my frustration with such rubbish out my system early.

Last edited by phil95 (3/29/2024 9:39 am)

phil95 wrote:

There is no debating the success enjoyed by KD in the last 3 weeks of his time at DU. Further, he has left the program in infinitely better shape than he found it. I am happy for him, his staff, the players, Dave Harper, the university community at-large, and, most of all, we long suffering fans. However, he most certainly did not do what he said he would do.

Upon taking the job he spoke repeatedly of multiple championship banners being hung, winning big with or without a new arena,erasing all the built-in excuses for not winning, & said, specifically, that he would have failed if 5 years in Duquesne was a "middle-of-the-pack" A-10 program. There is also no debating that he habitually used construction delays effect on his team's success & exageratted player injuries as excuses for poor results, his average finish in the conference regular season was 8th (never better than 5th), & had the team dead last after 5 years.

I am posting this now because I know that for years to come I will have to read how awesome the entire Dambrot era was to be a Duquesne fan just as we do for the RE years. I am trying to get my frustration with such rubbish out my system early.

 

I feel bad for you man… You will never be content or happy with anything until we win the NCAA Tournament.  This attitude is why we let RE go and had to suffer through the Ferry Duquesne Train wreck.

If anything, RE proved your COULD win at Duquesne by losing a bid by 5 points to Temple.  KD spoke with RE before taking the job and outlined what was needed and KD went and demanded it before taking the job.

Duquesne hopefully will win even with attitudes like this… You get good years and bad and compete against some good competition trying to do the same with better facilities and $.

Last edited by coffee (3/29/2024 11:03 am)

coffee wrote:

 

I feel bad for you man… You will never be content or happy with anything until we win the NCAA Tournament.  You typify why we let RE go and had to suffer through the Ferry Duquesne Train wreck.

Cheers to this. The last 7 years were not all unicorns and rainbows, but the ultimate goal was achieved. I have no illusions that those who still harbor grudges against any/every coach won’t take every last chance to get their licks in.

Fortunately, being sour is not a commodity I find among my valued Duquesne friends

Last edited by rosceaux (3/29/2024 11:06 am)

coffee wrote:

townsonkid wrote:

Joyce will be on 93.7 during the 11am hour with Paul Zeise this morning.

 
Good interview… They talked about filling out a staff over the bext few weeks…Hopefully it won’t keep them kff the recruiting trail too long.

Thanks for update! Since most of the recruits will be from zoom meetings with portal players, I doubt this will affect us too much! Possibly might have to go out to talk to HS seniors but those are probably already been contacted.
Either way great to have this tremendous opportunity to explore our new roster! One thing is for sure there will be plenty of playing time available!

Go DRUquesne!

phil95 wrote:

There is no debating the success enjoyed by KD in the last 3 weeks of his time at DU. Further, he has left the program in infinitely better shape than he found it. I am happy for him, his staff, the players, Dave Harper, the university community at-large, and, most of all, we long suffering fans. However, he most certainly did not do what he said he would do.

Upon taking the job he spoke repeatedly of multiple championship banners being hung, winning big with or without a new arena,erasing all the built-in excuses for not winning, & said, specifically, that he would have failed if 5 years in Duquesne was a "middle-of-the-pack" A-10 program. There is also no debating that he habitually used construction delays effect on his team's success & exageratted player injuries as excuses for poor results, his average finish in the conference regular season was 8th (never better than 5th), & had the team dead last after 5 years.

I am posting this now because I know that for years to come I will have to read how awesome the entire Dambrot era was to be a Duquesne fan just as we do for the RE years. I am trying to get my frustration with such rubbish out my system early.

Phil, the story is still being written, it's too early to judge.
 

Thanks for proving my point so perfectly.

RE is a great guy and the very definition of a mediocre Division I head coach. He never won anything of note at his previous stops or at Duquesne. He never transformed this program into a consistent A-10 contender and got fired as a result. When this happened, the objection from those in the basketball universe wasn't over whether Duquesne should have moved on it was over the moronic way they went about it.

At the end of his 6th season, the team was in a very sorry state yet, 12 years later, he is still being lauded as somebody that was successful here. He wasn't. Mediocre & promising; yes. Succesful; no. I have no bitterness toward RE, I just can't stand the revisionist history. I would have been thrilled to have him win big & still be here more than a decade later.

Because great things have happened and are happening, I have been very happy and content with the program for the entire month, including today, I feel bad for you because decades of failure have reduced you to not expecting the best from your team & fabricating success where there was none.

As I stated earlier, I am preemptively burning off my frustration at having to read about how awesome KD was for his first 6.5 years. I'll let this go soon, but not before I give you a hard time about judging my attitude.

coffee wrote:

phil95 wrote:

There is no debating the success enjoyed by KD in the last 3 weeks of his time at DU. Further, he has left the program in infinitely better shape than he found it. I am happy for him, his staff, the players, Dave Harper, the university community at-large, and, most of all, we long suffering fans. However, he most certainly did not do what he said he would do.

Upon taking the job he spoke repeatedly of multiple championship banners being hung, winning big with or without a new arena,erasing all the built-in excuses for not winning, & said, specifically, that he would have failed if 5 years in Duquesne was a "middle-of-the-pack" A-10 program. There is also no debating that he habitually used construction delays effect on his team's success & exageratted player injuries as excuses for poor results, his average finish in the conference regular season was 8th (never better than 5th), & had the team dead last after 5 years.

I am posting this now because I know that for years to come I will have to read how awesome the entire Dambrot era was to be a Duquesne fan just as we do for the RE years. I am trying to get my frustration with such rubbish out my system early.

 

I feel bad for you man… You will never be content or happy with anything until we win the NCAA Tournament. This attitude is why we let RE go and had to suffer through the Ferry Duquesne Train wreck.

If anything, RE proved your COULD win at Duquesne by losing a bid by 5 points to Temple. KD spoke with RE before taking the job and outlined what was needed and KD went and demanded it before taking the job.

Duquesne hopefully will win even with attitudes like this… You get good years and bad and compete against some good competition trying to do the same with better facilities and $.

As far as a staff, I wonder if he will do any of the following?
-keep any of the current coaches
-bring back Coach Thomas who was let go with that staff at St. Louis
-hire his dad
-hire one of his friends he played with in high school
-know how to hire an excellent recruit
-hire his brother
Time will tell…

With you on everything you stated Phil. Objective facts aren’t negative. Hell, a few months ago I was wondering if we should fire KD. Some people thought we should before the A10 tourney started. Spot on with RE too. People are confusing a couple bright spots for a “highly successful” tenure. The NCAA run and dates back to when we last made it and then last won a game prove that no one has been successful here in a very long time.

Until the A10 tourney, and I don’t know if this would have been my opinion, but I think you could make a legitimate argument that Dambrot had failed here. I think it’s ok to admit that, things can change quickly in sports.

One thing for me is sure, the consistent level of talent that has been brought in under Dambrot was light years ahead of what we say from Ferry and especially RE. I am hopeful that can take an additional step under Joyce.

This program now has an identity. It’s exciting to think about what’s next.

I will forever praise KD for fixing a dumpster fire of a program, leaving the place in great shape, and leading an awesome three-week run at the end of his career. I am also very happy with him for bringing in DJ. (Someday soon, I hope to revere KD for this move.)

Let's keep it real: Keith Dambrot isn't one of the top 200 Division I coaches ever.  He's not even one of the 15 best in A-10 history. 

CityDuke wrote:

Not even Phil95 can spoil my party. Dambrot brought the program to heights unachieved in over 50 years. 3 20 win seasons (and one 19) in 7 years. He made us a consistent winner. Not only did he end our tournament drought, he won a game. Dambrot did the seemingly impossible here. He ended the “coaching graveyard” perspective. The curse stories are over.

If you are comparing Dambrot to John Wooden then yes, you might have a point. But if you are comparing him to any DU coach in recent history, you have no footing.

Lastly, he brought us Dru. I am over the moon over this hire. We are so back!

PhoenixRising2 wrote:

The last coach to retire was Red Manning in 1974.  His assistant, John Cinacola, took over the program.
The last assistant coach to be promoted to head coach was Mike Rice; this took place in 1978 after John Cinacola was fired.
 

I remember being happy to see Cinacola go, but those were some tough shoes for him to fill.

 

DJ's brother CAM Joyce, who just coached Cleveland St. Ignatius to a state championship, has 2025 6'9" PF Damon Friery ranked as the fourth-best player in Ohio with several high major offers. For what it is worth, a well-known Ohio AAU guy told me there have been rumblings about this kid reclassifying so he can go to college in the fall.

I love a package deal!

FAM wrote:

As far as a staff, I wonder if he will do any of the following?
-keep any of the current coaches
-bring back Coach Thomas who was let go with that staff at St. Louis
-hire his dad
-hire one of his friends he played with in high school
-know how to hire an excellent recruit
-hire his brother
Time will tell…

It is Good Friday, and I am trying to be fair minded.  While it is very hard for me to relate to the spirit or emotions of some of these posts I understand that people are entitled to their opinions.  I try to weed out the blatant personal attacks, however, sometimes the discussions here get pretty close to the line.  It is also hard to discern posts intended for healthy debate and those posted that are meant to inflame.  I do the best I can.  I have learned one thing, and that is you can't please everyone. So just try to do what I believe is the right thing.  I will make one reminder to all.  Posting on this private forum is a privilege not a right.