Dru Joyce III, high school teammate of LeBron James, to coach Duquesne, replacing retired Keith Dambrot

[ad_1]

USATSI

Duquesne is promoting associate head coach Dru Joyce III to succeed Keith Dambrot as the next leader of the men’s basketball program, the school announced Thursday. Dambrot retired following his team’s loss to Illinois in the second round of the NCAA Tournament after guiding the Dukes to their first Atlantic 10 title since 1977.

Joyce, 39, is well known for playing with NBA superstar LeBron James at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School. Dambrot coached James and Joyce at the Akron-based high school from 1998-2001. Following Dambrot’s departure to become an assistant coach at Akron in 2001, Joyce’s father, Dru Joyce II, took over the St. Vincent-St. Mary program for the final two seasons of their high school careers.

The younger Joyce has been on the Dukes’ coaching staff since 2022 after serving three seasons as an assistant coach at Cleveland State. Joyce played for Dambrot at Akron from 2003-07 before becoming his top assistant at Duquesne 15 years later.

“We’ve been kind of grooming Coach Dru to take over for me,” Dambrot said. “Hopefully he gets the job. Obviously I’m biased, but the program wouldn’t miss a beat if he gets a job. There’ll be very little turnover, which we’ve got some good young kids in that room the way things are now.”

Joyce has played an instrumental part in Duquesne’s turnaround from a 6-24 season in 2021-22 to back-to-back campaigns with at least 20 wins. Duquesne went 45-25 during the past two seasons.

[ad_2]
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/dru-joyce-iii-high-school-teammate-of-lebron-james-to-coach-duquesne-replacing-retired-keith-dambrot/

Author : Cameron Salerno

Publish date : 2024-03-28 20:23:17

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.