Keith Dambrot didn’t want to overstay his welcome. Didn’t want his love of his chosen profession to morph into something far less joyous.
The Duquesne coach was “80% sure” last summer that this season would be his last, a number that spiked to 100% when his wife, Donna, was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Even now, with Donna feeling well enough to travel and the Dukes heading to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 47 years — just as Dambrot promised when he took over at his father’s alma mater in 2017 — that percentage hasn’t wavered.
Saying simply “I think it’s time,” the 65-year-old Dambrot announced Monday he will retire whenever Duquesne’s NCAA run ends.
“I didn’t want to cheat (the job),” Dambrot said, with the Atlantic 10 trophy the Dukes won on Sunday standing nearby.
“And I just felt like I could see myself losing that edge at some point. And that’s why I said, ‘I don’t want to end like that.’ I’m not built that way.”
