For a brief time this month, Duquesne basketball enjoyed a moment of national attention by receiving a vote to the Associated Press Top 25.

It brought back shades of former coach Ron Everhart’s teams that flirted with relevance early in this now-expiring decade.

But, really, there has been little to cheer about at Duquesne basketball games for a long time, except for that small window of opportunity during Everhart’s six-year coaching tenure.

Everhart won 99 games in six years at Duquesne (2006-12) and nearly led the Dukes to an Atlantic 10 Conference tournament championship in 2009.

“I cherished every chance I had to coach at Duquesne,” said Everhart, in his eighth season as a West Virginia assistant. “I only wish we could have stayed to finish the job.”

Dukes coach Keith Dambrot appears to be on track to finish the task Everhart began by thrusting Duquesne into the national spotlight with a 10-0 start, similar to the days of when Dambrot’s father, Sid, played for the team some 70 years ago.

“I’m rooting for coach Dambrot,” Everhart said this week in advance of a Sunday doubleheader at the Cleveland Classic, featuring games involving Duquesne and No. 22 West Virginia.

The Dukes (10-1) will face Marshall (5-7) in the second game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse and would love nothing more this season than to earn their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1977.

WVU (10-1), coached by legendary Bob Huggins, a close friend of Everhart’s, meets No. 2 Ohio State (11-1) in the first game.

“Coaching is the only thing I’ve ever done,” said Everhart, a Fairmont, W.Va., native, who also had head jobs at McNeese State and Northeastern. “I’d love to be a head coach again, but I’m pretty happy working for coach Hugs. If I get another opportunity, it’d be great. If not, having been here eight years, I have to stop for a minute and think about it. I’ve had a chance to coach with a Hall of Famer.

“Hugs is a phenomenal basketball coach. It’s not a coincidence he’s won coming up on 900 games. Having the ability to be in this situation certainly has made me a much better basketball coach.”

Duquesne fired Everhart in 2012 in what turned into a messy divorce after a 16-15 record by a team that lost star guard T.J. McConnell, who transferred to Arizona at the end of the season.

“I’m proud of the success we had there, considering how good the league was at that time. It was a multiple-(NCAA Tournament) bid league,” Everhart said. “There were a lot of obstacles, and you’re asking your kids to overcome obstacles and do everything they can. I’m really proud of all those kids who played for me up there.”

Dambrot admires Everhart for the job he did at Duquesne, despite the school’s previous longstanding apathy with its men’s basketball program.

“They are committed way more now than when Ronnie was here,” Dambrot said. “He didn’t have the same opportunity I have because they weren’t as committed to him as they are to me financially as far as what’s in the program, what the rest of the A-10 has.”

The Dukes won 16 games in Dambrot’s first season since taking over for Jim Ferry in 2017 and 19 last season. They appear on track to eclipse that mark this season after starting the year with 10 consecutive victories before Sunday’s 77-68 loss to UAB at the St. Pete Classic in Florida.

“I’m good friends with Hugs,” Dambrot said. “We’ve been friends for a long time. Through that, I’ve gotten to know Ron, and I’ve become great friends with Ron, too. It’s just a bunch of old coaches. Ronnie and I are very similar. He’s a really good coach and a really good guy.”

In Everhart’s final season at Duquesne, the Dukes defeated Dambrot’s Akron team in the 2K Sports Classic, 81-76. It was a defining memory in Dambrot’s close relationship with Everhart.

“They beat us at Valparaiso,” Dambrot said, referring to a subregional site in the tournament. “We had a good team. They had a pretty good team, too. Ronnie’s teams were gritty. My teams were always gritty, too. It (ticked) me off because his team was grittier on that night.”

Dambrot said if not for Everhart’s succinct advice, Dambrot well might have gone somewhere other than Duquesne.

“I turned down a job at a bigger school,” said Dambrot, who was 309-139 in 13 seasons at Akron, “and I had some friends challenge my competitiveness when I took this job.”

Dambrot was courted by Duquesne first when Everhart was fired, but he didn’t bite.

“I didn’t feel like they were committed to really winning big,” he said. “I didn’t think they could win big under the circumstances that were presented to me.”

But when the second time rolled around, he was frustrated enough at Akron, failing to reach the NCAA Tournament time and again, despite repeated 20-win seasons, that he was willing to listen to Duquesne’s overtures.

In his final two years at the Mid-American Conference school, his teams won 26 and 27 games and settled for lesser postseason bids.

“I was mad,” Dambrot said. “They caught me at the right time, so I called Ron on the phone and the quote was: ‘Do you think if Duquesne is committed and financially committed to winning, do you think I can win there?’ He says, ‘I think you can win there. I don’t think everyone can win there. But I think you can win there. If they’re committed.’

“I trusted Ron. I knew he would tell me the truth. I wouldn’t have come if Ron said, ‘I don’t think you could win there, or I’m not sure if you can win there.’”

Duquesne had changed its guard and made Dambrot the highest-paid coach in school history.

Ken Gormley replaced Charles Daugherty as university president, and Dave Harper supplanted Greg Amodio as the school’s athletic director. Under their watch, UPMC Chuck Cooper Fieldhouse is under construction, replacing the former Palumbo Center, and is on pace to be ready for next season.

Dambrot and Everhart agree it’s just one token of the school’s renewed commitment to basketball.

“We have everything now that every good team needs and has,” Dambrot said.

Everything, perhaps with the exception of fan-support, which Dambrot hopes will come with continued success.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)