New Duquesne coach Dru Joyce III eager to build on program's success

Dru Joyce III has known Keith Dambrot since before he attended middle school, a quarter-century span of time that included lessons learned on and off the basketball court, memories that will last a lifetime, perhaps an occasional admonishment or two and, of course, plenty of victories.

So when Dambrot reached out to Joyce in 2022 after Duquesne’s brutal 6-24 season, the younger man knew it was important to take the call and take it seriously.

Duquesne coach Dru Joyce thanked several people at his introductory news conference, and he didn’t forget the most important person. pic.twitter.com/sXZ3iPF0Sl

— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) April 1, 2024

“He doesn’t ever really ask for help. That’s not what coach does,” Joyce said Monday on the day he officially was introduced as the replacement for Dambrot as head coach at Duquesne. “He was kind of going through a rough period. He talked a lot about his culture and that he wanted to find a way to better it.”

Dambrot wanted Joyce to join his staff as associate head coach to help fix the Duquesne program. Yet there was conflict in Joyce’s mind.

“I could have run from the situation. He was coming off the worst year of his career. I didn’t know what that looked like for my family,” he said. “It was a risk.”

In the end, it was a risk worth taking, and Joyce accepted the job over at least one other opportunity “to not only help him, but to learn from him and to be by his side,” he said.

“I know who he is and what he represents. I just wanted to bring whatever value I thought I had, all the energy that I could, to make him successful, shine light on his program. Doing so, we accomplished something pretty good, right?”

Two years after that phone call, Duquesne reached the NCAA Tournament this season for the first time in 47 years, recorded its first victory there since 1969 and claimed 25 victories — one short of a 70-year-old school record.

And there Joyce was Monday afternoon inside the Duquesne Student Union, armed with a five-year contract to continue the retired Dambrot’s work. Plus, he had the documented and visible support from president Ken Gormley and athletic director Dave Harper.

Watching intently during that hiring process two years ago, Harper learned pretty much all he needed to know about what Joyce would bring to Duquesne.

“When he showed his loyalty to help coach Dambrot, that was an initial tell,” Harper said.

After getting to know him over the ensuing two years, Harper now sees him as “a quiet person, but he’s so purposeful and so relentless that way.”

This is a unique time for Duquesne basketball, with Harper not shy about remarking Monday, “We’re just going to keep pushing for postseason. That’s why we’re here. Once you get a little taste of it, unfortunately, you get a little greedy. Getting there is one thing. Getting there again is even more difficult.

“I said to him the most important things for the next 90 days are recruiting and recruiting.”

Gormley said there was considerable interest in the job from coaches throughout the nation. Harper declined to quantify that statement, but he said Joyce was fully vetted. That includes an endorsement from Dambrot, who warned of transfer portal chaos if someone else was hired. Actually, there was little doubt that Joyce was the front-runner for the job, probably going back to before Dambrot announced his retirement two weeks ago.

“As we went into this, it became apparent he was ready to embrace the challenge,” Harper said. “Unquestioned choice.”

One of the talking points during the interview process was this season’s game at Rhode Island where Duquesne saw its hosts whittle down an 18-point lead.

“Somehow, some way, somebody convinced coach Dambrot to play something other than man-to-man,” Harper said, “which is a miracle unto itself.”

Later, after Duquesne won 85-71, Harper discovered it was Joyce’s call.

Those are the X’s and O’s of basketball, but Joyce said there’s more to his coaching style than can be contained on a computer’s hard drive.

“Just know I’ll always have your back,” Joyce said, speaking directly to several players who attended the news conference. “This relationship that we built is not transactional but transformational. It’s my duty and my purpose to make an impact on each and every one of your lives. Not to just coach you, but to help you, to motivate you, to push you, to listen to you as well, to be someone that you come talk to.

“I’ll be there to tell you your breath stinks, but also to hug you.”

Among the players offering support to Joyce on Monday was walk-on guard Jake DiMichele, a McKees Rocks native who worked his way into the starting lineup this season. DiMichele said players were “happy and relieved” when they received word that Joyce got the job.

“If he wasn’t my coach, I’d just hang out with him. He’s extremely relatable,” DiMichele said. “A lot of the things he went through in life, we’re going through right now.”

From all accounts, loyalty means a lot to Joyce, who grew up in Akron with LeBron James, first meeting the NBA megastar well before middle school at one of Dambrot’s basketball clinics.

Joyce talked openly Monday about his relationship with James.

“It’s a bond,” he said. “A couple young guys who had a lot in common, that wrapped our minds around we’re going to be honest with each other. We’re going to motivate and push each other, and that’s what we still continue to do to this day.

“Our loyalty to each other has been a huge part in each of our lives. That’s not something that’s easy to find.”

Included in the audience Monday were Joyce’s wife, Lanae, and their three children, his parents and in-laws. Joyce’s father, James Joyce II — Dru Joyce is actually James Joyce III — started coaching Joyce and James when both boys were 9 years old.

“From the age of 12, I knew he was going to be a coach,” said the elder Joyce, who replaced Dambrot as coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron and went on to win seven state championships. “The attention to detail. He always wanted to be perfect in the drill. He worked that way at all the drills. The passion he showed in the game. He’s always that person who understood what I needed and understood what I wanted.

“He’s built for this. (Duquesne officials) saw what we’ve seen for a long time. I tell people all the time, he’s going to be much better at this than me.”

Said Joyce III: “I was taking notes at 12. I’ve heard so many people tell me from a young age, ‘You’re going to be a head coach someday.’ ”

On his drive Monday from Akron to Pittsburgh, Joyce said he rode in silence for a while before flipping on the radio and hearing Whitney Houston’s “Step by Step.”

“It was fitting for (Monday),” he said. “It just reminds me of the journey that we’re about to go on, step by step, day by day, brick by brick. That’s how we’ll continue to grow.”