Keith Dambrot was 25 years old when he first tasted adversity as a coach.

He is finding out it is less fun at 61.

Duquesne has played 21 of its first 26 games on the road while the former Palumbo Center is undergoing a $45 million makeover. Five were at PPG Paints Arena, across the street from campus.

Meanwhile, the Dukes are 3-6 after a 15-2 start and will play St. Bonaventure on Wednesday night in Olean, N.Y., where they have lost 11 in a row.

“In fairness to our guys, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my life,” Dambrot said Tuesday morning after practice. “And I’ve been at school where there was one building and no gym and played at the YMCA and it wasn’t as hard as this.”

Neither situation is a recipe for success, but Dambrot said his players have enough character to handle it. Just like his players at Tiffin (Ohio) were able to win 40 games in two seasons in 1985 and 1986 while practicing next to a nursery school.

“The only reason I got the job is I had an MBA. I could teach business classes,” Dambrot said, recalling his first job as a coach. “I went to the school for my interview, there was one building, and, all of a sudden, I was not nervous.

“They played at the YMCA. We practiced at the YMCA, and on the court next to us, they would play ‘Duck, Duck, Goose, Goose’ with the little kids. But it really taught me. I taught. I taped the ankles every day. I drove the van to the game. I coached the game. I drove the van back.”

There was one benefit, though.

“I didn’t have to do the laundry, but I gathered the laundry to give to the guy who did the laundry,” Dambrot said. “Then, I got up the next day and did the same thing.”

At Duquesne, Dambrot conducts practice at the Power Center on campus, where players have to go elsewhere to shower and the general student population is free to wander nearby. It’s not ideal, but he said, “I’m the right man for the job because if you took one of those high-major (coaches) and brought them down here, they’d struggle with this. I’m not spoiled.”

But he added, “I’m more spoiled than I was at 25.”

Through it all, the fifth-place Dukes (18-8, 8-6) have spent the entire season in the top half of the Atlantic 10 standings after the preseason poll projected them to finish eighth.

“Once you have good facilities, locker room, showers, it’s hard to go in the other direction,” he said. “We’ve done the best we could do, but it’s still hard as heck. You’re never in your routine. Then, it’s such a long year. When you’re not in your routine and you don’t win a game or two, it becomes even harder.

“My job is to make sure we just don’t let any of those outside factors come into play and keep plugging along.”

Dambrot points to a recent three-game losing streak that was followed by victories against La Salle and Saint Louis (the latter, an impressive 82-68 road decision).

“If we go to St. Bonaventure and win, things will change again. It can change like that,” he said, snapping his fingers. “You just have to feel good about yourself.”

Duquesne is 0-3 against A-10-leading Dayton and second-place Rhode Island, but the Dukes have led at halftime in two of those games.

“We’ve shown we can play with the best teams in the league,” Dambrot said. “Not for the whole game, but Dayton, Rhode Island we’ve shown it. We just have to become a little bit more the same all the time.”

St. Bonaventure’s Reilly Center might be a difficult place for opposing teams, but the Dukes should be ready. They stood up to 13,000 people at Dayton on Saturday, led at halftime, 38-36, and shot just under 50% for the game.

“From that perspective, we shouldn’t have any trouble getting ready to play,” he said.

But recovering from the 80-70 loss to the No. 4 team in the nation won’t be easy.

“Anytime you play with a lot of guts and determination and then you don’t play great, it’s hard to rally back,” Dambrot said. “Especially when you’re in the later stages of the season.

“You try to re-invent ways to motivate, re-invent ways to get guys to understand the importance of everything.”

The good news is Dambrot believes young people don’t hang onto disappointment for long.

“Coaches do. Administrators do. (Players) have the raincoat on and the water just splashes off.”

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