New coach Dru Joyce III hopes to reward Duquesne's support

The last time Duquesne hired a men’s basketball coach from inside its own program, things didn’t turn out well.

That was then. This is now. Momentum is on Duquesne’s side.

Momentum is in Dru Joyce III’s court.

“It’s a different strategy, a different way of doing things,” Duquesne athletic director Dave Harper said Monday, shortly after Joyce was introduced as the Dukes’ 18th head coach.

Joyce, who served the past two seasons as associate head coach to Keith Dambrot, expressed confidence there’ll be no repeat of the cruel outcome of a decision made 25 years ago, when another Duquesne assistant was chosen for the top job.

“I believe we have the right support from President (Ken) Gormley, from our athletic department, from Dave (Harper) to really keep the winning going, the spirit and the competitive drive,” Joyce said.

“We just have to do it together.”

It hasn’t always been this way, though others have tried.

“Many have come before. I won’t say they failed. Things maybe just didn’t go as planned,” said Joyce, who was named Wednesday to succeed Dambrot at the helm of a Duquesne program that finally broke its long NCAA Tournament drought by winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament championship.

In 1999, City League legend and ex-Pitt star Darelle Porter was elevated to the top spot at Duquesne after serving on Penn Hills native Scott Edgar’s staff. Porter, like Joyce, had no prior head coaching experience.

In three years under Porter, there was no improvement to Duquesne’s fortunes amid a decades-long run of futility for a struggling program that drifted briefly into panic mode, leaving the Atlantic 10 for what now is known as the Horizon League before enduring a messy return to the A-10.

Where Edgar was 29-55 (.345) in three years at Duquesne, Porter finished 23-64 (.264) over the same period.

It simply was a continuation of the apathy that enveloped a once-proud program, and it continued until the current administration arrived.

It’s a new era now, as Harper implied. Dambrot, Joyce’s predecessor and mentor who retired last month after leading Duquesne to that long-awaited return to the NCAA Tournament, set a higher pay grid that signaled a change in philosophy for Duquesne athletics.

Where Dambrot garnered a cool million a year, Porter and others of the past were making proverbial peanuts.

It’s too early to say where Joyce salary fits in — Harper declined to discuss monetary specifics — but it’s a safe bet it’s more than peanuts.

Blast from the past

Dru Joyce III was a freshman when he played in the 2000 Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III boys basketball championship at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. His coach for that game? Keith Dambrot, who preceded him as Duquesne’s coach and pushed for Joyce’s promotion. Joyce made 7 of 7 3-pointers for 21 points. St. Vincent-St. Mary defeated Jamestown Greenview, 73-55. It was the first of three titles for Joyce, two under Dambrot. LeBron James also was on the team: He shot 10 for 12 in this 2000 game and led SVSM with 25 points.

“Early in my presidency, when Dave Harper and I made the significant decision to hire Keith Dambrot as coach … we were doing more than just hiring a great coach to win some games,” Gormley said. “We were rebuilding the program from the ground up to return Duquesne to its glory days.”

Besides Porter and Joyce, a handful of other Duquesne assistants took their turns in the captain’s chair. Some, like Red Manning, were successful. But that was long ago during those “glory days.”

It’s a different landscape in college athletics, and Harper understands it well.

“I always watched this year. You look for those tell-tale moments,” he said. “We’re supporting a first-time head coach, which is a little different animal.”

Harper knows the past. He knows it’s got to be right this time, like it finally turned out for Dambrot and that group of Dukes. And Harper appears confident it will. But there must be a system in place, he said. A system of full support.

“I’m going to challenge myself. I’m going to challenge our (athletic department) team to be the best we can possibly be to make sure that coaches and players are successful,” Harper said. “That’s our simple task.”

He then turned to Joyce, who was seated nearby at Duquesne’s Student Union, and he made a heartfelt pledge that would thrill the most skeptic of fans.

“Dru, I’m making a full commitment to you, in front of witnesses,” Harper said. “So you have it that I’m going to be there to support you. There’s going to be that rough day, that rough game. Every coach has one. But we’re going to battle through it. We’re going to be good, and we’re going to keep pushing for the postseason. That’s why we’re here.”