In the recently released third episode of the Mind The Game podcast, LeBron James reminisced about his early days of playing high school basketball under head coach Keith Dambrot. Dambrot coached St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Ohio from 1998 to 2001 and successfully led The Fighting Irish to two consecutive state championships.
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LeBron’s performance as a freshman had earned him McDonald’s All-American projections and the tag of number one Sophomore in the country. However, despite such remarkable achievements, James was not spared from his head coach’s demanding regimen in his Sophomore year in high school.
Describing his experience with coach Dambrot, James recalled how he was once kicked out of practice for no particular reason. “The first practice we had in our sophomore year, after winning the state championship, I absolutely did nothing wrong coming out of football, he kicked me out of practice,” James told Redick.
“I think he was just setting the tone for the season,” he added, understanding the logic behind his coach’s tough love. The four-time NBA Champion also detailed how Coach will make them undergo rigorous training, even calling out kids by name in front of their parents, to get his team war ready.
James took this moment as a lesson for himself and led the Fighting Irish to a 26-1 record en route to the Division III title. In his sophomore year, LeBron averaged 25.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 3.8 steals, becoming the first sophomore to be named Ohio’s ‘Mr. Basketball’ and the first sophomore to be selected on USA Today’s All-USA First Team.
Keith Dambrot will retire after this season’s NCAA tournament
Coach Keith Dambrot has had a long career in coaching since starting out with his first role as the head coach of the Tiffin Dragons in 1984. Dambrot last coached the Duquesne Dukes, leading them to their first NCAA tournament appearance this season since 1977. This year was particularly remarkable for Dambrot, given he compiled his third 20-win season.
Coach Dambrot announced his retirement after the Dukes were knocked out in the second round of the NCAA tournament. He had already announced his intentions to call it a career after the Dukes beat VCU in the Atlantic 10 tournament championship game.
As per Yahoo! Sports, Dambrot said, “I didn’t want to cheat [the job]. And I just felt like I could see myself losing the edge at some point.” LeBron James did not fail to show love to his former coach’s retirement announcement with two endearing tweets on X.
Coach Dambrot holds a 440-268 record as a Division I head coach. He led Duquesne to a 24-11 record this season, winning eight straight games to close the year. The Dukes earned the 11th seed in the NCAA tournament and defeated BYU in the First Round. However, Duquesne’s NCAA hopes were crushed in the second round after the third-seed Illinois defeated them 89-93 in the matchup.
