Duquesne Basketball
Duquesne MBB’s Wright Poised To Be Best He Can Be
As the Duquesne Men’s Basketball team was in the locker room preparing for its Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinal contest against Dayton, when Keith Dambrot surveyed his staff, Steve Wright decided it was time to speak.
Wright was born and raised in Dayton, though admittedly was never a Flyers fan. After two regular season setbacks, the first-year assistant coach wanted to do his part to try and inspire his team.
“I said ‘look fellas y’all gotta understand that pound for pound we’re better than them in every position,'” he said. “‘They put their pants on like us, let’s go out and compete.’ We already knew, I believe we knew we were one of the top teams in the conference and it showed in Brooklyn and the first round of the NCAA Tournament.”
Duquesne’s historic season has now transitioned into the Dru Joyce III era and while nothing has been officially announced, it seems as though Wright will remain part of the Dukes staff as the quest to elevate from this new standard begins.
“It’s a blessing,” Wright said of Joyce’s promotion. “You look throughout the country and a lot of African American coaches don’t have the chance to run their own program, or they get a stigma of being a recruiter. He’s a good recruiter, good x’s and o’s guy and a good motivator. He’s everything a good coach needs to be. Just to see him being named the head coach here and the second African American coach, he values that. I think he’s going to put people around him that value that to make sure Duquesne men’s basketball has success.”
While most people assume Wright’s connection with Joyce first came in the year both were on Dennis Gates’s staff at Cleveland State, the truth of the matter is that the latter’s first professional game overseas was that the former was standing on the other side of the court, and they always had a bond.
Dambrot first recruited Wright out of high school 20 years ago and he played against Rich McFadden. Wright always followed Dambrot’s teams from afar whether Akron or Duquesne.
Wright was hired in the offseason to fulfill the role longtime assistant Charles Thomas departed for Saint Louis.
Once at Duquesne, Wright worked upon building relationships, doing so by utilizing his observational skills. His read of knowing when to go two feet in as opposed to not saying anything because things were established was critical.
The 2022-23 season saw 20 wins and with the standard of players coming in, it put him in a spot where he did not want to mess anything up.
While he would occasionally speak in proper settings, he understood that McFadden ran the offense, Joyce the defense and Dambrot dominated in all aspects, making his remarks in Brooklyn carry that much more weight.
Wright has understood that patience is a virtue and though he admits it has been a weakness, it also turned into a stretch where things got done in a timely manner in helping grow everything from the ground up, leading to many proud moments for everyone involved.
The main piece of it all was everyone sticking together with the understanding that Duquesne was one of the top teams in the conference and all but one of the first five conference losses were all close.
“We never wavered, we never blinked,” determined Wright. “We just kept working, guys kept coming in early and we watched film with them. We just kept believing and got hot at the right time. Now we’re here but we want to be consistent. Coach Joyce is taking over and the things we talk about with recruits right now is we don’t want this to be a one-year thing, we want to be consistent. We want to be really careful of the guys we bring in with Jakub (Necas), Matus (Hronsky), Kareem (Rozier), Jake (DiMichele) and Dave (Dixon). We want high character guys that will be good in the locker room and on the floor. Guys that want to get better, be pros and want to win a championship.”
In regard to the players that stayed it comes down to the relational aspect. There is a level of trust, that much is clear, or there would be an exodus of players to the portal.
Their collective trust in the staff and Joyce’s visions and expectations have Wright believing that both this season and journey will be fun.
“I always told Coach Joyce when we worked together at Cleveland State that I knew right then and there,” Wright explained. “I was the video coordinator, but I told him he would be a head coach one day. You’re a winner, you’ve won in everything that you did, persevered being the smallest guy and going to Germany playing in the German league and being the all-time assist leader, going to Cleveland State and getting to the tournament and now coming here. It’s 20-plus wins and then getting to the NCAA Tournament. That’s just who he is, he’s a winner and he comes to work hard every day. Those guys believe in it, they are hungry and ready to run it back again.”
Wright is thankful for what Duquesne had provided thus far and admits that his aspiration is to grow and become a head coach, something which he has done at the high school level.
Now, his focus is diving in and pouring into the current team. Wright desires to try and do everything he can to make sure Joyce’s first head coaching stint is successful and can continue to bring light into this program.
“That’s one of my good friends and I’m going to go to war for him and our guys to make sure they get put in positions to grow as young men and basketball players,” deduced Wright. “It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be new. I just want to be a star in my role, whatever that is. If coach says you’ll be an assistant coach, but you have to sweep the floor every day, I will be the best sweeper.”
When Joyce was asked about Wright, it was very clear how highly regarded both men held each other. Joyce admitted he joked with Dambrot that Wright and Ari Stern were the program’s best offseason acquisitions.
“I applaud Steve for his maturity,” Joyce declared. “He has an unbelievable way of reading the room, he didn’t try to just force his opinion. Everyone has an opinion, but he’s a smart guy. He’s worked at all levels and had some big-time responsibilities on other staffs. The biggest thing was how can I help? There’s a certain amount of servanthood when you speak to Steve. He’s not above and beyond anything, he’s really here and shares the heart of the program and kids. The next thing, he’s an excellent recruiter. The guy can talk to anybody. There’s not a conversation that he can’t have with a young man or his family. He puts you at ease, he makes you feel comfortable. He’s going to be an excellent coach and we were excited to have him for this season for sure.”
As Wright drives to Duquesne every day, it may not be uncommon to hear Jay-Z on his playlist, most notably the song Never Change.
Much like Joyce can relate to Whitney Houston’s Step By Step, Wright smiles whenever he hears “Never never never never change” start to fill his ears.
“I really mean that, Jay-Z has things in this lyric about being who you are and not changing who you are,” he concluded. “It’s like being there for your boss. You’re always going to be who you are and never change or waver who you are because you are in a different role.”
