[4][5] His father Sid Dambrot played on Duquesne Dukes men's basketball teams that were ranked No.

[4] Dambrot began his head coaching career at Division II schools Tiffin University for two seasons from 1984 to 1986 and at Ashland University for two seasons from 1989 to 1991, At Ashland, he led his team each year into the NCAA D-II men's basketball tournament.

At 32 years of age, Dambrot replaced Charlie Coles as coach of Central Michigan University for the 1991–92 season.

[4] He coached the team for two seasons, and was fired for making a controversial comment before a game against Miami University.

He eventually lost the suit, though the students prevailed in overturning the school's language policy.

During the last two years of his tenure as coach there, future NBA star LeBron James was on his squad, and they won two consecutive state championships, as well as were nationally ranked.

James took part in $1 clinics Dambrot conducted at the local Jewish Community Center.

[1] Before playing for Dambrot, James had met with him, and followed up on the accusations made about him during his stint at Central Michigan.

[10] Dambrot left St. Vincent-St. Mary in 2001 to return to coaching as an assistant at the collegiate level at his alma mater, the University of Akron.

Akron was one of only four schools - along with Duke, Gonzaga, and Kansas - to win 21 or more games in 12 seasons before Dambrot left in 2017.

Named the 2009 Best Mid-Major Coach by Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports, Dambrot's time at UA was highlighted by mentoring a total of 20 All-MAC honorees, 10 MAC All-Tournament selections, two tournament MVPs, and one player of the year honor.

The list of accolades received by UA players included Romeo Travis being named Honorable Mention All-America (the program's first such honoree since 1989) and MAC Player of the Year (first in program history) in 2007, Cedrick Middleton (2007) and Brett McKnight (2009) earning MAC Sixth Man of the Year (only two honors of that kind in program history), and Nate Linhart (2009) and Jimmy Conyers (2010) being selected as the MAC Defensive Player of the Year.

In 2011, Zeke Marshall earned league tournament MVP honors after helping the Zips to their second MAC title in three seasons.

[5][2] Dambrot left Akron after 13 seasons, with a 305–139 record, as the winningest coach in school history.

A day after their place in the Big Dance was clinched, Dambrot announced he would be retiring from coaching at the end of the tournament to help take care of his wife, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer the previous year.