Temple University Athletics
Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- dduke@temple.edu
- Phone:
- 215-204-7432
Dave Duke, the longest tenured assistant among Philadelphia Big 5 schools, is in his 12th season at Temple University, and fourth in the role of assistant to the head coach/Player Development. He is in his 20th season overall as an aide in the city, having previously served eight seasons as an assistant at Penn during Fran Dunphy's tenure at the school.
Duke, who played an instrumental part of the development of six Ivy League championship basketball teams at Penn, has used his basketball acumen to help the Owls compete in the seven NCAA Tournaments while also garnering a spot in the Top 25 in three of the last seven seasons. In his role, Duke coordinates the development of the student-athletes on the men's basketball team.
Prior to his arrival at Penn in 1998, Duke served three seasons as an assistant basketball coach and director of player personnel of the Atlantic City Seagulls of the United States Basketball League (USBL). He played a key role in the program's back-to-back USBL championship seasons (1997 and 1998), as he was responsible for evaluating players and scouting the talent of the CBA, college basketball and Europe.
At the college level, Duke spent eight seasons as the head coach at Lehigh University. At the time of his departure in 1996, he was the school's second all-time winningest coach with 90 wins. When Duke took over the Lehigh program in 1989, he earned a reputation for maximizing his team's talent. Lehigh had lost two of its top scorers to graduation, but he quickly rebuilt the team. Picked to finish seventh in the preseason coaches' poll, he guided Lehigh to an 18-12 record in the 1989-90 season and a place in the ECC championship game.
In 1991, his first season in the Patriot League, Duke's squad finished 19-10 in the regular season and 12-2 in league play. In 1989-90 he earned East Coast Conference and NABC Area Coach of the Year honors while in 1990-91 he led LU to an ECC regular season championship.
Off the court, Duke established the Lehigh Athletic Department's academic monitoring program, with his program boasting a 100 percent graduation rate. Duke recruited and coached eight 1,000-point career scorers and developed five of the top 10 leading scorers in Mountain Hawk basketball history.
Duke began his collegiate coaching career at Lehigh as an assistant coach (1985-88). In his last season as an assistant, he was an integral part in Lehigh earning a bid to the 1988 NCAA Tournament with an East Coast Championship and the most wins in 98 years (21). Duke also served as the coordinator of the Lehigh basketball camps and Fall Clinic.
A 1974 graduate of Villanova, Duke went to Lehigh from St. John Neumann High School in Philadelphia, where he served as the head basketball coach for five seasons. He directed Neumann to the Philadelphia Catholic League championship in 1984-85, and was honored by the Philadelphia Inquirer as the Coach of the Year. In his last two seasons at Neumann, Duke's teams were 50-14. Duke also coached in the 1993 McDonald's East-West High School All-Star game in Atlanta, and the Philadelphia Catholic All-Star Games in 1982 and 1983.
Duke is the father of two daughters, Christine and Kelly Ann, and resides in Springfield, Pa.
