Behind the Stats: The Unsung Hero of Duquesne Basketball

PITTSBURGH – In late June of 2023 Jim Duzyk received a phone call from fellow friend and Duquesne SID Dave Saba about a position opening up after 26 years. 

What Duzyk would come to realize is that the job Saba was referring to, was his own. 

On July 10th of 2023 Dave Saba would announce his retirement from Duquesne Athletics as the Men’s Basketball Sports Information Director. A position he had held since 1997, and would conclude before the start of the 2023-24 Men’s Basketball Season. 

The opportunity arose for Duzyk after spending 25 years at Robert Morris University as the Sports Information Director for the Men’s Basketball program, but what people don’t know is that basketball isn’t even Duzyk’s favorite sport. 

Duzyk grew up loving the game of baseball and still does to this day. He went to college at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and decided to walk-on to the baseball team as a freshman. 

Although, Duzyk ultimately decided that after a year he wanted to walk away from playing the game he loved and get more involved with the behind the scenes work. So he decided to spend his Christmas break of his senior year sending out his resumes to a list of major and minor league baseball teams. 

Luckily for Duzyk, he got the chance to become an intern for the Toledo Mud Hens, who are the Triple-A affiliate for the Detroit Tigers in the MLB in the spring of 1997. 

From there Duzyk would go to a job fair in the winter and land a job with the Carolina Mudcats who, at the time, were the Double-A affiliate for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“I think at the time that position really appealed to me because it was the Pittsburgh farm system, and I thought maybe I could get in with the Pirates organization down the line and work my way up,” said Duzyk. 

“However, while I was with the Mudcats, a friend of a friend knew the SID at Robert Morris and said, listen, he’s going to have a Graduate Assistant position opening up, where you can go and be his assistant and they will pay for your masters,” Duzyk stated. 

So the hard decision had to be made and one decision that would ultimately end up putting Duzyk in Moon Township, PA, for 25 years. 

“I really loved Carolina while I was down there, but it was an opportunity to come home and get my masters and branch out a little bit. I knew basketball and was obviously a big basketball fan, but never really worked with those types of events and teams and all that.” 

So in the fall of 1998, Jim Duzyk made the decision to return home and become a Graduate Assistant for Robert Morris University Athletics. 

He worked for the Colonials for 2 years where he got his masters before taking a year off to write for a local newspaper. Then in 2001, Robert Morris called Duzyk back to bring him on full-time. 

Duzyk would work as the Sports Information Director for Robert Morris Men’s Basketball from 2001 to September of 2023. 

In that span while Duzyk was the SID for the Colonials he would rack up four NCAA Tournament appearances in 2009, 2010, 2015, and 2020. He also went to the NIT three times in 2008, 2013, and 2014. He added on two more postseason tournaments when he went to the CIT in 2012 and 2019. 

Some memorable moments for Duzyk was the 2015 NCAA Tournament when Robert Morris took on the eventual NCAA Champion Duke Blue Devils led by Jahlil Okafor. 

“With that success of the basketball program at that time frame with the women's team doing well too, there was a big talk of elevating basketball which eventually led into them building the new basketball arena at Robert Morris,” stated Duzyk. 

But nothing can beat the memories of the 2013 NIT game where they got to host college basketball blue blood Kentucky in their own gym in Moon Township, which is where the former Kentucky men’s basketball head coach, John Calipari, grew up. 

“We heard some rumors that we might be hosting so everyone scrambled to get things set up,” Duzyk exclaimed. “Kentucky’s basketball arena was being used as a hosting site for the NCAA tournament and with them not making it they had to find somewhere to play. So Calipari said screw it let’s just play at Robert Morris.”

From there on history would be made which would send shock waves through the college basketball world.

“It was neat because we didn’t even make the tournament, but were the talk of the college basketball world. It was an absolutely bonkers 72 hours and was great publicity for the school,” Duzyk said. 

Those were core memories he created with the Colonials, which made it so hard for him to make the tough decision to leave and come to Duquesne. 

“I knew Dave awhile from being around different events, to Duquesne hosting the NCAA tournament and he would ask me to help him out with that so we kind of formed a little bond,” Duzyk stated. “I think the world of Dave, he’s just a tremendous guy and great at what he does, so when he told me to go after the job, I was like hmm and there was some apprehension.” 

“So one thing led to another and next thing you know I’m here. It is tough to make a change when you’ve been at a place for 25 years, but everyone here was very welcoming and the staff was awesome,” Duzyk expressed. 

When talking about change its hard not to acknowledge the recent coaching change with the Dukes when they hired Dru Joyce III in March of 2024. 

I asked Head Coach of the Duquesne Dukes men's basketball team Dru Joyce III about how helpful Duzyk has been to Joyce in his first year as head coach.

“Jim is a great SID. His knowledge of media and his relationships both local and regional and international just shows and you know just him keeping me on task and being very helpful in incredible situations when it comes to how to approach something, so you don’t say the wrong thing to the press, and with his experience he can help guide you in those situations,” Joyce said. 

Jim Duzyk currently has a basketball record of 398-349 as an active SID, just two shy of an outstanding 400 wins for an outstanding human being. 

Jim Duzyk and Conlan O’Donoghue; photo by Conlan O’Donoghue