The 65-year-old Dambrot announced prior to the start of the tournament that he’d be retiring at the end of the season in order to help his wife, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer the previous year.

James acknowledged the role that Dambrot had in his life by gifting Duquesne players shoes.

LeBron James gave a shout out to his old high school coach after a win in March Madness

He congratulated coach Keith Dambrot of Duquesne for their upset win over BYU Thursday

Dambrot is set to retire at the end of the season – but he’ll be playing in the next round

That gift was also to acknowledge the Dukes’ accomplishment of making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1977.

Going into this afternoon’s game, they hadn’t won a game in the NCAA Tournament since beating a Saint Joseph’s University (Pennsylvania) team led by future ‘Showtime Lakers’ coach Jack McKinney in 1969. That year was also the last time they made the Sweet 16.

But the Dukes shocked BYU – shooting 46 percent from the field to outlast the Cougars on Thursday afternoon.

They’ll be taking on the winner of the game between three-seed Illinois and 14-seed Morehead State on Saturday to try and advance to the Sweet 16.

Dambrot coached at St. Vincent-St. Mary for three seasons – where he led the team to a 69-10 record and won back-to-back Ohio state championships with LeBron James on the roster.