PITTSBURGH (AP) – Danny Nee resigned Friday as Duquesne University’s basketball coach, one day before the Dukes will conclude the worst season in school history.

Duquesne is 3-23 going into Saturday’s season finale against Saint Joseph’s, its third season of single-figure victories in Nee’s five seasons.

Duquesne is 42-101 under Nee, a head coach for 26 seasons at Ohio U., Nebraska, Robert Morris and Duquesne.

Nee promised to bring discipline, a winning attitude and upgraded recruiting to Duquesne when he was hired in 2001, but the Dukes have experienced one of the worst five-year stretches in their history. They went 9-19, 10-20, 12-17 and 8-22 in Nee’s first four seasons, which were marked by frequent personnel changes and an inability to compete against the Atlantic 10 Conference’s upper-tier teams. Despite Nee’s lack of success, he was given a contract extension in 2004.

and had two seasons remaining on his current contract. He will coach Saturday’s game before leaving the school.

“As for the future, I plan to keep on working,” Nee said Friday. “The game of basketball has been – and will continue to be – a big part of my life.”

Before this season, Duquesne’s worst previous record was 5-23 under Nee’s predecessor, Darelle Porter, in 1998-99. Porter left after going 23-64 in three seasons.

Nee’s career record of 410-379 includes a 254-189 record and five NCAA tournament appearances at Nebraska from 1986-2000. After being fired by Nebraska – a bitter departure that saw him sue the school’s athletic director – Nee was hired by Robert Morris. He stayed only through a 7-22 season in 2000-01 before being hired by Duquesne, another Pittsburgh school.

The 60-year-old Nee’s last seven teams have had losing records, with his last winning record coming at Nebraska (20-13) in 1998-99. Before coaching at Nebraska, he was 107-67 with two NCAA appearances in six seasons at Ohio University.

Duquesne, an Eastern power in the 1940s and 1950s and again in the late 1960s, has advanced to the NCAA tournament only once in 35 years – in 1977, when its 15-14 record was the worst in the tournament field. The Dukes have made only one postseason appearance, in the 1994 NIT, since 1981.

AP-ES-03-03-06 1753EST