Veteran Wake Forest Coach Prosser Dies at 56

July 27, 2007 — -- Wake Forest basketball coach Skip Prosser died Thursday, apparently from a heart attack. He was 56.

Prosser was found slumped on his office couch and unresponsive by director of basketball operations Mike Muse shortly after returning from his noon jog, athletics director Ron Wellman said. Medical personnel performed CPR and used a defibrillator on Prosser, who was taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and pronounced dead at 1:41 p.m.

Wellman said he was unaware of any previous health issues for Prosser, calling his death "a devastating loss" during a news conference Thursday night.

"Because of his strength, we'll be able to go on and we'll be just fine eventually," Wellman said. "We're not right now. We're all suffering right now."

Prosser had been in Orlando, Fla., earlier this week for an AAU national tournament and had lunch Wednesday with South Carolina coach Dave Odom, his predecessor at Wake Forest.

Mark Prosser, Skip Prosser's son and a Bucknell assistant coach, received a phone call at about 2:40 p.m. ET this afternoon while watching games at the Milkhouse in Orlando. He left the gym immediately.

Prosser took over at Wake Forest in 2001 after coaching at Xavier for seven seasons, including five straight NCAA Tournament bids. He coached for one season at Loyola (Md.) in 1993-94.

New Orleans Hornets forward David West, who played at Xavier from 1999-2003, expressed his feelings of loss at the news of Prosser's death.

"Coach Prosser gave me a chance at Xavier when I came out of high school, he saw what other coaches didn't and I will forever owe him," West said in a statement. "He never let me slack and taught me to look at the big picture, but to do the little things to improve every aspect of your life. He was a great coach, leader and friend to me and will be deeply missed."

Prosser's career record was 291-146 (.666). Prosser was 126-68 in six seasons at Wake Forest. He also led Wake Forest to the program's first No. 1 national ranking during the 2004-05 season. While there, he coached future NBA stars Chris Paul and Josh Howard, and was the ACC coach of the year in 2003.