ACC Nation Special Feature
Column by Chris Graham

Not a lot of people knew that Skip Prosser got his start in coaching the proverbial hard way – teaching history and coaching the JV team at a West Virginia high school.

Prosser himself never forgot his roots.

“Skip was a guy who understood that one of the things that you do as a basketball coach when you’re first starting out is you mop the gym floor – that the PE classes are over for the day, and you’ve got to go over there, and you get out the mop, and you run the mop over the floor before practice,” said Dan Bonner, a ACC basketball broadcast analyst who got to know Prosser well during the coach’s time at wake forest.

Prosser, 56, died on Thursday after suffering a heart attack. Prosser was found unresponsive in his office at around 12:45 p.m. yesterday. He had gone back to his office after having gone out for a jog on the track at Kentner Stadium on the campus of wake forest.

He was transported to the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center – where he was later pronounced dead at 1:41 p.m.

Bonner heard the news later Thursday afternoon – and it hit particularly close to home for the broadcaster and former university of virginia basketball player and coach, who was, like Prosser, a native of Pittsburgh, Pa.

“There are certain people that I run into that I refer to as Pittsburgh guys. They’re very friendly, they’re very open – it’s a lot like that city. And they really pay attention to other Pittsburgh guys,” Bonner said in an interview on this week’s “ACC Nation” radio show.

“He was the one basketball coach currently in the ACC that when we would get together sometimes in airports – or a couple of years ago, when they were in the NCAA Tournament in Raleigh, and a couple of the teams were staying in the same hotel as the people from CBS – and he would always ask me about my family and how things were going. It was just a little bit different kind of relationship than with other basketball coaches,” Bonner said.

Prosser left similar impressions across the college-basketball landscape – which is why it hasn’t been surprising to see the outpouring of emotion that has been seen across the country and across the ACC.

“The entire sports world, particularly those associated with wake forest university and the Atlantic Coast Conference, are shocked and saddened by this tragic news,” Atlantic Coast Commissioner John Swofford said.

“Skip was a great friend and colleague who always had a ready smile. I always thought of him as a renaissance man, he had such varied interests in life,” Swofford said.

“He was truly a teacher, never forgetting the fact that he rose out of the high-school ranks to become one of college basketball’s best coaches and leaders. He represented all that is good in college sports, and his loss is a very deep one. We will all miss him immensely. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Nancy, and his sons, Scott and Mark,” Swofford said.

“Skip Prosser was one of the best and brightest basketball coaches in the country,” clemson coach Oliver Purnell said. “He was successful because of his work ethic, great personality and his personal integrity in every aspect of his life. He was a genuine person.

“We were fierce competitors for many years during my career at Clemson and Dayton. But when that game or season ended he was my friend,” Purnell said.

“This is a sad and tragic day for everyone associated with college basketball,” Purnell said.

“Skip was a great competitor and a great coach,” maryland coach Gary Williams said. “His teams were always well prepared and well coached, but he was someone who was your friend on and off the court and always conducted himself as a class act following the game no matter the outcome. College basketball and the ACC will miss him because of what he gave back to the game.”

“I can’t put into words how tragic it is to lose someone like Skip Prosser,” virginia coach Dave Leitao said. “My immediate thoughts and prayers go to his wife, Nancy, and his two sons. I’m stunned and heartbroken by the loss of a great man and a great coach.”

Prosser was able to parlay his time in West Virginia high-school basketball into a gig at xavier University on the staff of Pete Gillen, who later went on to coach at providence and at uva before stepping down from that job in 2005.

Prosser later coached at loyola (md.) for one season before returning to xavier when Gillen left for providence.

Prosser landed at wake forest in 2001 – and took his first four demon deacons teams to NCAA Tournaments before hitting a rough patch in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 after losing star guard Chris Paul early to the NBA.

“He would admit to me that he let stress bother him a lot – and obviously stress is something that affects all of us in one way or another,” Bonner said. “I did a lot of wake forest games, and sometimes we would sit and talk before a game, and he would talk about how he really felt the pressure and the stress – and he would laugh about my job, and say I never have to worry about who won and who lost.”

Prosser compiled a 126-68 record in his six years at the helm at wake forest and was 291-146 overall.

He will be remembered more by his friends for his quick wit and commitment to personal excellence than his won-loss record.

“Skip was very funny – he had sort of a dry, sarcastic sense of humor. But unlike a lot of people who use sarcasm, he never directed his sarcasm at you. He was always somebody who was laughing with you,” Bonner said.

“I always had the impression that he never took himself too seriously. Obviously, you have to believe in what you do, and you have to be extremely competitive to rise to the level that he did in the profession that he did. But he just seemed to me to always be one of those kind of people who remembered where he came from,” Bonner said.

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