July 27, 200719 yr I had the extreme privilege of getting to know Skip Prosser back during the Pete Gillen era at Xavier University. Todd Kofler was our head coach here at Brossart ('82-'87) and his brother Terry (who I guess is still the trainer of the Charlotte Hornets) was the trainer for the Xavier Musketeers. Since Pete Gillen's family did not move with him immediately to Cincinnati, Gillen was always going to dinner and hanging out at Sorrento's in Norwood, and often Todd and I would hook up with him, Prosser, and Terry, spending many nights eating pizza, drinking beer, and watching games on TV and talking hoops together. Prosser was from Wheeling, West Virgina and often frequented the Wheeling Dog Track, giving the two of us something in common. Skip Prosser was one of the most down to earth college coaches that I'd ever met. He had no airs about him and seemed genuinely interested in how our team was doing. He always remembered me and asked how Brossart was doing on the few occasions that we would meet while he was the head coach at Xavier, and more recently when I ran into him at the Cincinnati Sports and Travel show years later when he was the head coach at Wake Forest. Prosser would never make the cover of GQ. No matter what he wore or how hard he tried, he always appeared a bit disheveled, which matched his "down home" personality, and always slightly out of control hair. I'd say that his best quality was honesty. He was a no frills guy who wasn't out to impress anyone other than by his coaching ability. I always followed his teams when they made the NCAA tournament, which was with great regularity. I've read where he had recruited one of the top classes in the nation. I only hope that those players stay in the Wake Forest program, and only wish that Skip Prosser was still there to coach them. He was one of the good guys and will be missed. Well said Mustang. On the UC boards there is nothing but praise for their former rival. That echoes what you said here. He was all class, and the basketball world lost a great one...
July 27, 200719 yr Sorry to hear this news. Really started to like his excitment for coaching when he was at Xavier. Prayers to the schools and most his family.
July 27, 200719 yr Thoughts and prayers to his family. There certainly weren't too many college coaches out there that were better than him.
July 27, 200719 yr Here's a great read from Lonnie Wheeler at the Cincy Post... http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070727/SPT0205/707270333/1035/SPT
July 27, 200719 yr I liked his quote where he said that he didn't have a career record, that his players were responsible for all of his wins. Seemed like a genuinely nice person and a great teacher of basketball--a big loss for everyone. We've lost too many good ones this year.
July 29, 200719 yr I was shocked at this and wish his family, both at home and at Wake the absolute very best, in such a tragic time.
July 26, 201610 yr Hard to believe... Jay Bilas @JayBilas 19m On this date nine years ago, we lost the great Skip Prosser. Still miss him terribly.
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