Since Paul’s final game at Wake Forest, a 111-105 double overtime loss to West Virginia in the 2005 NCAA Tournament, things haven’t gone so well at Wake Forest. The last two seasons ended far shy of the Big Dance, in the first round of the 2006 NIT and in the second round of the 2007 ACC Tournament. Wake was 15-16 last season.

But things were looking up.

Death can be so cruel and that’s especially true for a 56-year-old man who loved his family. But the sudden and harsh ending for Prosser was bitter from a basketball perspective as well. Countless stories had been written this month about Prosser’s recent recruiting success. Centers Ty Walker and Tony Woods, along with forward Al-Farouq Aminu — three of the top players in the class of 2008 — had given their oral commitments to the struggling Demon Deacons. With three of the top recruits in the nation headed to Winston-Salem, Prosser had plenty to smile about. Brick Oettinger of PrepStars Recruiting Handbook ranked Wake’s class one of the top two in the country, along with UCLA.

“I think anybody out there who really knows recruiting would tell you this class probably saved Skip Prosser’s job,” Oettinger told the Winston-Salem Journal in a story published last week.

That’s the way college basketball works these days. But with Prosser gone, that doesn’t seem to matter so much any more, does it?

“Obviously I feel bad for his wife and kids,” Buchan said. “That goes without saying. But I feel really bad for the assistant coaches. His assistant coaches have been with him forever. Dino Gaudio and Skip were on the same coaching staff on the high school level [starting in 1981].”

Prosser wasn’t like most coaches. He didn’t take the normal path to big-time basketball. He didn’t plan it out that way. Prosser wanted to be a history teacher and that’s the job he had when took over the freshman team at Linsly Institute in Wheeling, West Virginia, back in 1972. One thing led to another and eventually Prosser befriended Pete Gillen at a Digger Phelps basketball camp held at Notre Dame.

After Gillen was hired at Xavier, he named Prosser to his coaching staff. A new career path was about to begin. Prosser still had most of that path ahead of him, so it makes very little sense that the path was closed Thursday.

Those who knew him, appreciated him, and loved him must find a way to deal with that now. It won’t be easy.

“I don’t know,” Buchan said, struggling to find the right words. “He’s really going to be missed.”

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