Tragic News: Oklahoma State's Women's Basketball Coach Dies In Plane Crash

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This just breaks your heart.

The head coach of Oklahoma State, Kurt Budke and Miranda Serna an assistant coach died in a plane crash almost exactly a decade after members of the men’s basketball team died in a plane crash.

The pilot, the former Oklahoma state Sen. Olin Branstetter, 82, and his wife, Paula, also died in Thursday’s crash. They were aboard a single-engine Piper plane about 45 miles west of Little Rock, Oklahoma State officials said.

The cause of the crash, which came in clear weather, was not immediately known. The National Transportation Safety Board told The Associated Press that it was sending investigators to the site near Perryville, Ark., and that it could take several months to determine the cause of the crash.

“The Oklahoma State family is devastated by this tragedy,” Burns Hargis, the Oklahoma State president, said in a statement. “Kurt was an exemplary leader and a man of character who had a profound impact on his student-athletes. He was an outstanding coach and a wonderful person. Coach Budke elevated our women’s basketball program to new levels of success. He and his staff raised our profile in the nation’s toughest conference.”

This is horrible news and just caps off a really sad couple of weeks in college sports. R.I.P.