Okla. St. women’s coaches die in Ark. plane crash

Okla. St. women’s coaches die in Ark. plane crash

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma State University women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke and assistant coach Miranda Serna were killed when the single-engine plane they were riding in during a recruiting trip crashed in steep terrain in central Arkansas, the university confirmed this morning.

The university said the pair died in the crash around 7 p.m. Thursday night in the Winona Wildlife Management Area near Perryville, about 45 miles west of Little Rock. The plane’s pilot and another passenger also died in the crash, but their names were not immediately released. OSU said they were not affiliated with the university.

“There were no survivors,” the university statement said.

The crash is the second major tragedy for the sports program in about a decade. In January 2001, 10 men affiliated with the university’s men’s basketball team died in a Colorado plane crash, prompting the university to require that planes used by the school’s sports team undergo safety checks before travel. It wasn’t immediately clear if the same policy applied to travel by coaches or administrators.

Oklahoma State canceled its women’s college basketball home games set for Saturday and Sunday. The school’s second-ranked college football team plays tonight at Iowa State.

University president Burns Hargis credited Budke with elevating the team in a tough program. Serna, he said, set a good example for the players.

Thursday night, the weather near the crash site was clear with temperatures in the upper 30s to mid-40s.