From www.sfgate.com
Kurt Budke turned Oklahoma State's women's basketball team into a winner and hoped he had found the place where he would coach until he retired. Miranda Serna had passed up opportunities to leave his side, staying loyal to the man whom she had helped to win a junior college national championship.
Having succeeded together, Budke and Serna died together, perishing in a plane crash on a recruiting trip.
Budke, the head coach, and Serna, his assistant, were killed Thursday when the single-engine plane in which they were passengers crashed in steep terrain in Arkansas, the university said Friday.
The pilot, 82-year-old former Oklahoma state Sen. Olin Branstetter, and his 79-year-old wife, Paula, also died when the plane sputtered, spiraled out of control and nose-dived into the Winona Wildlife Management Area near Perryville, 45 miles west of Little Rock…(Full Story)
McCormick says Budke had impossible job at Tech
A punch to the gut.
That's what I felt when my wife sent me a text message Friday morning, telling me that Kurt Budke had been killed.
Just to be honest, I hate reading tragic news. I want to be informed, so I read it, but I would much rather read uplifting, inspirational stories.
The Penn State saga is tragic. The kidnapping of Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was saddening, but at least it had a heroic ending.
Sadly, there was no heroic ending for Budke, a former Louisiana Tech women's basketball coach who was one of four people killed in a plane crash in Arkansas Thursday night. Budke was the women's basketball coach at Oklahoma State, and his long-tenured assistant, Miranda Serna, also was killed as they were returning to Stillwater, Okla., from a recruiting trip.
Budke was entering his seventh season in Stillwater, where there aren't many words to describe the job he did in turning around a putrid program and making it competitive in the Big 12, which is quite possibly the best women's basketball conference in the country.
The Cowgirls were winless in Big 12 play in 2005-06, Budke's first season on the job. Two years later, Oklahoma State reached the Sweet 16, and the Cowgirls have advanced to postseason play each of the past five years, including three NCAA tourney appearances.
I remember Budke less for his time at Oklahoma State and more for his rocky tenure at Louisiana Tech, where he was given the unenviable task to trying to replace the legendary Leon Barmore, who built the Lady Techsters into one of the premier programs in the country.
To be blunt, Budke was saddled with an impossible situation.
He was asked to replace a legend in Barmore, but more than that, he was brought in after the heir apparent, Kim Mulkey, had a nasty battle with Tech's administration that saw her decline to replace Barmore -- the job she'd waited around in Ruston for nearly 20 years to get -- and instead go build a national championship program at Baylor…(Full Story)
That's what I felt when my wife sent me a text message Friday morning, telling me that Kurt Budke had been killed.
Just to be honest, I hate reading tragic news. I want to be informed, so I read it, but I would much rather read uplifting, inspirational stories.
The Penn State saga is tragic. The kidnapping of Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was saddening, but at least it had a heroic ending.
Sadly, there was no heroic ending for Budke, a former Louisiana Tech women's basketball coach who was one of four people killed in a plane crash in Arkansas Thursday night. Budke was the women's basketball coach at Oklahoma State, and his long-tenured assistant, Miranda Serna, also was killed as they were returning to Stillwater, Okla., from a recruiting trip.
Budke was entering his seventh season in Stillwater, where there aren't many words to describe the job he did in turning around a putrid program and making it competitive in the Big 12, which is quite possibly the best women's basketball conference in the country.
The Cowgirls were winless in Big 12 play in 2005-06, Budke's first season on the job. Two years later, Oklahoma State reached the Sweet 16, and the Cowgirls have advanced to postseason play each of the past five years, including three NCAA tourney appearances.
I remember Budke less for his time at Oklahoma State and more for his rocky tenure at Louisiana Tech, where he was given the unenviable task to trying to replace the legendary Leon Barmore, who built the Lady Techsters into one of the premier programs in the country.
To be blunt, Budke was saddled with an impossible situation.
He was asked to replace a legend in Barmore, but more than that, he was brought in after the heir apparent, Kim Mulkey, had a nasty battle with Tech's administration that saw her decline to replace Barmore -- the job she'd waited around in Ruston for nearly 20 years to get -- and instead go build a national championship program at Baylor…(Full Story)
ORU women's coach Jerry Finkbeiner remembers Kurt Budke
From newsok.com
Jerry Finkbeiner had known Kurt Budke for about 17 years. He says he has five references on his resume, and Budke was the only a Division I coach.
Oral Roberts women's basketball coach Jerry Finkbeiner said he has five references on his resume, and only one of them is an NCAA Division I coach.
“I could have a whole assortment on that references list, but I chose to have Kurt Budke exclusively on my resume,” Finkbeiner said. “It just shows what I thought of him as a man and a coach.”
Finkbeiner said he has known Budke for about 17 years…(Full Story)
Jerry Finkbeiner had known Kurt Budke for about 17 years. He says he has five references on his resume, and Budke was the only a Division I coach.
Oral Roberts women's basketball coach Jerry Finkbeiner said he has five references on his resume, and only one of them is an NCAA Division I coach.
“I could have a whole assortment on that references list, but I chose to have Kurt Budke exclusively on my resume,” Finkbeiner said. “It just shows what I thought of him as a man and a coach.”
Finkbeiner said he has known Budke for about 17 years…(Full Story)
OSU interim women's coach Jim Littell: Kurt Budke's ‘zeal for OSU was incomparable'
From newsok.com
Oklahoma State women's basketball coach Kurt Budke's “zeal for Oklahoma State was incomparable,” associate head coach Jim Littell said Friday.Budke, Oklahoma State's women's basketball coach, and assistant coach Miranda Serna were killed Thursday in a plane crash in Central Arkansas along with former state senator Olin Branstetter and his wife, Paula. The plane was owned by Olin Branstetter, who was also the pilot.
“He loved this place,” said Littell, who will take over as interim head coach for the Cowgirls.
Littell and OSU president Burns Hargis remembered Budke and Serna at a Friday morning press conference.
“It's our worst nightmare,” said Hargis, who added that he had spent time…(Full Story)
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