Former OSU Coach Eddie Sutton Mourns Death Of 'Dear Friend' Kurt Budke

Former OSU men's basketball coach Eddie Sutton says he had lunch with OSU women's basketball coach Kurt Budke just two weeks ago.

Budke was killed in a plane crash Thursday evening in Arkansas, along with assistant coach Miranda Serna, and OSU alumni Olin and Paula Brantsetter.

11/18/2011 Related Story: OSU Women's Basketball Coach, Assistant Killed In Plane Crash

Sutton was head coach in January 2001 when the basketball program lost 10 members in a plane crash in Colorado. He says the OSU family showed the team an incredible amount of love and support then, and he knows they'll do the same now.

"For one institution to have two airplane catastrophes like that is certainly uncommon. It's a shock to the whole OSU community, I know, but certainly a shock to me because Kurt Budke was a dear friend."

After the 2001 crash, OSU required that planes used by the school's sports team undergo safety checks before travel. Coaches were not bound by the same rules.

OSU Plane Crash page