La Roche basketball coach Lang collapses, dies

Scott Lang, the La Roche College men's basketball coach who led the team to a conference championship in his second year, died Friday night after collapsing at center court in the school's Kerr Fitness and Sports Center.

Colleen Ruefle, vice president of student life, said the 41-year-old Lang was with the team at practice when he fell to the floor around 5 p.m. The team's head trainer rushed to his assistance and performed CPR. He was transported to UPMC Passavant, where he died a short time later.

Today's games against Penn State Behrend have been cancelled for both the men's and women's basketball teams, along with a reception for former members of the men's basketball team.

Lang was just 27 when he was picked to head the team in 1997, which made him the youngest men's basketball coach in the NCAA at the time.

Athletic Director Jim Tinkey promoted him to head coach after Lang had served as assistant coach for four years.

"His work ethic was always second to none," said Tinkey, who was impressed by his rapport with his players.

Ironically, it was later Tinkey who encouraged him to leave after he got job offers from larger Division I and II schools to advance his coaching career. But Mr. Lang wanted to stay.

"This is where his heart is and he just didn't want leave," he said.

The Mars native made his mark at La Roche College, leading the team to a Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championship game in 1998, a remarkable feat given the program was just six years old at the time. Since then, the team twice finished second in the conference and he holds the record for the highest winning percentage in the school's history and the highest number of wins at 150 games.

The Redhawks were off to their strongest start in the program's history this season at 7-1.

And in spite of his streak of success at the school, Reufle said Lang valued character above anything that happened on the court. His team twice won the Schoenfield Sportsmanship Award, which is given annually to an AMCC school.

She said Lang remained at La Roche because he felt he could make a bigger difference in the lives of his players at the Division III school.

"He loved coaching at La Roche," she said. "He made a difference in these kids' lives. He made sure they graduated. He made sure they came out better people."

"That was more important to him than basketball."

First published on December 11, 2010 at 12:12 am

Correction/Clarification: (Published December 12, 2010) Scott Lang, the late men's basketball coach at La Roche College, led the team to a conference championship game in 1998. A story in Saturday's paper stated incorrectly that the team won that championship.