Grambling State men's basketball coach Rick Duckett will resign, the school announced Friday, nearly a month after one of his players died following a supervised conditioning session.
Henry White, 21, became ill at a preseason session on Aug. 14 and died on Aug. 26 at a hospital in Shreveport, La. The university and an attorney for White's family both say they are investigating, according to reports in the Monroe News Star and the Ruston Daily Leader.
White, a prep standout in Milwaukee, transferred to Grambling for the 2009-10 season from Hill Junior College in Texas.
Duckett has been placed on administrative leave through Oct. 31, when his employment officially ends, the university said, according to the reports.
Earlier this week, WISN-TV in Milwaukee, White's hometown, reported White's family claims the players were made to run in 104-degree heat without water.
"We start from a position that it's very troubling that the university was running these athletes at 2 p.m. in August in Louisiana," said Larry English, a Shreveport-based attorney representing the family, according to the News Star.
Duckett, a former assistant to Dave Odom at South Carolina and head coach at Division II Fayetteville and Winston-Salem State, was 6-23 overall and 4-14 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference in his one season at Grambling.
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Grambling State Coach Resigns After Player's Death
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9/26/2009 3:00 PM ET By FanHouse Newswire
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I had a coach in high school that thought if you denied your players water, that it would somehow condition your athletes to play longer in a game without a water break. Scientists have proven that it does nothing but put your health in danger, and recommend hydration to avoid death and other medical problems. I should have wore a water vest under my jersey to sneak some water sips, mad I did'nt do it back then.
it always cracks me up when these coaches say they love their players and only care that they become the best they can be as they run them into the ground under obviously dangerous conditions and exercise their sharpened tongues to supposedly motivate. some care, some don't but they all want to win and that often supersedes all other considerations. when dealing with these guys - who are often not the sharpest tacks in the box - parents should definitely remember: caveat emptor. power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.