Underwood on Coger’s Death: ‘Hardest Couple Of Days I’ve Experienced’

Brad Underwood and Mike Holder took questions headfirst on Friday from the media about the death of basketball player Tyrek Coger.

Underwood was clearly heartbroken and called the incident “the hardest couple of days I’ve ever experienced in my coaching life.” He added, “You say goodbye to players when they graduate and that’s one thing … Making that phone call to that mother. There are no words. A 21-year-old man who had his whole world in front of him. It’s a tragic thing. It’s a sad, sad thing.”

Underwood was extremely emotional throughout as everyone addressed the nature of the workout that caused Coger’s death. The workout lasted 40 minutes and it was presumed that everyone was properly hydrated. Underwood was actually not present at the time because he was in Las Vegas doing player evaluations.

I thought the most devastating quote actually came from Holder.

Holder: "Dreams are supposed to being here. They're not supposed to end … We grieve for the families."

— Kyle Fredrickson (@kylefredrickson) July 22, 2016

He also noted that “I can’t get my mind around [the tragedies that have happened to OSU]. Especially our basketball programs. Two plane crashes. Now we have this.”

OSU has made counseling services available to its players (which is a great thing). You can watch the entire press conference below (it starts at 2:30 and Underwood comes on at 6:30 … he completely breaks down at 9:00).