Prosser

Joe Boylan is upbeat, smart, personable and fun to be with. In other words, he's one beautiful guy.You realize that after you've known him for, oh, five minutes or so, although I first met him maybe 30 years ago.Because Boylan is so darned likable, a lot of people have anguished with him over recent developments at Loyola College, where he is director of athletics.Boylan (Milford Mill High '56, Lafayette College '60) spent 17 years at Rutgers as an assistant athletic director. In 1990 he became athletic director at Loyola College, back in his old hometown.

The Loyola Greyhounds head into their Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference schedule with a satisfying 3-3 record, but perhaps the area's most unsettled roster.Junior forward David Credle underwent arthroscopic knee surgery just before Christmas and probably will be lost at least for the rest of the month. Senior forward Michael Reese has just returned to the lineup after missing last season for disciplinary reasons.The biggest blow could come next week. That's when the school's academic committee will decide the fate of senior point guard Tracy Bergan, who has sparked Loyola to an encouraging start.

Michael Lloyd's eligibility mess took another turn for the worse Wednesday, when the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics refused to clear him to play for Auburn-Montgomery this season.Lloyd, who four years ago teamed with Donta Bright and Keith Booth to bring Dunbar High a mythical national title, surfaced at the NAIA school in Alabama in early January. Five months earlier, he wrote a letter to Syracuse officials telling them that he had signed with an agent last April and was seeking to turn pro.Once enrolled at Auburn-Montgomery, Lloyd said he concocted the agent story just to get the NCAA off his trail.

As the coach of Wake Forest, Skip Prosser admits that he has a pretty myopic viewpoint of college basketball. He knows his team and whoever the fourth-ranked Demon Deacons happen to play next. Earlier this week, Prosser would have comfortably discussed the challenge of trying to slow Clemson's Sharrod Ford, who the Demon Deacons will have to deal with tomorrow, but any conversation about what his team will need to do to beat Maryland on Tuesday was essentially off limits. "Haven't seen [the Terps]

Skip Prosser was a Tulsa fan last night. Tonight, he'll be interested in Western Kentucky's welfare.Prosser was atop the college basketball world for a few minutes a year ago tonight, when he coached Loyola College to a surprise berth in the NCAA tournament. Now, he's sitting on the NCAA bubble, checking on results from around the nation and waiting to see if his Xavier team will be included when the 64-team field is announced Sunday.Xavier went 14-0 in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference and entered the MCC tournament ranked No. 25 in the nation.

For a brief stretch last month, Loyola basketball coach Skip Prosser was the toast of Baltimore, and deservedly so. Assuming the reigns of a Loyola College team that had suffered through a 2-25 nightmare the previous year, Mr. Prosser led the Greyhounds to a 17-13 record that included a conference tournament title and the school's first appearance in the Division I NCAA basketball tournament.Just over a week ago, Mr. Prosser was swift to reap the rewards for a job well done, accepting the head job at Xavier University, where he had previously served as an assistant coach for eight years.

Wake Forest basketball coach Skip Prosser, who took Loyola to its only NCAA tournament berth, died yesterday afternoon, the university confirmed. Prosser, 56, collapsed in his office and was rushed to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Prosser had been jogging on the Kentner Stadium track adjacent to his office in the Manchester Athletic Center about noon. A staff member found him unresponsive at about 12:45 p.m. A doctor from Student Health Services was summoned and used a defibrillator to try to revive him. He was pronounced dead at the hospital at 1:41 p.m., the university said.

What is Dino Gaudio's notion of a difficult transition?Gaudio talks about how smooth it was, settling in as the basketball coach at Loyola College, where the administration was helpful and the players have worked hard. The spiel works, until you recall the scene he walked into.Gaudio came down from Army, but if the officer candidates at West Point really wanted to experience a combat zone, they could have played for Loyola the past three seasons. Former coach Brian Ellerbe was one of the best recruiters to work in Baltimore, but during his watch, at least seven quality players left the Greyhounds before their time was up.Ellerbe, who landed as the interim coach at Michigan, left Loyola over what were termed "mutual philosophical differences."

Winston-Salem, N.C. -- The reminders are constant. From the banner with his name inscribed that hangs from the rafters here at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum to his image on the tapes from last season's games used to scout Wake Forest's coming Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. Wake Forest@Maryland Tonight, 9, chs. 54, 20, 1300 AM, 105.7 FM Line: Maryland by 6 1/2 Records: Wake (11-4, 1-1 ACC); Maryland (10-7, 0-2 ACC) Recovering from tragedy Army women's basketball (2006-07)

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The pachyderm in question has taken on a different context, but the riddle regarding enormous tasks remains operable in the world according to Skip Prosser. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Prosser posted that inspiration in his office at Loyola College 11 years ago, and he has dusted it off at Wake Forest. Then, it was an allusion to the wildly improbable, the NCAA tournament. Now, the imagery visualizes the daily grind required to aspire to that which goes unspoken.