Conroy 'proud' to host Prosser tournament

The Citadel's Ed Conroy went up against Skip Prosser in what would prove to be the late Wake Forest coach's final game.

That fateful contest was in a small, sweaty gym in the Persian Gulf two years ago, when Conroy and Prosser were part of Operation Hardwood IV, a college basketball outreach program to U.S. troops in the region.

That championship game, pitting teams of military players, was at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait City in May 2007. Just two months later, Prosser was dead of a heart attack at age 56.

"I'll never forget that," Conroy said Friday. "The whole trip was a great experience, and to be able to spend that time with Skip was something I will always treasure."

It's fitting, then, that Conroy and The Citadel will host the first CollegeInsider.com Skip Prosser Tournament this weekend at McAlister Field House.

The 3-3 Bulldogs will play Virginia-Wise today and Central Connecticut State on Sunday as part of the tournament.

Conroy won the second CollegeInsider.com Skip Prosser Man of the Year award last season, and the idea is that the winner of that award will host the Prosser tournament the next season.

"It means a lot to us," Conroy said. "Skip was a great man as well as coach, the opportunity to host the first one, that makes us proud. We hope it becomes a great event."

Notre Dame coach Mike Brey was also on that Kuwait trip, and was the first coach to win the Prosser award in 2007-08.

"Only a handful of people will be able to say they saw Skip Prosser in that championship game," Brey wrote in a letter to CollegeInsider.com. "His team won that day, but to suggest that he went out a winner would be missing the point. Skip Prosser was always a winner."

CollegeInsider.com awards the Prosser award to "a Division I head coach who best represents the high standards of the coaching profession."

Prosser had a 291-146 record in 14 seasons as a coach, including stints at Wake Forest, Loyola and Xavier. He is the only coach in NCAA history to take three different schools to the NCAA Tournament in his first season at each school.

Prosser's coaching roots went back to working summer camps at Notre Dame in the 1970s, and on the trip to Kuwait, his fellow coaches were surprised to learn that Prosser had never been to a Notre Dame football game.

That's one reason that Conroy acted quickly when he had a chance to take his sons to a Notre Dame game this season.

"I thought about Skip and about how important it is to seize the moment," he said. "And that's something I will share with our team."

Reach Jeff Hartsell at jhartsell@postandcourier.com.