Illinois State assistant coach, deputy AD among 7 dead in plane crash returning from Final Four

Emergency personnel and media gather at the scene near Bloomington, Ill., where a small plane, with at least five on board, crashed early Tuesday, April 7, 2015. The Federal Aviation Administration says the Cessna 414 crashed just short of the Bloomington airport after midnight Tuesday while returning from the NCAA college basketball championship in Indianapolis.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) — Illinois State University says its associate head basketball coach and a deputy athletic director are among seven people who died in a plane crash in central Illinois returning home from the Final Four.

University President Larry Dietz confirmed Tuesday that assistant coach Torrey Ward and Aaron Leetch, the athletic department's deputy director for external relations, were killed in the early-morning crash.

Ward and Leetch were on a small plane that crashed near Bloomington, Illinois, on the way back from the NCAA basketball tournament in Indianapolis.

Dietz made the announcement in an email to students, faculty and staff, saying "words cannot fully express the grief that is felt."

The Cessna 414 crashed just short of the Central Illinois Regional Airport shortly after midnight.

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