OREM - Timpanogos High School's original football coach died unexpectedly in his sleep last weekend at age 40.
Marc McKenney, who coached the Timberwolves from the 1996 to 2001, died at his Pleasant Grove home sometime early Sunday morning. His wife Sue awoke Sunday about 4 a.m. in the couple's Pleasant Grove home and found him not breathing. She performed CPR until paramedics arrived, but McKenney could not be revived.
"He was the nicest and most sincere person that I have ever met, and I'm not just saying that because he's gone," said Timpanogos basketball coach Mark Hardman.
McKenney, Hardman and Kim Nelson were the first coaches hired when Timpanogos opened in 1996. McKenney, who had served as an assistant coach at Granger, Skyline and Bountiful high schools, took on a program where most of the seniors and juniors stayed to play for Orem and Mountain View high schools. Still, he was known for his post-game speeches where he tried to help his players take something positive from weekly blow-out losses.
"He could take the most horrendous and negative situation and turn it into a positive," Hardman said.
McKenney stepped down after the 2001 season to spend more time with his ailing mother, whom he moved from a nursing home in Salt Lake to Orem so he could provide more care for her. He stayed at Timpanogos, where he served as the weight-training and conditioning coach. He also taught driver education. He recently opened a private business in which he helped athletes increase agility, speed and quickness. He had several conditioning camps scheduled for this summer.
"There are hundreds of kids who are going to miss him," Hardman said.
An autopsy is being performed to determine the exact cause of death. The preliminary cause of death is heart failure, the same ailment that took his father's life at a young age. Funeral arrangements are pending.