SLIPPERY ROCK — The shock is still there and likely will be for a while.

Slippery Rock University continues to mourn the death of women’s basketball coach Bobby McGraw, who died unexpectedly Sunday at age 50. The cause of death is unknown.

A 1990 Mars graduate, McGraw was SRU women’s basketball head coach for eight years. He won 77 games — fourth on the program’s all-time list — despite the 2020-21 season being canceled due to COVID-19. McGraw took over following a difficult period of Rock basketball.

SRU was 19-85 in the four seasons before he was hired.

“Our women’s basketball program needed a spark, and Bobby provided that,” retired SRU athletic director Paul Lueken said. “He got the program going in the right direction. He loved his team, and the players loved him.

“There was nothing that man wouldn’t do for anybody.”

During the first five years of McGraw’s coaching tenure at The Rock, the team’s 32-win improvement over that stretch was the second-highest among teams in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. He guided SRU to the PSAC playoffs in 2014-15 for the first time in nearly a decade during his first season in charge of the program.

McGraw attended and supported numerous Rock sporting events involving other teams on campus.

“He knew the student-athletes on campus better than anyone,” Lueken said. “He was the biggest fan of Rock athletics among all of the coaches on staff here.”

SRU athletic director Roberta Page said in a statement: “Bobby was much more than just our women’s basketball coach. He was one of the biggest fans of our student-athletes from all sports and made it a point to attend so many different games and events to support all of our student-athletes. We will dearly miss having him on campus.”

When contacted Monday, Page said: “I don’t know if I have the words right now. This is a shock to all of us. Bobby was just a great man. On the sidelines, in the dugout, on the bench ... he just wanted to be there. He motivated kids in his own way.

“That type of dedication and passion, you don’t find in everybody. He cared very deeply for people.”

SRU’s Director of Athletic Communication Jon Holtz was among those who worked closely with McGraw.

“What we’ll miss the most about Bobby is his energy and passion. Few could rival him in that regard,” Holtz said. “When we talked to the team Sunday, it was very, very rough.”

Former New Castle High School basketball standout Ryenn Micaletti was the first assistant McGraw hired when he became SRU head coach.

“He felt everything so deeply,” said Micaletti, now an assistant women’s basketball coach at St. Louis University. “He had passion for the game. He had passion for people. Mad, sad, excited ... he felt it. There are so few people like that.

“Bobby was never afraid to laugh, smile, yell or cry. We would go back and forth over something about the game, strategy or whatever. We’d have our disagreements. Then he would text me ‘I love you’ and it’d be over.

“I wouldn’t have the career I have today if not for him. He was family to me, a father figure, that crazy brother in my life,” Micaletti added.

At least one SRU player made all-conference in each of McGraw’s seasons as head coach. Five players who played under McGraw made first-team All-PSAC and one — D’Asia Chambers — went on to a professional basketball career in Germany.

McGraw’s teams set single-season SRU records for 3-point field goals made, offensive and defensive rebounds, blocked shots and field goal percentage defense. Off the court, 57 of McGraw’s players were named PSAC Scholar-Athletes and the program had its first Academic All-America honoree in more than 15 years in Lexi Carpenter (2016-17).

McGraw also served as president of SRU’s coaches union during contract negotiations.

“He was passionate about seeing that all of the coaches here were treated fairly,” Page said.

“That’s a job that nobody wants — and Bobby did a tremendous job at that, too,” Lueken said.

SRU football coach Shawn Lutz is vice president of that union and worked closely with McGraw.

“He became one of my best friends. I’m crushed right now,” Lutz said. “All of our football players are just devastated. Bobby got to know all of them. He built relationships all the time, not because of his job, but because that’s the kind of person he was.

“He didn’t just want to meet you. He wanted to get to know you. Field hockey, lacrosse, soccer .... It didn’t matter. He wanted every athletic program at this school to be successful and was always willing to help in that regard.

“You won’t find one person on this Earth who didn’t like Bobby McGraw,” Lutz added.

Calling McGraw “part of the Rock football family,” Lutz said the football team will wear McGraw’s last name on the back of its helmets this season in tribute to him.

Retired SRU football coach Gerorge Mihalik described McGraw as having “an upbeat personality with endless energy.”

“He supported everybody here, and he left a lot of memories here,” Mihalik said.

A former member of the U.S. Marine Corps Military Police and a retired state trooper, McGraw was an assistant basketball coach at La Roche University for two years — helping that team win a conference championship — and was an assistant coach at Karns City and Freeport high schools briefly before coming to SRU.

He also played basketball at Butler County Community College, where he was a member of the Pioneers’ 1991 state championship team.

“When Bobby first got the SRU job, he called me and said, ‘Are you coming? Are we doing this?’ I was honored to be part of it when he realized his dream of coaching basketball,” Micaletti said.

“I was in on that journey and I will never forget that. Slippery Rock University is such a tight-knit community. They will never forget him.”

Service arrangements will be shared at www.RockAthletics.com when information is available.