According to Athletics Director Ron Wellman, 56-year-old Prosser was found dead on his office couch at about 12:45 p.m. by director of basketball operations Mike Muse soon after returning from his jog in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

CPR was performed on him along with a defibrillator. Afterwards he was taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1:41 p.m.

Skip left behind his wife Nancy and two sons, Scott and Mark.

"The entire sports world, particularly those associated with Wake Forest University and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), are shocked and saddened by this tragic news," ACC commissioner John Swofford said in a statement.

Prosser coached 15 seasons as head coach at the collegiate level. He began his college coaching career at Xavier University in Cincinnati, starting with the 1985-1986 season. He began as head coach at Loyola in Baltimore, a team which he coached to a 17-13 record and its only NCAA tournament berth. The previous year, the team had finished 2-25.

Xavier then hired Prosser to take over for his former boss Gillen as head coach when Gillen left for Providence. Prosser became the second-winningest coach in Xavier history after Gillen.

Prosser began his career at Wake Forest in 2001 and led the Demon Deacons to the NCAA tournament in each of his first four years there. Prosser is credited for sparking participation in the Wake Forest student Screamin' Demons and increased attendance, with home season ticket sales selling out for the first time ever in 2004.

At Wake Forest, Prosser won 100 games faster than all but two ACC coaches. In 2003, his Demon Deacons squad became the first from the ACC to ever lead the nation in rebounding. In the summer of 2007, Prosser had organized what was said to be a top-five recruiting class for the upcoming year.

Prosser was the collegiate coach of current NBA players Aaron Williams, James Posey, David West, Josh Howard, Darius Songaila, and Chris Paul; he won national recruiting wars for Paul and Eric Williams. He amassed a career record of 291-146 (.666).