Jason Rabedeaux, former Marquette assistant, Dead at 49

The Marquette family has suffered a terrible loss.

Jason Rabedeaux, the former Marquette director of basketball operations who served as an assistant on Tom Crean's coaching staff, passed away Monday in Vietnam. He was 49.

Rabedeaux was found lying unconscious after taking a fall at his home in Ho Chi Minh City's District 7. He died while being rushed to the hospital. He was serving as the head coach for Vietnam's first professional basketball team - the Saigon Heat - at the time of his passing.

No cause of death has been given at this time by Vietnamese officials.

Rabedeaux's death comes a day after the Heat defeated the Indonesia Warriors 72-61 in the 2014 ASEAN Basketball League.

Rabedeaux began his career as an assistant at North Adams State before becoming Kelvin Sampson's top assistant at Washington State (1989-94) and Oklahoma (1994-99) where he made his name on the recruiting trail, bringing in top prospects like Eduardo Najera. He helped take the Sooners to five consecutive NCAA tournament appearances from 1995 to 1999, and was an integral part in recruiting Oklahoma's 2002 Final Four squad, even though he had already moved on.

He succeeded the legendary Don Haskins at UTEP, posting an even 46-46 record from 1999 until 2002. In his second season, he took the Miners to their first postseason berth since 1995 with an NIT bid, and he earned the Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year for his efforts. He suddenly resigned for personal reasons before the 2002-03 season.

A native of Eau Claire, WI, Rabedeaux returned to America's Dairyland as an assistant coach on Tom Crean's staff at Marquette in 2004. He spent four years with the Golden Eagles, including time as the director of basketball operations, before taking coaching gigs in Bahrain, Japan and China, then ending up in Vietnam.