We talked for several minutes. I knew he was turning the program around at McDaniel, and I congratulated him on his success. He mentioned the school was planning to upgrade their athletic facilities. He seemed very optimistic about the future of the program.

I told him I planned to come to McDaniel sometime this year and do a story on what he had done at the school. He said to come by any time and he would be glad to talk with me. I knew he would.

I will never get to write that story for the worst of reasons. Bob Flynn died Friday night of a massive heart attack. He was 49 years old.

His death shocked everyone who knew him. His funeral will be held this Thursday at 10 a.m. at St. Mark's Catholic Church in Catonsville, where he lived. I expect many people from Mount St. Mary's will be there because he was very much a part of the Mount family, even though he left the school many years ago.

I FIRST MET Flynn even before he became an assistant coach at the Mount in 1984. He was a coach at St. Joe's High School in Emmitsburg at the time. But it was during his time at the Emmitsburg school (from 1984 to 1994) that I got to know him.

I always enjoyed talking with him because he was such an outgoing and friendly person.

I kind of felt sorry for him when the Mount won the Northeast Conference title and advanced to its first NCAA Division I Tournament in 1995. He had left the year before to become head coach of the St. Mary's College basketball team.

I wished he could have been a part of the Mount's success in 1995. He recruited many of the players on that team and deserved a lot of credit for what they did.

I continued to see Flynn at times after he left Mount St. Mary's. He came to Mount games. He clearly was close to longtime Mount coach Jim Phelan.

I remember one year being at a Baltimore Ravens press conference and I heard my name. I turned around and saw Bob Flynn.

Flynn was coaching at Cardinals Gibbons High School in Baltimore at the time and the Ravens were honoring one of his coaching friends. Flynn was there to offer his support.

I was glad to see him get the McDaniel job last year. I was confident Flynn he would do well there and he did.

He was 9-16 last year, a good record for the team. This year, the Westminster school got off to a 7-6 start, its best since the 1986-1987 season.

I talked to people in Carroll County who said the fans were getting into the men's basketball program there for the first time in years.

Bob Flynn was one of the good guys.