Crash kills Central Bucks West coach

A popular track-and-field coach at Central Bucks High School West was killed in a car crash early yesterday, authorities said.

James E. Cogan III was driving a new Toyota Camry west on the 700 block of East Reliance Road in Hilltown Township near Route 309 shortly after midnight when he lost control of the car, Hilltown Police Chief Christopher Engelhart said.

The Camry struck a guardrail and a bridge abutment, then plunged into a creek and caught fire, Engelhart said. Cogan was pronounced dead at the scene.

Cogan, 33, a married father of a 5-year-old girl, had been on his way to his Hilltown home, officials said.

Students and colleagues arriving at the Doylestown school were devastated by the news, said principal Kevin Munnelly, who had known Cogan since the assistant coach was a standout athlete at Central Bucks High School East.

Cogan specialized in coaching javelin, discus, and shot put for girls and boys, Munnelly said.

His students "feel like they lost a friend," Munnelly said. Cogan would assume his coaching duties after finishing his regular job for the district in grounds maintenance.

He averaged about 20 students for each season, and workouts for the winter season were scheduled to start tomorrow, said Sean Kelly, the school's athletic director.

"He cared for his family, and he cared for the kids he coached," Kelly said. "To say he'll be missed is an understatement."

Before he came to Central Bucks West, Cogan coached at Central Bucks East, where he graduated in 1995, said Munnelly, who was an assistant principal at East during those years.

"Twelve-eight in the pole vault, 188 feet in the javelin," Munnelly was able to recall about Cogan as a student. "He was a real hustler in track."

Bucks County Coroner Joseph Campbell said results of toxicology tests were pending.