CHS Grad, Beloved Basketball Coach Butch McLean Succumbs to Cancer

Butch McLean's courageous two-year battle with cancer has come to an end.

McLean, a 1969 Collingswood High School graduate and head coach of the Triton Regional High School boys' basketball team for four seasons, died at around 3:30 a.m. Monday.

He was 60.

McLean was diagnosed with cancer in May 2010, but continued coaching the Mustangs as he battled the disease.

"Butch was a fiery competitor who loved the game, and loved teaching kids," Black Horse Pike Regional School District athletic director Chris Dziczek said. "Basketball was his life, both figuratively and literally.  He was a wonderful man, and I am truly blessed to have been associated with him."

South Jersey coaching legend Jim Crawford told the Courier-Post that McLean "got it."

“He was a coach who got it. He saw basketball as a tool for teaching life,” the longtime Camden Catholic coach told the Courier-Post. “I can’t get over the courage and leadership he demonstrated to all of us the past couple of seasons.”

McLean also coached at Haddon Heights High School during his career.

Funeral plans had not been set as of Monday afternoon, Dziczek said.