High school basketball coach dead, 8-year-old daughter missing after Christmas Eve tragedy

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An Oklahoma basketball coach and dad of four was found dead, and his 8-year-old daughter remains missing after the family’s car was swept away by raging floodwaters in Texas on Christmas Eve. 

Will Robinson, a high school coach from Durant, Oklahoma, his wife and four children were driving in their SUV on Tuesday morning when the vehicle left the roadway, got caught in a drainage ditch in Sherman, Texas and was carried away by strong currents.  

All six family members were trapped inside, according to the Sherman Police Department. Robinson did not survive, while four other family members were rescued. The family’s 8-year-old daughter has not been found. 

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Beloved high school coach and father Will Robinson found dead after Christmas Eve tragedy (Facebook/Will Robinson)

The search for the young girl, which authorities said had already covered seven miles of creek as of Wednesday, continues into its third day, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott approved state search and rescue teams to assist in finding the child. 

“We are shifting our focus into the county, targeting some possible locations where we have not looked to as yet,” the Sherman Police Department said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon, adding, “Our search will continue until dark today, then we will resume searching again before daylight.”

The cause of Tuesday’s accident “likely had to do with a large accumulation of water and maybe some hydroplaning, which is a very dangerous situation,” Lieutenant Samuel Boyle of the Sherman Police Department told KXII News 12. “Once they’re in that drainage ditch, they’re really at the mercy of the water flow and the speed at which that’s going down.” 

“It’s a tragedy, it really is,” he added. 

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High school basketball coach Will Robinson, who was found dead after floodwaters swept away his family’s SUV on Christmas Eve  (Facebook)

“This is just devastating, and happening on Christmas Eve makes it unbearable,” Robinson’s cousin wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday. “Will was one of the good ones—a devoted husband and father, a beloved basketball coach, and just a great person…please keep the entire Robinson family in your thoughts and prayers.”

Numerous local and state agencies, including Texas Task Force 2, are working together in the search, police said. 

“In crises like these, we are blessed to serve a community that so badly wants to help in any way they can. We have dozens of first responders involved in this search, many with extensive training in searching in hazardous conditions,” Sherman police continued in their statement, adding that they currently do not need any additional volunteers. 

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Will Robinson and his family are pictured before their tragic accident on Christmas Eve  (Facebook/Will Robinson)

The Sherman Police Department asked anyone with noteworthy information about the case to call their non-emergency phone number at 903-892-7290.

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“Please drive very carefully,” Boyle told the local Texas outlet, in a message to all drivers in wet or flooding conditions.

“Even if you think your vehicle can make it through some large standing water, please consider going around and taking another route because once you hit that standing water, you’ve really lost control of your vehicle.”