INDIANAPOLIS -- Illinois State associate head coach Torrey Ward died early Tuesday in a plane crash while returning from the Final Four, multiple sources told CBSSports.com.

Ward was one of seven people on the private plane. There were no survivors.

The crash also claimed Aaron Leetch, who was the athletic department's deputy director for external relations, the school confirmed in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

"Both men were well-respected and much loved colleagues in our athletics department," university president Larry Dietz said. "I join with the Redbird athletics family and the entire campus in mourning the loss of these two men and the others aboard. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families."

The Chicago Tribune reported that the "Cessna 414 had left the Indianapolis airport around 11 p.m. and hit heavy fog over central Illinois, according to Scott Barrows, the father-in-law of the owner of the plane, Scott Bittner, who was among those killed."

"My daughter's husband and [five] other men and the pilot went to the NCAA game last night and they were flying back and I guess the weather was bad in central Illinois.  It was foggy," Scott Barrows, a former UIC faculty member, told the paper. "They were supposed to land around midnight.  My daughter was called at 4 a.m.  There was no contact. It has been confirmed they are dead."

Ward's final tweet came from the national championship game.

Ward played at UAB and professionally in China. The Birmingham native spent five seasons on Andy Kennedy's staff at Ole Miss before eventually joining the Illinois State staff in 2012. He was promoted to associate head coach in May 2014.

Ward is survived by two young children. Leetch is survived by his wife and two daughters.