Tiger Bech tragically had his life taken in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, and now the standout football player’s high school coach is speaking out about the life and death of his late star.

“When we lose someone, it always hurts. To lose someone like Tiger and then to lose him in such a tragic way on a holiday when he had come into town to be with family and friends, just tragic,” Marty Cannon, former assistant football coach turned principal at St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Louisiana told Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs nightly on FS1).

“Our thoughts and prayers definitely go out to the Bech family. They are also a tight-knit group of people, close, close family that we deeply love, and they love St. Thomas More. So, a lot of people are hurting today.”

Of course, 28-year-old Bech — who played football at Princeton University after graduating from STM — was ringing in the New Year on Bourbon Street in nearby New Orleans when terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar ran him and dozens of other innocent revelers down, killing at least 14, and injuring many more.

While Tiger will be remembered by many as a football player, former Coach Cannon says there was a whole bunch more to Bech.

“That guy was incredible. Tiger wasn’t just a football player. He had a ton of depth to him. Rarely did you even talk about football with Tiger.”

Cannon continued … “He’s talking about your family. He’s talking about his career aspirations, things that he’s learning about. He was a deep, personable person that we really loved.”

If there’s any silver lining, Marty says he recently had an opportunity to catch up with Bech around town just two days before Christmas.