Lynch -- known universally as "Nick," even though his given name was David -- was traveling south on Branch Avenue about 2:30 a.m. when he attempted to turn left onto Brandywine Road, Maryland State Police Trooper Wesley Brown said. His 2008 Dodge Magnum car was struck by a 2000 GMC Sierra traveling north on Branch Avenue, Brown said.

Lynch was transported to Southern Maryland Hospital in Clinton, where he later died, Brown said. The driver of the Sierra suffered a broken leg. Both cars were totaled, and the cause of the accident remains under investigation.

Lynch, 43, had coached the perennially strong Suitland football team since 1996, and was known for his close and protective relationships with his players. "Every kid that comes through this program is part of a family," assistant coach Terrill Williams told the Prince George's County Gazette newspaper in an article in October.

In 13 seasons at Suitland, Lynch had a career record of 117-33, guiding the Rams to state championships in 2004 and 2006. Suitland also reached the state finals in 1997 and 1998 and made it to the semifinals in 2007. The Rams this season qualified for the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year.

"The football players had great respect for him. He impacted a lot of their lives," Lynch's brother Keith said in an interview this morning. "Where other people gave up on kids, he was there for them. A lot of them, man, he was a father to a lot of them. A lot of them grew up in broken homes."

A 1987 graduate of Eleanor Roosevelt High in Greenbelt, Lynch played wide receiver at East Tennessee State before returning to Prince George's County and becoming a coach and special education teacher. He had a knack for connecting with his players, whether through pep talks or funny antics. At one practice in 1999, when his players seemed wound too tight, he suited up in helmet and pads and joined the reserves on the field to face off against the starters.

"When I came out in equipment, they were on the ground laughing," Lynch, who hadn't worn full football gear since his days at East Tennessee, said afterward. "I think they loosened up."

Earl Hawkins, the athletic director for Prince George's County Schools, called Lynch's death "a tremendous loss for the county." Lynch was a leader among football coaches in Prince George's, organizing a coaches' association and coaching in many state and county all-star games. News of his death started a chain of phone calls this morning among disbelieving coaches around the state.

"It's just shocking news . . . Nick was a friend, and a person I respected a lot," Hawkins said. "A person who had the kids' best interest at heart, who worked real hard with his kids and his student-athletes."

The Suitland team has grappled with grief several times in recent years, starting with the 2003 shooting death of former standout Raheem Lewis. In October, 2007, former player Eric Allen, who was a recruit for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, collapsed and died during a training exercise. And later that same month, 2006 graduate and varsity offensive lineman Ramon D. Ware was fatally shot outside an apartment complex in District Heights.

Lynch ordered stickers with each young man's jersey number and told his players to display the stickers on the front of their helmets, where they would be most visible.

"Out of all the people, it's just crazy . . . so many people depend on him. The kids depend on him," said Eric Wade, the former Largo High head coach who grew up with Lynch and was an assistant coach a Suitland for the past five seasons. "You live with every single kid. You just don't understand how hard it is . . . and how much he cared. Cared enough to give a kid hard discipline when he needed it, and give him love when he needed it."

Lynch grew up in a three-bedroom rambler in Glenarden, the second-youngest of eight children born to Frank and Doris Lynch. He and his three bothers passed their days playing sports on a small patch of grass in front of an apartment complex across the street from their home.

Both Nick and Keith ended up launching coaching careers. Nick stumbled into coaching at the urging of one of his former coaches at Roosevelt, who he ran into when he returned to his alma mater to watch a basketball game. He spent nine years as an assistant -- at Roosevelt, then Bladensburg, then Suitland -- before winning the top job at Suitland in 1996.

"The love of the kids and showing them direction and just being there for them, that is what motivates me," Nick Lynch told the Post in an 1999 profile. " . . . I just want to see the happiness on young men's faces when they accomplish their goals. It can't be measured."

Lynch is survived by his wife, Ivornette, and their son, David Jr., as well as siblings and other relatives.

We will Miss YOU NICK