R.I.P.: Carley McCord, Sports Reporter

A sports reporter related to a Louisiana State University football coach was among the five people who died on their way to the team’s playoff game on Saturday after a small plane crashed in Lafayette, La., the authorities said.

Carley McCord

According to The NY Times, the reporter, Carley McCord, 30, was a daughter-in-law of Steve Ensminger, the offensive coordinator for L.S.U. She and the other passengers were heading to Atlanta, where top-ranked L.S.U. easily beat Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl on Saturday for a spot in the national championship game.

L.S.U. officials learned of the crash at around noon when Derek Ponamsky, special assistant to the head coach, Ed Orgeron, received a text. It then fell to Orgeron to tell Ensminger about what had happened in Lafayette.

“I told him what happened, and here’s what he said: ‘Coach, we’re going to get through this,’” Orgeron said after the game in Atlanta. “He was distraught, but he called a great game.”

Ms. McCord covered football and basketball as a freelance reporter for Cox Sports Television, ESPN 3 and WDSU, a television station in New Orleans, according to her website. She also had worked as a digital media reporter for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and as an in-game host, an M.C. role, at games for the New Orleans Saints and the New Orleans Pelicans.

Officials did not identify a cause for the crash. All of the plane’s passengers appeared to have been flying to Atlanta for the game, said Alton Trahan, a spokesman for the Lafayette Fire Department.

The plane crashed into the parking lot of a post office shortly before 9:30 a.m., less than two miles from the Lafayette Regional Airport, where it had taken off. The crash sent chunks of metal into a nearby field and flames billowing near mail trucks.