01 Ram van 3.9 wont start

[bully06]

My neighbors 01 ram van 3.9 cranks but wont start, here is what he described to me. He was driving to work and suddenly it started to run like a diesel and finally died out. I told him to check to see if you can hear the fuel pump running. He said yes you can rear in priming once key is turned. He said he tried a couple shots of starting fluid in the throttle body, still no start. Sounds like a no spark issue. Could this be a possible coil or crank sensor? I also forgot to mention when it died out it was also puffing black smoke out of the exhaust.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.