As was announced yesterday, Mark Turgeon will be the next coach for the University of Maryland men’s hoops program. I would have loved to have Sean Miller, but I am very excited to have Turgeon as the new head coach. So for those of you who don’t know, let’s do a coach bio for the new head man of the Terps.
Turgeon grew up in Kansas and was recruited by Larry Brown to play point guard for the Jayhawks. He was on the team from 1984 to 1987 and was the first Kansas player to go to the NCAA tournament all four years of his career. Brown advised Turgeon that he probably would not make it in the NBA and to look towards coaching. In so doing, Turgeon joined Brown’s staff after graduation and was one of the assistant coaches during Danny and the Miracles run to the championship in 1988.
In 1992, he followed another Kansas assistant, Jerry Green, to Oregon to become the top assistant. When Green left for Tennessee, Turgeon joined up with Larry Brown for a year in 1997 with the 76ers.
He got his first head coaching gig with Jacksonville State and was there for 2 years accumulating a record of 25-29 but finished year two with a 17-11, 12-6 record in conference.
He returned to Kansas to coach the Wichita State Shockers who had 2 winning seasons in the last 11 seasons before Turgeon arrived. He steadily improved the program and got the team to the NIT in 2003, 2004, and 2005. In 2006, the Shockers advanced to the Sweet 16 before losing to fellow mid major darling and Final Four participant, George Mason. They finished the season 26-9, 14-4 in conference good for 1st in the Missouri Valley. In 2007, the Shockers started out like gangbusters (9-0) with wins over George Mason, Syracuse, and LSU to reach as high as #8 in the AP Poll but fell into a terrible slump and finished the season 17-14, 8-10. Overall Turgeon was 128-90, 71-55 with the Shockers before leaving to coach Texas A&M.
Turgeon was with Texas A&M for 4 years and each year the Aggies advanced to the tournament. He finished with a record of 97-40 and 38-26 in the Big 12. His overall record is 249-158.
Mark Turgeon always seems to get the most out of his players and recruits very well. The key for Turgeon will be keeping the homegrown Maryland talent with the Terps and not let them get away (Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Rudy Gay to name a few). If Turgeon can recruit the Baltimore and DC areas well, he will continue the tradition Gary Williams laid out over the last 22 years and make it even brighter. Despite the Terps struggles last year, Turgeon inherits a top 25 team next year and a very good recruiting class as well as a very passionate fanbase. He will put his own stamp on this new era of Terps basketball.
