Terps Hire New Basketball Coach
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (WJZ) -- Mark Turgeon, who has won back-to-back Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year honors at Texas A&M, has been hired as the new men's basketball coach at the University of Maryland, director of athletics Kevin Anderson announced Monday.
He comes to College Park after directing Texas A&M to four consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament, posting a 97-40 record in four seasons with the Aggies. He was the Big 12 Coach of the Year in both 2010 and 2011 and is the only coach in Big 12 history with at least 24 victories in each of his four seasons.
Turgeon, 46, will replace longtime Terrapin head coach Gary Williams, who announced his retirement last week after 22 seasons at Maryland.
He will be introduced at a news conference on Wednesday at noon in Heritage Hall at Comcast Center. Terms of the contract were not immediately released.
"We're thrilled to bring Mark to the university, where I'm sure he will continue to build on the great legacy and success of Maryland basketball," said Anderson. "In Mark, we have brought one of the outstanding young coaches in the country, and one who has a proven record of achievement on and off the court. We couldn't be more excited."
Turgeon is 250-159 after 13 seasons overall as a head coach. In seven years at Wichita State, he built the Shockers into a power in the Missouri Valley Conference, earning the league title and an NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2006. In that NCAA Tournament, Wichita State beat Seton Hall and Tennessee before losing to eventual Final Four participant George Mason.
In a statement, Turgeon said, "I accepted the Maryland job earlier tonight. It was just too good an offer for me to pass on. The thing that made it the most difficult was the players. Those guys have done everything I've asked for four years and we've had a great ride. (Director of Athletics) Bill Byrne has been really good to me too. Those are the hardest parts of the whole thing. It's been a tough day. I've been back and forth many times. I just felt like Maryland was a great opportunity for me and my family."
He went 128-89 at Wichita State (2000-07), posting the third-most wins in school history. The Shockers went to three straight NITs from 2003 to 2005 in addition to the 2006 NCAAs, the first time WSU had four straight postseason appearances in 40 years.
He began his head-coaching career at Jacksonville State, going 17-11 in his final season there (1999-2000) after going 8-18 in his first year.
Turgeon was an assistant at Kansas for five seasons, first under Larry Brown (1987-88) and then under Roy Williams (1988-92). The Jayhawks made the NCAA Tournament in four of those seasons, winning the national championship in 1988 and finishing second in 1991. KU also won Big Eight titles in 1991 and 1992 with Turgeon on staff.
He was the top assistant under Jerry Green at Oregon from 1992-97 and was an assistant coach under Brown with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1997-98 before taking the head coaching position at Jacksonville State.
A point guard at Kansas from 1984-87, Turgeon was the first player in Jayhawks history to play in four straight NCAA Tournaments. KU went 108-33 under Brown in that stretch. Turgeon served as team captain in his junior and senior seasons, leading the Jayhawks to the 1986 NCAA Final Four.
As a student-athlete, he was selected to the Big Eight All-Academic Team in 1986 and was a Big Eight All-Freshman pick in 1984. He earned a bachelor of science degree in personnel administration from Kansas in 1987.
A native of Topeka, Kan., Turgeon led Hayden High School to back-to-back Class 4A state titles in 1982 and 1983, earning all-tournament honors each year. A first team all-state pick as a senior, Hayden went 47-3 in his high-school career.
In the summer of 2008, Turgeon was inducted into the Topeka Sports Hall of Fame.
