K.T. Turner has been named an assistant men’s basketball coach at SMU, Head Coach Larry Brown announced today. Turner comes to the Hilltop after a Final Four run at Wichita State as a member of head coach Gregg Marshall’s staff.
Turner will assist at SMU as the Mustangs transition into the American Athletic Conference in 2013-14, coaching talented returnees, including all five starters – Cannen Cunningham, Jalen Jones, Ryan Manuel, Nick Russell, and Shawn Williams; and a recruiting class ranked as high as No. 14 nationally and headlined by McDonald’s All-American Keith Frazier.
Prior to joining the staff at Wichita State, Turner worked one season as an assistant at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, serving as the program’s primary recruiter. He spent the previous two seasons as an assistant at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College. Turner helped lead the Blue Dragons to a 52-12 record in two seasons and advanced to the Region VI semifinals in both years, marking the first time since the 2003-04 season that Hutchinson advanced that far in the playoffs.
After stints at Redlands Community College and Panola (Texas) Junior College, Turner joined the staff at Northern Arizona for the 2007-08 season. He helped coach the Lumberjacks to a 21-11 season with a 12-4 record in Big Sky play. After a season at Northern Arizona, he served as an assistant at Cowley College, helping guide the team to a 29-5 mark and a trip to the Region VI title game.
Turner began his collegiate playing career at Hutchinson C.C., where he was an all-conference player in 1997-98 and 1998-99. He led the Blue Dragons to a 50-14 record in two seasons, advancing to the Region VI semifinals once. After a season at UT-Arlington, Turner finished his collegiate career at Oklahoma City University, where he later earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in 2003. He helped the Stars reach the Final Four of the NAIA National Basketball Tournament and then played professionally for Benneton Treviso in Treviso, Italy, before joining the coaching ranks.
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