Mark Turgeon

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Mark Leo Turgeon (born February 5, 1965) is an American college basketball coach.

He is the head men's basketball coach at the University of Maryland, College Park, a position he has held since 2011.

Turgeon served the head men's basketball coach at Jacksonville State University from 1998 to 2000, Wichita State University from 2000 to 2007, and Texas A&M University from 2007 to 2011.

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Playing career

In 1982 and 1983, Turgeon played basketball at Hayden High School, helping the team post a 47-3 record and capture two consecutive Class 4A state championships. In both of those years, Turgeon received All-State Tournament team awards.

Despite being just 5 foot 10 inches out of high school, Turgeon received a scholarship to play basketball at the University of Kansas under coach Larry Brown. Turgeon was the first KU player to do so in four straight NCAA tournaments. He served as a reserve point guard for the 1985–86 Jayhawks, who also advanced to the Final Four in the 1986 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. Overall, the team finished 35-44. Turgeon was a member of both the 1986 and 1987 squads of the Big Eight All-Freshmen Team, and he was also a Big Eight All-Academic Performer in 1986. Since he had the ability to "carve up defenses," fans referred to him as "The Surgeon."

Brown told Turgeon that he will likely never play in the NBA and should consider becoming a mentor after college. Brown answered him straight after games and practices, asking, "What will you do here?" says Turgeon. Turgeon recalls that he never got the answer correct; Brown always sighed, rolled his eyes, and did something else.

Coaching career

Since Turgeon earned a degree from the University of Kansas in 1987, he immediately took on the role as an assistant to Larry Brown, his former coach. He was instrumental in the 1988 NCAA tournament's first year as a mentor. Due to Danny Manning's leadership, the team has been dubbed "Danny and the Miracles" by the National Player of the Year.

After Brown left for the San Antonio Spurs in 1989, Turgeon stayed on the Kansas staff until Roy Williams took over. He also served as the head coach of the junior varsity team. Kansas captured the conference championship in 1992 and 1991, as well as 1992.

Following the 1992 season, Turgeon left Kansas to serve as the top assistant to newly recruited University of Oregon head coach Jerry Green, who had previously served as an assistant at Kansas. The Ducks earned a spot in the 1997 NIT for the first time in two decades during his five years as an assistant at Oregon. In 1995, Turgeon was the team's recruiting coordinator, and he recruited a class that ranked 35th nationally. He ranked two of the country's top 100 prospects in the first year this year.

In 1997, Turgeon briefly left college teaching. As head coach Jerry Green left Oregon to coach at the University of Tennessee, Turgeon decided to work with Larry Brown, his former coach, as an assistant for the National Basketball Association's Philadelphia 76ers for a year.

In 1998, Turgeon accepted his first head coaching position at Jacksonville State University in Alabama. In his first year as head coach, the team posted an 8-18 record, finishing 10th in the Trans America Conference. His squad improved to 17-11, 12-6 in conference, with a 3rd place conference finish.

Turgeon returned to his home state as head coach of the Wichita State Shockers in 1999-2000, a team that had only two winning seasons in the previous 11 years. The Shockers' first 11 games fell behind until winning 9 of their last 17 for a 9–19 record. Two of their losses came in overtime, and four others were decided by fewer than four points. They won 15 victories and 15 losses in the first season in four years, the most victories the team had in a season in four years. The team has steadily improved during the next three seasons, winning a National Invitation Tournament spot for each of the 2003, 2004, and 2005 seasons.

The Shockers continued to improve during the 2006 season, winning the Missouri Valley Conference for the first time since 1983. The team earned a trip to the 2006 NCAA tournament, the first since 1988. In their first round game and upset 2nd-seed Tennessee for the first time in 25 years, the Shockers defeated 10th-seed Seton Hall by 20 points, beating them by 20 points. Final Four-participant George Mason, 63-55, defeated the Shockers, who were then defeated 63-55.

The Shockers won on the road at George Mason, LSU, and Syracuse, winning on the road. The Shockers were ranked as high as #8 on the AP Poll before going through a slump, ending the season 17-14 and without a postseason.

After former head men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie left Texas A&M to coach at Kentucky, Turgeon was immediately hired as head coach on April 10, 2007. Turgeon obtained all of Gillispie's recruits for the 2007–08 season, including 5 star-rated DeAndre Jordan. According to the preseason Coaches Poll, the Aggies ranked 14th in the preseason.

As the season progressed, the team won the 2007 NIT Season Tip-Off to stretch their winning streak to 7–0. They would lose their first game of the season to unranked Arizona, who had a 7-1 record after the loss. They would win eight straight home games against unranked opponents following the Arizona game. After conference play had started, the team's results plummeted, losing three straight unranked teams—at Texas Tech, ruled by Michael Beasley-led Kansas State, and home to Baylor. The Baylor game went through five overtimes, marking the longest game in Big 12 history. The Aggies could win at least five games over the next five matchups, including one over the 10th-ranked Longhorns and three away games. They then regressed, losing to Oklahoma State and Nebraska at home. They defeated Texas Tech 98–54 at home, tying their highest margin of victory in school history (set against Texas in 1959). The Aggies regressed once more, this time losing 64–37 at Oklahoma. The game had the lowest drop in history since 1967 and had the third-worst shooting percentage (.255) in history. In addition, the team had only one assist and 18 turnovers in the game. Following the humiliation, the Aggies were able to revenge Baylor in Waco, but they were forced to forfeit their final regular season game to eventual national champion Kansas, ending 8-8 in conference play.

The team received a No. 8 on their record. In the first two rounds, the six teams advanced to the Big 12 tournament, defeating Iowa State and Kansas State in the first two rounds, but losing to Kansas in the semifinals. The Aggies received a No. 102 finish after the Big 12 tournament, with their 24–10 record. The NCAA tournament's West Regional is a bid by nine at-large candidates. They defeated BYU 67–62 at Anaheim in the first round. They met UCLA at the same time in the second round of the NCAA, losing in a close 549 match. The Aggies had a 25-11 record on the season. Coach Tom Penders' 1988-1989 season set a new record for first-year coaches at a Big 12 school, beating the previous record for most major college wins set by former Texas coach Tom Penders.

The Aggies in Turgeon were unranked in the year, with senior Josh Carter receiving a preseason All-Big 12 honorable mention. The team won its first four games before losing to Tulsa. The Aggies closed non-conference play with a 14–1 record. They lost four of their first five Big 12 games, the victory over then-#21 Baylor was a blow. A&M defeated Texas Tech and Oklahoma State in two straight games before snaping it with another three-game losing streak. The Aggies then won their last six games to close the season, including victories over Texas, Nebraska (on Carter's three-pointer at the buzzer), and Missouri's then-#12. The Aggies lost to Texas Tech in the first round of the Big 12 tournament after finishing the regular season with a 23–8 record. They earned a #9 seed in the NCAA West Regional, and they met BYU for the second year in a row. The Aggies came up short of defeating BYU for the second year in a row, 79–66. Texas A&M finished the season with a 24-10 record; Turgeon's 49 victories in his first two seasons was the most major 12 ever to win. Derrick Roland, a junior, was selected to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team. According to ESPN, Turgeon's recruiting class for the 2013 class of 2013 was ranked #25.

Turgeon had negotiated a salary increase and employment extension before his last year at Texas A&M. Turgeon met with his teaching staff and players on the evening of May 9, 2011 at 8 p.m. (local time), not realizing that he had accepted the head coach position at the University of Maryland less than half an hour earlier. He had arrived on the campus earlier that day and left with an invitation. When asked about his decision at an Aggie Athletics press conference, he said, "Maryland has a rich basketball tradition." [Texas A&M and Maryland are] very similar. It's a gut feeling." "It was the hardest decision [he] ever had to make] because of [them]." He told the Aggies in their meeting earlier this night. Turgeon said that A&M's fan attendance did not influence his decision.

Maryland students have used the term "Fear the Turgeon" since his arrival, a play on the school's motto, "Fear the Turtle." Any students, also known as the "Turgeonites," have founded a fan club for the coach and dress like him on game days. After beating UNC Wilmington 762-62, Turgeon won his first game as the University of Maryland head coach on November 13, 2011.

Turgeon led Maryland to one postseason in his first three seasons, including a appearance in the NIT Semifinals in 2013. After coaching Maryland to a 14-4 conference record, Turgeon was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2015.

The 2015-16 Terrapins advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, defeating South Dakota State and Hawaii as the #5 seed in the South region.

Maryland defeated #21 Iowa on February 19, 2008, the first road victory over a ranked opponent since January 19, 2008. When Wichita State coaching, Mark Turgeon's first big victory since December 2, 2006.

Turgeon and Maryland had mutually agreed to part ways on December 3, 2021, bringing an end to his nearly 11-year tenure as head coach.

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