Calipari gets ‘next guy’ on his list to replace Lucas on Kentucky basketball staff
In the search to replace Jai Lucas on the Kentucky basketball coaching staff, John Calipari did not have to go beyond the first person on his list of possibilities.
“I knew that when we had an opening, K.T. Turner would be our next guy I’d be calling on,” Calipari said in a Wednesday news release announcing the hiring. “I’ve been very impressed with K.T. for as long as I’ve known him. He is from Cincinnati. His father worked for Tony Yates.
“And he still has ties to the area. He’s an established coach and someone who has a passion for development.
“He loves spending time in the gym working with kids and helping them continue to push for improvement. K.T. has done an excellent job of recruiting Texas, which has always been good to us, and has a terrific ability to connect with young people. He is exactly the coach we were looking for and I’m thrilled to have him join our family.”
Turner, who has ties to one of Calipari’s coaching mentors (Larry Brown), spoke of being eager to join the Kentucky staff.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to work at the University of Kentucky,” Turner said in the news release. “I’ve always wanted to work under John Calipari and be a part of his program. He has been on the forefront of college basketball for a long time. My family is extremely thankful for the opportunity to live in the state of Kentucky and be a part of the Lexington community. There is work to be done and the staff that I am joining is prepared to get this done. We know the mission is to get number nine.”
In early May, Lucas left UK’s staff after two seasons to become an assistant coach at Duke.
Turner brings 17 seasons of college coaching experience to Kentucky. He was associate head coach at Oklahoma under Porter Moser last season.
In his one season at Texas (2020-21), the Longhorns had a 19-8 record, led the Big 12 in field goal percentage defense and were a three-seed in the NCAA Tournament. He was credited with helping Kai Jones be named Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year.
Before Texas, Turner was an assistant coach at SMU for seven seasons. That included four seasons as associate head coach.
In that time, SMU had a record of 169-71 and won two American Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships. SMU was ranked in The Associated Press Top 25 in four of those seasons.
The link to Calipari via Larry Brown came at SMU. In three of Turner’s seasons on the SMU staff, Brown was the head coach. Calipari began his coaching career working at Kansas when Brown was coach.
The Athletic has reported that Brown strongly recommended Texas hire Turner.
Then-Texas Coach Shaka Smart said that Brown told him, “K.T.’s the best assistant I’ve ever been around because of the impact that K.T. has on the people around him,” The Athletic reported.
Later, Smart said of Brown, “he’s one of those guys, if you don’t like him, then something’s wrong with you.”
In Turner’s time on the staff, 15 SMU players made all-conference teams. Three players — Semi Ojeleye, Sterling Brown and Shake Milton — were NBA Draft picks.
Before working for SMU, Turner was an assistant coach at Wichita State (2012-13), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2011-12), Hutchinson Community College (2009-11), Cowley College (2008-09), Redlands Community College (2006-07) and Panola Community College (2005-06).
His season with Wichita State saw the Shockers advance to the Final Four by beating Pittsburgh, No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga, La Salle and Ohio State.
In the national semifinals, Wichita State lost to Louisville, 72-68.
Turner is a second-generation college coach. His late father, Ken, was an assistant coach at Kansas State and Ohio State.
Turner played collegiately on the junior college and NAIA levels. After college, he played professionally in Italy from 2002 to 2005.
