Turgeon hired to coach UMKC
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Homecoming for Jayhawk great and Topeka native Mark Turgeon.
Will UMKC reach the NCAA Tourney?
Will UMKC become a feeder for KU?
Will Turgeon position himself as a possible successor to Bill Self?
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A great hire for UMKC
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Turgeon! I hope that's the job he wanted. A considerable step down from previous stops.
Sadly i'm not sure if there are any "YES" answers to your questions.
But, much love and luck to Turg.
Everybody roots for the local kid. -
I think this is a home run hire by KC. Definitely a downgrade from the likes of A&M and Maryland but at Turg’s age I’m sure doing something like this close to home was a big selling point. I see zero realistic chance he replaces Bill Self, he is only a few years younger. Obviously with that being said Self could step down anytime with health concerns. I just don’t see Turg as a guy we would pursue to replace him. Would be great to see him lead that club to the NCAA tournament. People forget how dead the that WSU program was before he stepped in.
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Boy, things are really slow on this site . . . so I thought I'd share a story. Back in 1996, UMKC was looking for a new basketball coach. For "political" reasons, they formed a search committee. The committee of 24 had nothing to do with the selection, but it made a good cover. I was on the committee. We interviewed the three finalists: Mark Turgeon, Mike Anderson (who went on to head coach at Arkansas) and Bob Sundvold. Sundvold was the choice of the AD, probably because he had coached under Norm Stewart at Misery and had "taken the fall" for Norm over NCAA violations.
The interview with Turgeon was memorable. I asked what I thought was a great question: "You've been an assistant to three great coaches. What did you learn from each of them?" Turgeon responded as though he had prepared for my question. "Coach Brown is the greatest in-game coach in the game. After almost every timeout, he'd come down to me as ask, 'Turg, what would you have done?' Coach Williams is exceptionally well organized. He taught me how to organize my day; how to organize practices. And Coach Green taught me how to deal with the media." Turgeon was well prepared and had a great interview.
The other great question during that interview was "Coach Turgeon, what kind of players will you recruit?" Turgeon answered, "I'll recruit players who can shoot. I can teach them my offense, and I can teach them how to play defense. But I can't teach them how to shoot."
Very memorable.
