Former Maryland head men’s basketball coach Mark Turgeon was recently hired for the same position by the University of Missouri-Kansas City, four-plus years after stepping down at Maryland in December 2021.
Turgeon, 61, will take over for Marvin Menzies, who took New Mexico State to five NCAA Tournaments between 2010 and 2015 but has struggled in four seasons at Kansas City. The school announced in January that Menzies wouldn’t return for a fifth season.
Morgan State head coach Kevin Broadus, who served as an assistant under Turgeon from 2017-2019, said he is “elated” that his old boss is back in the game.
“I’m happy for his wife because I know he’s probably driving her crazy,” Broadus joked after Morgan’s 79-71 win against Maryland Eastern Shore on Feb. 7. “Now he’s back working. I’m happy for Ann and him and the family. He’s hiring his son, Will, so it’s great.”
Turgeon went 476-275 in 23-plus seasons as the head coach at Jacksonville State, Wichita State, Texas A&M and Maryland. He has been to the NCAA Tournament 10 times, though that number would have been 11 had the tournament not been canceled in 2020. Turgeon and Broadus went to the NCAA Tournament together in 2019, after which Broadus landed the Morgan job.
Turgeon wasn’t around this season, but he visited Morgan at least twice a month to help out in the two years prior, according to Broadus.
“He always told me, ‘Nah, I don’t want to coach no more, I don’t want to coach no more,'” Broadus said. “But when you’re a coach, it’s in your blood, in your system, so I knew because he would say little things and make me say, ‘Oh, he’s coaching.'”
Turgeon is a native of Topeka and played at Kansas, so the Kansas City job serves as a homecoming. The Roos rank among the worst teams in Division I hoops, according to KenPom, a college hoops analytics site, and they’ve never been to the NCAA Tournament before, so Turgeon will have his work cut out for him.
Turgeon was announced as the next coach of Kansas City on Feb. 1. He texted Broadus beforehand to let him know what was coming.
“I knew at some point he was itching to get back, and that’s home,” Broadus said. “That’s home for him, so it makes a lot of sense and it’s almost a connect-the-dots thing that I’d be surprised if he’d be there long. I think he’s getting back in for bigger things. The guy’s a hell of a coach. They got a steal.”
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