LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of Kentucky Basketball team has officially announced the hiring of K.T. Turner as an assistant coach.
The Cincinnati native comes to UK with 20 years experience as a college assistant. He spent one season with Oklahoma where the Sooners were 19-16 and advanced to the second round of the NIT. Before that, he worked one season at Texas and seven seasons at SMU.
“I knew that when we had an opening, K.T. Turner would be our next guy I’d be calling on,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “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 played at Hutchinson Community College where he earned all-conference honors. He finished at Oklahoma City University helping reach the NAIA quarterfinals.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to work at the University of Kentucky,” Turner said. “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.”
Turner will join Orlando Antigua and Chin Coleman as assistants for Coach Calipari.
