KT Turner

Biography

Bringing nearly 20 years of collegiate coaching experience ranging from Texas junior college to most recently the University of Kentucky, former UT Arlington men's basketball student-athlete KT Turner was named the 10th full-time head coach in program history on Mar. 17, 2023. During Turner's first season at the helm of the Mavericks' program, UTA reached the WAC Tournament championship game, and concluded the year with a 20-14 record and 13-7 conference mark. Turner's squad improved on the previous season by nine wins, and won seven more league contests. Turner, 45, was previously an assistant coach with Kentucky – hired by John Calipari to keep the Wildcats' Texas recruiting flowing – and that came on the heels of one season each as an associate head coach at Oklahoma (2021-22) and Texas (2020-21). Prior to his time in Austin, Turner spent seven years on the SMU sidelines from 2013-20, the last four of which were in an associate head coaching role. In 2012-13, Turner was an assistant coach for Wichita State, helping the Shockers post a 30-9 record and reach the Final Four. After playing his freshman and sophomore seasons at Hutchinson Community College, Turner transferred to UTA and played for the Mavs before finishing his playing career at Oklahoma City University for his senior campaign in 2001-02.