Former Wichita State basketball coach Mark Turgeon resigns as head coach at Maryland
Kansas native and former Wichita State men’s basketball coach Mark Turgeon shocked the college basketball world on Friday when it was announced the longtime coach was stepping down from his head coaching position at the University of Maryland.
The decision came just eight months after Turgeon inked a three-year, $17 million contract extension to keep him at Maryland through the 2025-26 season. According to reports, the decision was made following Maryland’s 62-58 loss at home to Virginia Tech on Wednesday to drop the Terrapins to 5-3 this season.
While Turgeon won 66% of his games and made five of the past six NCAA Tournaments, Maryland fans were hungry for more. During his decade-long run as coach, Maryland advanced to the Sweet Sixteen one time. It was that level of scrutiny and pressure that led to Turgeon’s decision to step down, sources told The Eagle.
Turgeon, a Topeka native and former KU basketball player, was replaced by another former Jayhawk in Danny Manning as interim head coach.
“After several in-depth conversations with (Maryland athletic director) Damon (Evans), I have decided that the best thing for Maryland Basketball, myself and my family is to step down, effective immediately, as the head coach of Maryland Basketball,” Turgeon said in a release. “I have always preached that Maryland basketball is bigger than any one individual. My departure will enable a new voice to guide the team moving forward.”
Turgeon may have been in the national spotlight more at Texas A&M, where he coached from 2007 to 2011, and Maryland, but it was at Wichita State where he first proved his coaching chops. He has etched his spot in WSU history as the coach who restored pride and excitement back into WSU basketball, helping start WSU’s return to national prominence with his 2006 Sweet 16 trip.
He is still remembered fondly by the WSU fan base for the job he did turning around the program. He was hired at WSU by Jim Schaus in March 2000 as a little-known coach at Jacksonville State. When Turgeon arrived in Wichita, the Shockers had enjoyed just two winning seasons in the 11 previous years.
It didn’t take Turgeon long to change that, as he turned the Shockers into a winning program by his third season. It all peaked during the 2005-06 season, as he led WSU to its first Missouri Valley Conference championship since 1983 and its first NCAA Tournament since 1988.
It was in March Madness when Turgeon captured the hearts of Shocker fans and made them wonder what was possible with WSU basketball. On a team led by P.J. Couisnard, Paul Miller, Sean Ogirri, Kyle Wilson, Matt Braeuer and Karon Bradley, Wichita State won two straight games, capped by an 80-73 upset of No. 2 seed Tennessee to advance to the program’s first Sweet 16 in 25 years.
WSU started off the following season with a 9-0 record, including road wins at George Mason, LSU and Syracuse, while climbing to No. 8 in the country. But the Shockers could never piece it together in the 2006-07 season, as they ended with a 17-14 record and missed postseason play altogether.
Shortly after the season, Turgeon left for Texas A&M and WSU made another home-run hire in Gregg Marshall, who took what Turgeon had started and elevated the program even higher with a Final Four run and 35-1 season.
When Marshall resigned last October, sources told The Eagle that Turgeon was interested in returning to Wichita if the full-time job ever came open. Ultimately, interim coach Isaac Brown led WSU to its first American Athletic Conference championship and was picked to succeed Marshall.
As the years went by following Turgeon’s exit, the coach often reflected on his time in Wichita at his new stops and spoke glowingly about what he was able to accomplish with the Shockers. He finished with a 128-90 record in seven seasons at WSU and has a 476-275 record overall as a head coach for the past 24 years.
“We just loved Wichita,” Turgeon told 247sports.com last year. “Man, we grinded and we got it there. And we built a new practice facility with the help of Charles Koch. And really built that thing up.
“That’s probably the most pride I have in a program and what I was able to do. When I left it there, I felt like it was a high-major program because of the way we left it. Really proud of what we did. Won a lot of games and made it a better place.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
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