Mark Turgeon will continue his basketball coaching career at UMKC
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- Mark Turgeon, 60, will lead UMKC (KC Roos) men’s basketball, returning to Midwest roots.
- Turgeon brings 24-year head-coaching resume, 476-275 record and multiple NCAA bids.
- Roos seek program turnaround; team sits 4-18 and has never reached the NCAA Tournament.
Mark Turgeon, whose teams became NCAA Tournament regulars, will become the KC Roos’ next men’s basketball coach.
“I’m excited to return to the Midwest. I have a lot of family there,” Turgeon said. “There are only a few jobs I’d have considered.”
Turgeon, 60, is returning to the college basketball sideline after last coaching at Maryland from 2011-21. He stepped down there eight games into his 11th season.
Kansas City, formerly UMKC, was looking for a coach after the school announced in January that Marvin Menzies, in his fourth year, will not return after finishing this season.
Turgeon is from Topeka — “I love the Chiefs and Royals” — and played guard at Kansas under Larry Brown from 1983-1987. He became a KU assistant on the 1988 team that won the NCAA Championship, and remained on the staff when Roy Williams took over the next season.
Turgeon served on staffs at Oregon and the Philadelphia 76ers before landing his first head coaching job at Jacksonville State.
In 2000, Turgeon became the coach at Wichita State and led the Shockers to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in 2006.
He took over at Texas A&M and took the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament in each of his four years.
In 2012, Turgeon became the coach at Maryland. In 10 full seasons, he had the Terrapins in the NCAA Tournament five times.
In 2020, Maryland won the Big Ten regular-season title but the NCAA Tournament was canceled that year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. All of his Terrapins teams finished over .500.
Since stepping down at Maryland, Turgeon worked as a consultant to coaches and programs.
In 24 years, Turgeon owns a career record of 476-275. He’s been named coach of the year in two conferences, the Missouri Valley in 2006 and Big Ten in 2015.
The Roos are 4-18 heading into Sunday’s game at St. Thomas. The program, which has been Division I since 1986-87, has never played in the NCAA Tournament.
This story was originally published February 1, 2026 at 10:45 AM with the headline "Mark Turgeon will continue his basketball coaching career at UMKC."