KT Turner

Bringing nearly 20 years of collegiate coaching experience ranging from Texas junior college to currently the University of Kentucky, former UT Arlington men’s basketball student-athlete KT Turner has been named the 10th full-time head coach in program history.

Turner, 44, is an assistant coach with Kentucky – hired by John Calipari to keep the Wildcats’ Texas recruiting flowing – and that has come 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 – whose first name is Kenneth – 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 – the first for the program since 1965.

Turner helped guide one of the sport’s blueblood programs in Kentucky to another 20-win campaign this year and a record 60th NCAA Tournament appearance. The No. 6-seeded Wildcats are set to face No. 11-seeded Providence in the First Round on Friday night at 6:10 CT on CBS.