No Shockers reunion: Mark Turgeon won’t return as Wichita State basketball head coach
The chances of Mark Turgeon returning to coach the Wichita State men’s basketball team, a job he left some 16 years ago, are likely extinguished.
Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation informed The Eagle that Turgeon has told others he has declined a job offer from WSU athletic director Kevin Saal on Sunday and has removed himself from consideration. The Eagle could not verify if the job had indeed been offered to Turgeon, but could confirm he is no longer being considered.
Speculation about a possible reunion gained steam immediately following Saturday’s decision by Saal to fire Isaac Brown one day after the Shockers wrapped up their season.
Turgeon, a Topeka native who turned 58 last month, has been away from the coaching world since mutually agreeing to part ways as the Maryland head coach on Dec. 3, 2021, citing burnout. According to those same sources, Turgeon plans on becoming a consultant rather than return to the sidelines as a coach.
Turgeon coached WSU from 2000-07 and most notably led the Shockers to the 2006 Sweet 16, the program’s first second-weekend run in nearly two decades. He left to take the head coach job at Texas A&M for four years, then spent the next 11 years at Maryland.
His familiarity with the program, the city and the donor base made him a target early in the coaching search process. It’s unlikely that WSU could find a coach with commensurate NCAA tournament experience, as Turgeon has nine March Madness appearances since leaving Wichita, with seven first-round wins and a 2016 Sweet 16 run. Perhaps his most talented team at Maryland never had the chance to compete due to the coronavirus pandemic wiping out the 2020 NCAA tournament.
With Turgeon off the board, it’s unclear which direction Saal is turning in the Wichita State basketball coaching search. National analysts peg WSU as one of the more intriguing open positions in the country, which should drum up interest from the crop of up-and-coming mid-major coaches who have led their teams to the Big Dance this week.
Furman’s Bob Richey and Oral Roberts’ Paul Mills are two potential targets, according to sources, while other potential candidates who are sitting head coaches in the tournament include Florida Atlantic’s Dusty May, North Texas’ Grant McCasland, College of Charleston’s Pat Kelsey, Drake’s Darian DeVries and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Steve Lutz.
May, McCasland, Kelsey and DeVries have all been rumored to be candidates for power-conference openings. WSU would face stiff competition to land any one of them, but it’s a battle the Shockers very well could win, given what the program has to offer in tradition, fan base, resources and proven track record of winning.
Sources also confirmed that Houston assistant coach Kellen Sampson has interviewed for the position and remains in the mix. He would be a first-time head coach, which would give some pause, but he is widely hailed as one of the best young assistant coaches in the country. Sampson is familiar with WSU and recruiting in the American Athletic Conference and could bring a ‘Play Angry’ style that has turned Houston into a national powerhouse.
A segment of influential WSU donors would still like to make a run at Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans, a former Shocker assistant coach whose team lost in an NCAA First Four game Tuesday night. But the pursuit still seems like a long shot with WSU on the hook for $2.5 million per year for the next three years to pay two former coaches not to coach and then needing to come up with a multi-million dollar buyout (Jans’ buyout number at MSU isn’t publicly known) on top of a multi-million dollar contract (he’s making $2.4 million on top of incentives this year in Starkville, Miss.).
Another long shot could be Wichita native Adrian Griffin, currently an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors. He has no college coaching experience, but his NBA ties could make him an attractive coach for prospects and his Wichita ties would be a plus.
