Photo courtesy of South Alabama Athletics
Coaching Candidate Profile: Brian Turner
Out with the old and in with the new. That’s at least how West Virginia’s football program has looked this offseason following the news of Al Pogue leaving the Mountaineers coaching staff last week.
One of the newest names to pop up on the coaching trail is South Alabama defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator, Brian Turner.
In the school’s inaugural football season, Turner coached the Jaguars to combine for 18 tackles behind the line of scrimmage which allowed their defense to surrender only 235 yards and seven points per game while going 7-0.
Turner has also been a big help in the recruiting efforts at South Alabama while gaining signing classes of 20 or more student athletes to help the talent level and depth in the program.
Before taking the job at South Alabama, Turner served as a part of the Troy coaching staff where he worked as a recruiting coordinator as well as working with the defensive ends and safeties.
In his five seasons with Troy, the Trojans compiled a 33-27 overall mark while going 20-8 in Sun Belt action while also seeing action in a pair of bowl games and also winning league titles two years in a row.
His first full-time coaching job came in 2002 when Turner served a year as offensive line coach at North Alabama before coming back to Troy.
Turner also played at Troy prior to his coaching days and helped the Trojans to a 31-6-1 record which included the school’s first perfect regular season in 1995.
The Fort Meade, Florida native started his coaching career at Troy as a graduate assistant from 1991 until 2001 while the Trojans posted winning records all three years as well as winning the conference championship in 1999 and 2000.
The Mountaineers continue on their search for a new defensive minded coach as Turner remains a solid choice for the job.
