NCAA Basketball: Stevens, Huggins among top head coaching hires of 2007
By Joey Loose
6. Mark Turgeon (Texas A&M)
Texas A&M was one of those programs suffering for their success, as Billy Gillispie’s quick turnaround led him to be hired by Kentucky in 2007. The Aggies were after a new head coach again, but this time one to maintain the recent momentum of the program, not necessarily to completely rebuild it. Once again, they tabbed a successful young mid-major coach for the job.
Mark Turgeon played under Larry Brown at Kansas before joining his staff after his playing days had come to an end. Also briefly an assistant in the NBA and at Oregon, his head coaching career began at Jacksonville State in 1998. Two years later, he was hired at Wichita State and led the Shockers to a Sweet Sixteen just a few years later. Texas A&M would be his first big chance at the power conference level and he took it in stride.
At the very least, Turgeon sustained that success in his four years in College Station. He took the Aggies to at least 24 wins and the NCAA Tournament in each of those four seasons, doing tremendous work recruiting and coaching in the Big 12. Texas A&M never got beyond the opening weekend, but was still in much better shape than in this past decade, as Turgeon departed for Maryland in 2011.