Arkansas' new tight ends coach Morgan Turner said Monday that he has been coming to the Natural State every year of his life.
Though he didn't play for the Hogs like his predecessor Dowell Loggains, Turner has plenty of ties to the state.
Turner came over from Stanford, where head coach David Shaw resigned on Nov. 27 after 12 seasons. Turner spent 13 seasons on the staff with the Cardinal. He is a native of Champaign, Illinois, and a graduate of the University of Illinois.
His mother and uncle were born and raised in El Dorado, which is a town that sits on the southern border of Arkansas. Turner said it was actually his uncle who alerted him about the Razorbacks' open position at tight ends coach when things fell apart at Stanford.
"I went through a couple of people, got (Sam Pittman's) number and shot him a message," Turner said. "I said 'Hey I'd be very interested in this job.' Gave him a little bit of my bio, my background at Stanford, and it kind of went from there. Very quickly materialized. I'm kind of figuring it out right now."
Pittman didn't know Turner personally, but he knew a lot of people that knew Turner. Pittman even mentioned that he talked to Turner's father, Ron Turner, who was the head coach at Illinois from 1997-2004. He also knew Shaw and former Stanford defensive coordinator Derek Mason, who is currently the DC at Oklahoma State.
"So, I knew several different guys, not just those but more than that," Pittman said. "Then his resume was, got a lot of guys in the league. I knew that he would be a fine coach, I was just wondering what his personality and how he would fit in with us."
After going through a story of how he tricked people tracking his flights last week, Pittman said he picked Turner up from a recruiting trip in Miami to bring him home to Fayetteville.
Turner said his wife, Melissa, is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area in California, but she was all about coming to Arkansas when he pitched the idea.
"But I told her, I’m like, ‘Hey, what do you think about Arkansas?’" Turner said. "She’s like, ‘Yes. Absolutely.’ She’s been in the state. It’s a place like, ‘Alright I know that. I have some comfort there.’ My kids have cousins that are five hours away, something like that now. So that was an easy sell for her."
Turner also mentioned that his sister just moved into a new house in Rogers, so the situation has worked out perfectly for him and his family.
"I couldn’t think of anything more meant to be," Turner said. "Her moving here, we get to come here, my wife’s fired up. I have a 4-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy. I showed them the logo, showed them a picture of it, and he’s like, ‘I remember that one.’ So they’re at the age, like they’re not totally sure what’s going on. But like, ‘Alright. I’ve got some comfort there. I know it.’ It’s pretty exciting."
Recruiting Arkansas was also a task of Turner's during his time at Stanford. He recruited current Razorback tight end Hudson Henry, who attended Pulaski Academy in Little Rock.
"Seeing Hudson go through Pulaski Academy there," Turner said. "And I’ve been to some of the area schools. But some of my time spent here was … I went down to Hope a little bit. But I spent a lot of time with Coach Kelly at Pulaski. And now Coach (Anthony) Lucas there. I was actually there a week before I got hired, hanging out with him."
Summer vacations for Turner have also been spent at Lake Ouachita, where he said they have a place. Pittman said he is going to try to get Turner to check out Lake Hamilton, where Pittman has a home on the lake.
"I know Ouachita is the greatest thing ever, but you come on down and Lake Hamilton is pretty nice, too," Pittman said.
