Kentucky basketball assistant KT Turner set to become next UT Arlington head coach: Reports

LEXINGTON, Ky. — K.T. Turner's stint as a Kentucky basketball assistant will last just one season.

According to multiple reports, Turner will be named the next head coach at UT Arlington. The Athletic's Kyle Tucker reports that Turner will finish the season with the Wildcats before taking over the Mavericks' program.

Turner joined UK after spending the 2021-22 season as associate head coach at Oklahoma. He was in the same position at Texas in 2020-21. Prior to that, Turner spent seven seasons as an assistant at SMU.

At Kentucky, Turner was expected to help the Wildcats excel in the transfer portal.

“Sometimes guys when they transfer, they try to make it seem like a negative thing," Turner told The Courier Journal last summer, "but sometimes it can be a positive thing.”

More on Turner:This new assistant could be vital to Kentucky basketball recruiting in the transfer portal

Kentucky coach John Calipari also lauded Turner's abilities as a recruiter and developer.

"He loves spending time in the gym working with kids and helping them continue to push for improvement," Calipari said at the time of Turner's hire. "K.T. has done an excellent job of recruiting Texas, which has always been good to us, and has a terrific ability to connect with young people.”

Turner was on Wichita State's staff in 2012, when the Shockers went 30-9 overall and advanced to the Final Four.

Before jumping to the Division I ranks, he had time as an assistant at various junior colleges and community colleges in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Turner played at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas before transferring to Oklahoma City University, where he helped the team win the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles and earn a spot in the NAIA tournament.

March Madness:Kentucky vs Providence basketball: What to know about first-round NCAA Tournament game

Turner went overseas and played professionally in Italy for three seasons before returning to the U.S. and beginning his coaching career.

Now, the Wildcats will look to replace their newest assistant coach.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @RyanABlack.