Kean hires David Turco as the new head coach of Men’s Basketball

By Ruben Nieves | Published by November 19, 2020

Kean’s Athletics director knew he had a winner when he talked with David Turco, who was named last month as the next head coach of the Men’s Basketball team.

“He just has a history of success wherever he coached as well as his development of young players on and off the court,” said the athletic director, Kelly Williams. “I was very impressed, and I have had the opportunity of working with and being associated with coach Turco for a number of years and I have had the opportunity to coach some of his players.”

Before becoming head coach here at Kean, Turco was coaching at Middlesex County College and owns a career record of 448-121 in his 21 seasons as a head coach. According to mycentraljersey.com, Turco has coached at St. Joseph’s high school, Carteret high school, and South Brunswick high school.

Turco takes over after former head coach Adam Hutchinson was recently promoted to assistant director of internal affairs and student athlete development.

Williams praised Turco’s history of success and his development of young players on and off the court.

Turco during his years as a head coach has had players who went on and played for the NBA. Turco helped groom former first overall pick and NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns who is having a successful career for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Turco has also coached Wade Baldwin, who was selected with the 17^th pick in the first round by the Memphis Grizzlies back in the 2016 NBA Draft.

Towns retweeted the news of the hiring  and called Turco the best coach he has ever had the honor of playing for.

“No one more deserving,” Towns said in his tweet. “Kean got a good one in coach Turco.”

Williams believes the hiring of Turco came down to his success and the graduation rate of his student athletes.

“It came down to his success, his winning percentage, and his graduation rate of his student athletes,” Williams said. “It is very consistent with my philosophy and my way of thinking as the director of athletics. I want to make sure that person has those qualities and he definitely showed that his qualities are our needs.”

There were many candidates for the head coaching job at Kean.

“We probably have been contacted by about between 50 to 100 applicants,” Williams said.

With the hiring of Turco, there is still no word yet if any additional members will be added to the coaching staff.

“Not at this point, we are still trying to figure out what are sports going to look like and if they will be able to start,” Williams said as they still await on the news of sports returning.

Throughout his years of coaching and the different schools he has coached at, Coach Turco has impressed many with his coaching and his overall accomplishments.

“His ability to relate to student athletes, his ability to have a plan in place for winning games and doing it with integrity,” Williams said.

With the ongoing pandemic and the surge of positive tests, a basketball season is still in question. Williams still has no word on whether there will be a season but has heard several plans that were proposed about the possibility of a season.

“As of November 5, I do not have any information,” Williams said. “We do have several proposed plans that we are waiting to see if it will come to play. We hope to have more updated information by next month.”

Williams shared some of his early expectations for Coach Turco, but he feels that his resume speaks for itself.

“Just to be himself and lead with integrity,” Williams said. “His resume speaks for itself, his history of showing student athletes how to succeed on and off the court is unmatched in the state of New Jersey.”

With coaching experience of over 21 seasons, Williams believes Turco’s experience will be beneficial to the team.

“His experience brings credibility, his experience of winning championships in high school and junior college and as well as coaching professional players,” Williams said. “His credibility as a winner and as a motivator are more important for someone with a plan and I am excited for our student athletes to have the opportunity with coach Turco.”

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