The first vacancy of the 2026 coaching carousel has filled, and it’s a big get for a small school: Former Maryland coach Mark Turgeon has agreed to a five-year contract be the next man in charge at Kansas City, sources told CBS Sports. The Roos are playing out the string this season under departing coach Marvin Menzies; the school announced in January that it was moving on from Menzies’ four-year run at season’s end.
Kansas City (formerly UMKC) is 4-18 and ranks near the bottom of Division I this season.
Turgeon, who turns 61 on Feb. 5, has a 479-275 record across 23 and a half seasons. He began his career at Jacksonville State, then Turgeon upped his profile in a seven-year stint at Wichita State, including a 2006 Sweet 16 appearance. From 2007-11, Turgeon ran Texas A&M’s program and took the Aggies to four straight NCAA Tournaments. That landed him his biggest job: Maryland.
Turgeon had an NCAA Tournament-level team in six of his nine full seasons in College Park, though he only took the Terrapins to the Big Dance five times due to his 24-7 team not getting a chance to play in the canceled 2020 NCAA Tournament. He took over the Terps in 2011, lasting a little more than a decade. Turgeon resigned from his post at Maryland on Dec. 3, 2021, amid a rocky start and toxic situation with the fan base.
A little more than four years removed from roaming the sidelines, Turgeon is hopping back into the profession. He does so in surprising fashion by heading to the Summit League level; it’s conceivable Turgeon could have landed a bigger job in March, when dozens more will inevitably come available. Turgeon has ties to the area: He played at Kansas in the 1980s and grew up in Topeka, Kansas. A source said that Turgeon will bring his son, Will, on staff as well.
Kansas City AD Brandon Martin made a significant push on Turgeon in the past two weeks (and a source said it’s not the first time he tried to court a former power-conference coach). Martin ultimately swayed Turgeon, and in doing so, the Roos will boast one of the most accomplished coaches at the mid-major level.
Kansas City been in Division I since the late 1980s but never made the NCAA Tournament.
