LEWISTON, Maine -- When Sam Leal left his position as assistant men's basketball coach at Bates to become head coach at UMaine-Farmington last year, word of the opening his vacancy created, to be head coach Jon Furbush '05's lead assistant, got around quickly. 

Furbush wasn't too surprised to find himself fielding inquiries about the opening from many of his contacts in Maine and the coaching world. He didn't expect, however, to hear from Lewiston High School head coach Ronnie Turner, nor from so many others calling him to boost Turner's candidacy. 

Now Furbush is thanking his good fortune for those calls, and so is Turner.

"I think things were in alignment, and Ronnie is just an awesome hire," said Furbush. "I was not expecting [the hiring process] to come out like that."

Turner, whose Blue Devils finished play two weeks ago, has been coaching with Furbush and the Bobcats ever since. The Bobcats have been practicing for a month with no official games this season, although they will scrimmage against Bowdoin this Saturday.

"I'm very excited to be coaching at Bates," said Turner. "Obviously when the job opened, I was very interested. College coaching is something I've always wanted to be a part of."

Born and raised in Lewiston, Turner has a wealth of life experience for his age -- something that separated him from other candidates for the job, Furbush said. 

After starring for the Blue Devils and graduating high school, Turner first attended and played basketball at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, then transferred to Maine after his sophomore year. Since graduating from Orono with a B.A. in communications, Turner has taken on a variety of jobs -- even playing professionally in El Salvador for a stint in 2018. He has worked as a sales rep and a supply/route driver, an educational technician at Lewiston High, and this year he is teaching sixth grade at Connors Elementary School in Lewiston. For the past two seasons, Turner has been head coach of boys basketball at LHS.

"The way Ronnie is able to relate his life experiences, talk about them in a really genuine way, and not give a scripted, cookie-cutter answer stood out to me," said Furbush. "He came across as someone really aware of who he is." Furbush also cited Turner's experience as a head basketball coach, at any level, as invaluable.

Turner grew up down the street from Bates' Alumni Gymnasium, and remembers attending games in the Zak Ray '07 era. He played against his now-colleague, fellow assistant coach Graham Safford '15 (a Hampden Academy graduate), during high school, and also remembers seeing Safford play for the Bobcats during his own college years.

In his teenage days, Turner and his friends were often in search of a gym to put up shots in, with Alumni always included in their travels. On the Bates campus, Turner said, he would feel "a little starstruck, I guess you could say. I've always had an affinity for Bates. But never did I think, 'I'm gonna work here one day.'

"Now, every time I flash my wallet [with employee ID card inside] to the door and the door opens, I flash back to when we used to drive around, looking for a place to play."