Bates College

Born and raised in Lewiston, Ronnie Turner enters his first year as an assistant coach for the Bates men's basketball program in 2021-22.

Turner comes to the Bobcats after two seasons as the head coach for the Lewiston High School boys basketball program. In Turner’s first season as head coach, he led the program to a 10-win season, accumulating more wins than the previous four years combined.

Turner’s first coaching stint began as an Assistant Basketball Coach at Lee Academy. His duties included planning practice, game planning, coaching their strength & conditioning, and served also as a dorm parent. Turner played a pivotal role in the player development, specifically contributing to the development of Shaquille Walters who currently plays at Northeastern University.

Turner graduated from University of Maine in 2015 where he spent two years as a student assistant. He played a key role in player development and on-court skill instruction. Turner individually trained Aaron Calixte, who reached All-America East status, and eventually went on as a graduate transfer to play at the University of Oklahoma in the Big 12 Conference. 

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.

"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 head coach Jon Furbush '05. "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."