A season later with Turner averaging 5.3 points and starting 10 games as a freshman, Dayton finished 15-14. Although Turner and Postorino enjoyed only two winning seasons in their four years, consistent winning followed in Purnell’s last four seasons.
For the most part, that has been the case in the last two decades. Dayton has experienced only two losing seasons in this century.
“It feels good to be a part of that,” Turner said. “That moved Dayton back in the right direction. That was one of the reasons I wanted to go to Dayton: to be a part of something special.”
Turner, now 43, left his mark as an individual as well. He ranks 47th in school history with 1,025 points. He still holds the single-season school record for 3-point accuracy. As a junior, he made 61 of 118 3-pointers (51.7 percent).
Turner grew up in Alexandria, Va., and now lives about 40 miles south in Stafford, Va. He’s a training specialist in human resources and employee relations for WGL Holdings, a public utility company which provides electricity and natural gas throughout the region. He’s worked there for 14 years.
Turner’s current career followed a pro basketball career that included a stint with the Houston Rockets in the NBA Summer League after his senior season in 1999 and then three-plus seasons overseas in Luxembourg, Belgium, Argentina and the Dominican Republic. His career ended in part because of an abdominal muscle injury.
“I got home, and my intention was to rehab and get stronger and go back over,” Turner said, “but after a while of being away from the game, I said, ‘Hey, I’m going to go into the workforce.’ It was a great opportunity to see the world and make some money. I have no regrets.”
Turner now has a 20-year-old son, Rodney, and two daughters: Corina, 14, and Giana, 12. He remains a big fan of the Flyers. Last season, he saw Dayton beat Davidson to clinch the Atlantic 10 Conference championship and experienced the renovated UD Arena for the first time. It was the first time he had seen the Flyers play at home since his senior year, though he often sees them on the road in Virginia or elsewhere on the East Coast.
Like other Flyers who follow the team from afar, Turner praised the job fellow alum Anthony Grant has done in four seasons.
“It’s great that a UD alum has come back and led the program in the right direction,” Turner said. “He’s proven to be the right man for the job.”
The same was true for Purnell 26 years ago. Turner got to know Purnell by attending basketball camps at Old Dominion University when Purnell was the coach there from 1991-94.
“I didn’t start playing basketball until the eighth or ninth grade,” Turner said. “The first camp I’d ever gone to, the only camp I’d ever gone to, was at Old Dominion. He was there from the very beginning of my basketball development. He recruited me to Old Dominion, and it just carried on to Dayton.”
Turner originally committed to Boston College but changed his mind on the last day of the spring signing period in April 1995. At that time, Turner was attending Hargrave Military Academy, a prep school in Chatham, Va., after graduating from Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, Va., in 1994.
“I chose the University of Dayton because I feel there is a great opportunity for me to come right in and play with a program that’s trying to make a turnaround,” Turner told the Dayton Daily News in 1994. “I feel I will be a big part of that.”
A broken hand set Turner back in his freshman season. He had four metal screws placed in the hand during surgery in October and missed the first two games. He says now he should have redshirted that season because the hand bothered him throughout the season even though he was cleared to play. He re-injured the hand in January but missed only one game.
“I couldn’t move my left hand, couldn’t catch the ball,” Turner said. “My hand would swell up. I couldn’t dribble with my left hand, and if anyone’s seen me play, even though I’m right-handed, I love going left. That hurt me a lot.”
Turner averaged 6.6 points and started 17 games as a sophomore as Dayton slipped to 13-14 in Purnell’s third season. Then in the 1997-98 season, Turner and the Flyers improved in a big way. Dayton finished 21-12 and made its first postseason appearance since 1990, reaching the second round of the NIT.
“The 1997-98 basketball season will be remembered fondly by University of Dayton fans,” wrote Bucky Albers, of the Dayton Daily News after Dayton lost 77-74 to Penn State in the NIT that March. “It was a season when they could wear their UD sweatshirts, stick out their chests and be proud of the team that represented them. It was a season that brought back warm memories for those old enough to remember the days when UD nearly always had strong teams.”
Turner averaged 13.3 points and started all 33 games. He won the Chris Daniels Award as the A-10′s most-improved player. The award was named after his former teammate. Daniels died in his sleep of cardiac arrhythmia during Turner’s freshman season.
“That’s probably my fondest award I’ve ever received,” Turner said. “He took me under his wing like a big brother. We were really close. I just remember him always giving me encouraging words.”
Turner still has that award as well as a trophy he received for being the NCAA’s best 3-point shooter that season. He credited his improvement to being healthy.
“What I remember is how well that team jelled together,” he said. “We really felt we were going to get a bid into the NCAA tournament. We certainly earned it.”
An injury during his senior year kept Turner from having the same kind of success. He averaged 9.7 points, and the Flyers finished 11-17. The abdominal muscle injury that plagued him later in his pro career started hurting him then. He would spend hours at UD Arena before games getting treatment.
Turner’s health improved late in the season, and he played some of his best basketball. He scored 20 points in a 91-86 victory against rival Xavier at UD Arena.
“The Cobra’s back,” teammate Edwin Young said after that game. “And he put some venom in Xavier.”
Credit: SKIP PETERSON
Credit: SKIP PETERSON
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