David Turner, Mississippi State assistant, announces retirement from coaching
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Mississippi State assistant coach David Turner, who has served as the Bulldogs’ defensive line coach for the past 3 years, announced on Saturday that he is retiring from coaching.
Turner penned a heartfelt message to MSU fans to announce his retirement, which he posted to X on Saturday. Take a look:
Turner’s career took him all across the country. As far as SEC programs are concerned, Turner made stops at Mississippi State three separate times (2007-09, 2013-15, 2023-26), Kentucky (1993-94, 2010-12), Vanderbilt (2002-05), Alabama (2006), Texas A&M (2016-17) and Florida (2019-21). In addition, Turner coached at Davidson, Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania, James Madison, NC State, Virginia, Minnesota, UTSA and Georgia Tech.
Turner worked with the defensive line across most of those stints, and he is widely regarded as one of the top defensive line coaches in the country. While his bread and butter is defensive line, Turner actually got his start coaching running backs and tight ends at Davidson (his alma mater) in 1986 before moving on to NC State and beyond.
Through all his years in coaching, Turner never stayed at one school for more than 4 consecutive seasons — however, his 9 seasons across 3 stints at Mississippi State is the most he’s worked with one program collectively. In his farewell post, Turner mentioned that his life as an assistant coach was often a nomadic one, but Mississippi State has always been home.
Hats off, Coach Turner.
Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.
