Maryland coach Mark Turgeon ‘can’t go to bed’ until he gets his Royals score

Maryland coach Mark Turgeon answered plenty of Kansas questions Wednesday during his media session at the NCAA South Regional.

On Larry Brown, whom Turgeon played for at KU in the 1980s out of Topeka Hayden High: “I was down on my knees begging coach Brown to take me.”

On Bob Davis, the longtime KU radio broadcaster who started with the Jayhawks during Turgeon’s sophomore year and is retiring after this season: “It is amazing how quickly it’s gone.”

On the current Jayhawks, led by Bill Self, whom Turgeon’s Terrapins will face in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night at the KFC Yum Center: “They’re the best team in the tournament. That gets our attention.”

Turgeon also gave a shoutout to his favorite baseball team, the Royals.

“I literally can’t go to bed at night until I get a Royals score,” he said, “unless they’re playing on the West Coast. Then it gets hard. But it’s something I follow pretty closely.”

In his younger years, Turgeon was at then-Royals Stadium when the Royals won their first World Series championship with an 11-0 Game 7 victory over St. Louis in 1985. Last November, he took his two sons, William and Leo, to Citi Field in New York for the Royals’ deciding 7-2 Game 5 victory over the Mets. They moved down in front of the dugout before Wade Davis struck out Wilmer Flores looking in the bottom of the 12th inning and the celebration started.

“It was a special night,” he said. “I’ve kind of brainwashed my kids into being die-hard Royals fans.

“I grew up just a die-hard Royals fan, Chiefs fan, Kansas fan.”

Turgeon, 51, also shared his affection for Wichita State. The Shockers were his second of four head-coaching stops, and it came as somewhat of a surprise to Turgeon.

After the 1999-2000 season while Turgeon was coaching Jacksonville State, he was busy recruiting when he stopped for a phone interview with then-Wichita State athletic director Jim Schaus. Turgeon, who was coming off a 17-11 season after going 8-18 in his debut, figured he had “no shot.”

“I’m going to talk to him about 9 o’clock. By 10 o’clock, I think I had the job,” Turgeon said. “Jim was great. Worked out great for me.”

Turgeon was 128-90 in seven seasons with the Shockers, leading them to the postseason in four consecutive seasons, including an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2006. He noted the improvements in facilities that occurred during that time and also the ascension of the program, which has continued under Gregg Marshall, who led Wichita State to the Final Four in 2013.

“I’m really proud of what we did at Wichita, and I’m even more proud of what Gregg’s done with it,” Turgeon said. “Don’t go to sleep at night unless I get a Wichita State score.”

This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Maryland coach Mark Turgeon ‘can’t go to bed’ until he gets his Royals score."