K.T. Turner using Larry Brown's past guidance for future success under John Calipari

Kentucky assistant K.T. Turner has made nine different stops across 17 years as a coach, ten now including his move to Lexington. Leading up to this point, though, no stop was more important than his time at SMU, where he spent three seasons as an assistant and four as an associate head coach.

It was at SMU where he learned under Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown for three seasons, his first three in Dallas. He made stops at Wichita State (2012-13), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2011-12), Hutchinson Community College (2009-11), Cowley College (2008-09), Redlands Community College (2006-07) and Panola Community College (2005-06), but that’s when he was laying the foundation of his journey, working his way up the coaching ladder. Brown first gave him the opportunity, then the knowledge and confidence to make a real name for himself.

He was promoted to associate head coach at SMU, then took the same position at Texas, then again at Oklahoma. Now, the 44-year-old coach is at Kentucky, ready to prove his clear value at a blue blood program.

What was it about his time working under Brown that allowed him to skyrocket up the coaching ranks? It started with understanding the value of developing player-coach relationships.

“(The best advice he gave me was) to be about the players,” Turner said of Brown. “They’re the ones who run the program, so treat them the right way. Teach them. It’s about the relationship with your players.”

Coaching versatility was also a strong point of emphasis in Brown’s teaching. Defining yourself as a one-trick pony limits your potential for growth. Instead, it’s important to prove your value as an all-around asset, something he plans to show under John Calipari in Lexington.

“Coach Brown taught me to be a basketball coach,” said Turner. “Don’t ever pigeonhole yourself into being a defensive guy or offensive guy, and I’ve stuck to that. Whatever coach needs me to do — I can do offense, I can do defense. I’ve been around a lot of great coaches, so I have a lot of great knowledge about the game. Whatever he needs, I can help.”

Then there’s the connection between Brown and Calipari, the relationship that led Turner to Kentucky.

“I hoped this would happen a long time ago,” Brown told Kyle Tucker of The Athletic following Turner’s addition to Calipari’s staff. “Cal has talked to me about K.T. for a number of years, and I’m glad it’s finally happened. He’s special.”

Calipari has long called Brown his “mentor, friend, supporter and confidant.” The two go back decades, a friendship that remains to this day.

“Coach Brown and Cal are really tight, and I heard a lot of stories about (Cal) before I got here through him,” said Turner. “Coach Brown has unbelievable respect for Cal. I’m serious, he talked about it all the time, they talked all the time. When I got to meet him, it was really great.”

Just one week on the job with Calipari, everything Turner heard from Brown has been reality. His expectations have not only been met in Lexington, they’ve also been surpassed.

“Cal is Cal. He wins and he’s about the players,” said Turner. “That’s what I love about him, it’s not fake at all. A lot of coaches say that, but every day I’ve been here it’s been the players. I’ve always loved that about him. And he wins. He gets guys to the NBA. I love his personality.

“I hate to keep talking about him, but Larry Brown just raved about him all the time.”

The Larry Brown and John Calipari coaching trees align once again, this time with K.T. Turner taking his talents to Lexington.