David Turner has coached defensive linemen under four different Mississippi State head coaches, and now, after roughly four decades on a sideline, he has decided to step away from coaching altogether.
Turner had moved into a senior defensive line consultant role for the coming season, but instead of settling into that support job, though, he has announced his retiremnt. For a program that likes to stake claim to "DL U," in large part because of Turner's contributions over the years including winning the FootballScoop Defensive Line Coach of the Year Award back in 2019, Turner stepping away from the sidelines closes the book on one of the biggest reasons that nickname had any legs in the first place.
If you have watched Mississippi State football at any point over the last 20 years, you know the résumé. Turner returned to Starkville for a third stint in 2023, hired by Zach Arnett, and was one of the holdovers Jeff Lebby kept on after taking over that November. His first tour came in 2007-09, when Sylvester Croom brought him in and Dan Mullen retained him. His second stint, and best known, ran 2013-15 under Mullen, right in the middle of the best defensive line run the program has had.
Across those nine seasons in maroon and white, the list of linemen he developed reads like a State-to-Sundays roll call: Fletcher Cox, Chris Jones, Preston Smith, Pernell McPhee, Josh Boyd, Kyle Love and Gerri Green all played for him before heading to the NFL. He also recruited and signed five-star Jeffery Simmons, who arrived after Turner had moved on. Add in the multi-year starters and All-SEC honorees who never became household names, and the impact runs even deeper.
His fingerprints are all over the rest of the sport too. Turner has coached in the SEC at Alabama, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Florida, and made stops at NC State, James Madison, Virginia, Minnesota, UTSA and Georgia Tech. During his two years at Texas A&M he coached eventual #1 overall pick Myles Garrett. All told, he has helped teams to 17 bowl games and put 15 players into the NFL Draft.
The through line goes back to Davidson, his alma mater. A Goldston, North Carolina native, Turner played running back for the Wildcats from 1981-84 and earned a sociology degree in 1985. He started coaching there in 1986 with the running backs and tight ends before flipping to defense in 1987, and he never left that side of the ball again. He and his wife Yvette have two daughters, Bianca and Alexyia.
His departure hands the room fully to Ty Warren, the former Patriots first-round pick and two-time Super Bowl champion Lebby hired in December off a season at Rice. Warren got the benefit of a spring with Turner still around to show him the ropes. Now he takes it from here.
Not many coaches have a resume like Turner's, where he thrived at every stop.
Please join us in wishing coach Turner all the best in this next chapter of his life.
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