Russ Turner

Russell Turner, the winningest coach in UCI history, begins his 16th season as the UC Irvine head men’s basketball coach in the 2025-26 season. Coach Turner became the only coach in UCI history to amass 200 and 300 wins. He has been named the Big West Coach of the Year four times in his career and has led the 'Eaters to Big West regular season titles in seven of the last 12 seasons. Turner's first coaching position was as an assistant at his alma mater, Hampden-Sydney (Va.) College in 1993-94. As a player at Hampden-Sydney, Turner was a two-time All-American (1991 & 1992) and set the school's career scoring record of 2,272 points. He was a member of Hampden-Sydney's first two NCAA tournament teams and was inducted into Hampden-Sydney's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002. He graduated magna cum laude in 1992 with a B.A. in English and economics and earned numerous academic honors including election into Phi Beta Kappa. Coach Turner is a native of Roanoke, Va. He and his wife, Elizabeth, a physician, have two children, Devlin and Darius.