Scott Turner Named Pitt Wide Receivers Coach
1/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Jan. 18, 2010
PITTSBURGH -
Scott Turner, an offensive assistant the past two seasons for the Pitt football program, has been promoted to wide receivers coach, it was announced today by Panthers head coach Dave Wannstedt.
"It is always gratifying to be able to reward a member of our staff with a well-deserved promotion," Wannstedt said. "Scott Turner was a major contributor in our offensive staff room this past season. He is a very bright football coach whose strong knowledge is matched by his equally strong energy and commitment. Our receivers are going to benefit tremendously from his influence. He is also going to be a great asset on the recruiting trail, especially in his assigned areas of Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C."
“I am very grateful for this opportunity to coach the wide receivers here at Pitt,” Turner said. “I have had the honor of being a part of this football program under Coach Wannstedt for the past two years. Pitt has such a great tradition as well as a very bright future and I am excited to continue to be a part of it.
As a member of Pitt's offensive staff the past two seasons, Turner aided in the accomplishment of back-to-back 1,000-yard rushers in LeSean McCoy and Dion Lewis. He also contributed to a 2009 unit that produced a 1,700-yard rusher (Lewis) and 1,000-yard receiver (Jonathan Baldwin). Lewis was named the Big East Offensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, compiling a Pitt freshman record 1,799 rush yards and 18 total touchdowns.
Pitt averaged 32.1 points per game in 2009, the fourth highest scoring average in school history.
A former quarterback at UNLV, Turner joined the Pitt staff in 2008 after working the prior two years on the prep level at South County Secondary School in Virginia.
As South County's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, he helped the program to its first-ever playoff berth and also orchestrated an offense that produced two 1,000-yard rushers in the same season.
In 2005, Turner was an administrative graduate assistant at Oregon State under Mike Riley. His responsibilities included assisting in all aspects of the Beavers' program with a special focus on the offense's weekly preparation.
Turner was a three-year letterman at UNLV, earning his bachelor's degree in psychology from the university in 2005.
Scott is the son of Norv Turner, the current head coach of the San Diego Chargers. Norv and Dave Wannstedt served together on Jimmy Johnson's Dallas Cowboys staffs of the early 1990s. Norv additionally was offensive coordinator with the Dolphins in 2002 and 2003 during Wannstedt's head coaching tenure in Miami.