Seven years after he stepped away, Tim Turlington is back coaching high school basketball. For the girls this time.
This summer, the former boys basketball coach was hired after former girls coach Morgan Beamer left for an assistant principal position in the Fulton 58 school district. Turlington has remained as a basketball and football coach at the middle school since 2014 but realized how much he missed coaching high school players as time went on.
Turlington said he would help the current boys basketball coach and his assistant for part of his nine years at the helm, Matt Miller, with the boys' practices and had the urge to do even more. In 2014, Turlington said he stepped away so he would have more time with his family, as his own girls were becoming older, and now has the necessary time to commit to another group of girls.
"I would come in and help with practice every now and then and was around it a lot," he said. "I started wanting to do more and more so this opportunity came up. I'm very excited about this team, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun."
North Callaway activities director Kevin O'Neal said the school's search for a new coach began in March. He said he was sad to see Beamer leave because of how she connected with the students but thinks she will be a good assistant principal at Bush Elementary School for that reason.
One name among the applicants that stood out was Turlington because of his time as the boys basketball coach, O'Neal said. While this played a part, he said, the biggest factor was how Turlington has worked with his students and players in the past and how they respect him.
"I know that coach Turlington cares about kids, and that is something that is very important," O'Neal said. "The decisions that he makes are what's going to best for the kids that he's involved with."
O'Neal said he knows Turlington will bring the best out of his players and the program will have success. He said he knows this personally because Turlington coached O'Neal's oldest son in middle school football and basketball. O'Neal said his son told him he had such a great experience with Turlington, and O'Neal said similar stories are sure to follow with the girls team.
Turlington said he has enjoyed working with students through the years and believes it's important he is there for them even after they graduate.
"A lot of it is trying to find a common interest with kids and talk to them about that," Turlington said. "It can't be all basketball all the time, or all football all the time, or anything like that. I'm there, and they always know I'm going to be there. I have helped a lot of kids along the way like when somebody will need me for a resume or something like that. Whatever they need, I'm always there."
While he hasn't worked much with his team yet, he said he has spent some time with them and has watched them play some games. Turlington said he has started introducing some ideas to them and responses have been positive.
He said he is a more "defensive-minded coach" and was pleased with the girls' response to a new coach offering new instructions like trying more man-to-man defense.
"It actually went way, way better than I thought it was going to go before it started," he said. "The girls responded very well to anything I wanted to do. I've been very pleased with their attitude, their effort and the way they've approached everything."
There will be more teaching and adjusting in the future, Turlington said, when the team discovers what they can do well and what they need to do better. If the team sees some improvement after Christmas break and continues to do so toward the end of the season, Turlington believes they can be a good team.
A move Turlington has made that he calls "the smartest thing I did through this whole thing" is bringing former Thunderbird star Samantha Lavy on as his assistant coach. Lavy is a four-time all-state player at North Callaway, an all-conference player at the University of Evansville, has played professional basketball in Germany and scored a school-record 2,197 points as a Thunderbird. She was also an assistant at William Woods University for its women's basketball team.
Turlington said the girls like her, and Lavy is sure to make the team and him better. He said he first knew her as a player and student in his class when he was still coaching the boys, so Turlington thought her experience as a player and personality would be a great fit for his coaching staff so he made his pitch at her house a few days after he was hired. She was on board as soon as he walked through the door, Turlington said.
After seven years, he said the situation has some familiarity with Lavy on board and Miller coaching the boys, and he believes this type of environment has many positives and will bring more positives out of this girls team.
"I really enjoy being around the kids," Turlington said. "Working together toward a goal, whether it's football or basketball or whatever it is, how can I help them be the best they can with what we're doing."