Coach John Turner returns to the Bulldog Coach Staff this season as an Assistant Football Coach. He has been coaching football for almost 30 years both at the collegiate and high school levels. John grown up watching his dad coach football his entire life, then played offensive line for him at Fort Meade High School in Fort Meade, Florida. He went on to play offensive line in college, two years at Marion Military Institute, then finished at Jacksonville State University. John graduated from Jacksonville State University in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science in Education with special honors in physical education and started his coaching career at Jacksonville State University that same year.
Coach Turner began coaching as a graduate assistant at Jacksonville State, where he played his last two years in college. After one season, Coach Turner coached at Daleville High School (1989-93), Dothan High School (1994-1996) and UMS-Wright Preparatory School (1999-2000). During his time at Daleville, Coach Turned helped his team advance to the State Finals, several times and brought home a State Championship. Dothan High School advanced to the 6A playoffs in his final year on staff as well, while his efforts helped UMS-Wright win a pair of post season contest to make the quarterfinals of the 4A bracket in each of his two seasons with the school.
After coaching in the high school ranks for several years, John was given an opportunity to coach offensive line and special teams as a graduate assistant for Terry Bowen at Auburn University. During his time at Auburn, John earned his master's degree in Education with a concentration in Physical Education. Auburn won the SEC West and defeated Clemson University in the Peach Bowl. John’s next collegiate opportunity came from Tommy Bowden at Clemson University where he coached as a graduate assistant.
Coach Turner coached at Western Carolina for one season before accepting a job at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga as the offensive line coach. During his tenure at UTC, he was promoted to Assistant Head Coach. Coach Turner then decided to take a unique opportunity offered to him by Coach Joey Jones to help the University of South Alabama start a Division 1 football program. While at South, Coach Turner served as the offensive line coach as well as the tight ends coach. He enjoyed two undefeated seasons as a jaguar, where the offense averaged better than 325 yards and nearly 25 points per game.
For the past three seasons, John has been coaching at Spanish Fort High School in Spanish Fort, Alabama as the offensive line coach and offensive coordinator. During his first season, the Toros won the 6A Alabama State Championship, finished the year the #21 ranked high school team in the country by Max Preps.com and #22 by USA Today. The past two seasons Spanish Fort won their region and made it to the third rounds of the playoffs.
John is married to the former, Kim Gee, of Chattanooga, Tennessee. They have one son, Walker, who started his football playing career last year.Â
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