A move that was reported two weeks ago has officially come to fruition as Ron Turner has joined Jim Harbaugh‘s Stanford coaching staff.
Turner, who spent the past five seasons as the offensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears, will serve as the Cardinal’s quarterbacks and wide receivers coach.
This is a homecoming of sorts for Turner as he was coordinator under Denny Green at Stanford from 1989-1991, so hopefully he’ll be who Harbaugh thought he’d be. He was also Harbaugh’s coordinator for one season in the nineties when the current Cardinal head coach was a quarterback for the Bears.
As far as college notoriety is concerned, Turner most famously spent 1997-2004 running the Illinois football program into the ground leading Illinois to a 35-57 mark in his eight years at the school.
“Not only does Ron Turner have a great deal of familiarity with Stanford University, but he also was my coordinator and position coach in Chicago, and I have long held a tremendous amount of respect for the job he does,” said Harbaugh in a statement.
“Ron brings an unmatched level of professionalism and experience. Ron cares for the welfare of his players and treats them with respect, not only while together but also after their playing days are over - something I learned firsthand in Chicago while he was my coach and friend. Two decades later, he remains a mentor. Ron is a teacher and expert of the game. I am excited for our players to be exposed to his teaching, as well as his fresh ideas and concepts on offense.”
The school also announced that Derek Mason, who has spent the last three seasons as the assistant defensive backs coach with the Minnesota Vikings, will serve as defensive backs coach.
