Murray State University Athletics
Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- rturner2@murraystate.edu
- Phone:
- (270) 809-5413
At Murray State
Rechelle Turner enters her 10th season at the helm of the Murray State women's basketball team in 2025-26. She is the program's all-time winningest head coach, earning that distinction after breaking the wins record against UIC on January 12, 2025. Turner was named the 2025-26 MVC Coach of the Year after guiding the Racers to a historic, school-record 31 wins, an MVC regular-season title, a second consecutive MVC Tournament championship, and an NCAA Tournament appearance. The 2025-26 team finished as the second team in MVC history to surpass 30 wins and finished sixth nationally in wins. Guided Halli Poock to MVC Player of the Year honors and Sharnecce Currie-Jelks to MVC Newcomer of the Year honors in 2026.
Her recent success follows a banner 2024-25 campaign where she led Murray State to a Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament championship, securing the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2008 while setting a then-school record with 25 wins. During that year, she coached the Racers' all-time leading scorer and rebounder, Katelyn Young, who surpassed 3,000 career points. Turner previously guided MSU to a 20-win season and a WNIT appearance in 2023-24. In 2021-22, she tied the previous school record for most regular-season wins (21) and led the Racers to the WNIT for the first time since 2009. In their inaugural year in the Missouri Valley Conference, she immediately led the squad to the MVC Tournament.
Earlier in her tenure, Turner guided the Racers to back-to-back OVC semifinal appearances in 2020-21 and 2021-22. The 2020-21 season marked the team's first .500 or better finish in both overall and conference play since 2011-12, as well as their fourth straight OVC tournament berth, where they upset third-seeded Southeast Missouri. That same year, she coached Katelyn Young to OVC Player of the Year honors, placed a school-record four players on All-OVC teams, and saw both Young and Macey Turley earn First-Team All-OVC selections. Under her guidance, the Racers have routinely excelled at the stripe, posting a top-10 all-time free-throw percentage in three out of four seasons, including a 76.8% clip in 2020-21 (fourth-best in school history).
In 2019-20, she saw a career-high three players earn OVC postseason awards: Macey Turley (First Team), Alexis Burpo (Second Team), and Laci Hawthorne (All-Newcomer). During the 2018-19 season, she led a squad picked 12th in the preseason poll to a 9-9 league finish and a sixth-place standing, coaching Turley to OVC Freshman of the Year and Evelyn Adebayo to First-Team All-OVC honors. In her first year in 2017-18, she led Murray State to seven league wins and an OVC Tournament berth—the program's first since 2016—while coaching OVC Player of the Year Ke'Shunan James, who led the conference with 21.3 points per game. Turner qualified for the OVC Tournament in each of her first three seasons after being hired on March 29, 2017, following an 11-win debut campaign.
Before MSU
Prior to joining Murray State, Turner spent 21 seasons as the head coach at Murray High School, compiling a 460-178 record—the 20th-most career victories in Kentucky state history. She led the Tigers to 13 All-A Region 1 championships, four Region 1 titles, five District 4 championships, and the 2016 All-A State Championship. A six-time All-Purchase Coach of the Year and the 2014 KABC First Region Coach of the Year, Turner was inducted into both the KABC Court of Honor and the Marshall County Hall of Fame in 2016.
Playing Career
Turner played basketball at Murray State from 1991 to 1994, leading the Racers in assists during both the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons. She was a three-time OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll selection and also played on the MSU golf team.
Personal
A native of Calvert City, Kentucky, Turner graduated from Murray State in 1996 with a degree in Learning and Behavior Studies. She later earned her Master's in Reading and Writing from MSU in 2001 and received her Administrative Certification from the University of the Cumberlands in 2009. Turner and her husband, Travis, reside in Murray and have two sons, Cade and Cadwell.
