Slightly less than one month to the day after firing head coach Mario Cristobal, FIU has found its new guy.
Per ESPN’s Brett McMurphy and the Associated Press, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks coach and former Illinois coach Ron Turner will be FIU’s new coach. Athletic director Pete Garcia later said Turner signed a five-year contract with a base salary of $500,000 annually.
“This guy knows football,” Garcia said. “He’s the best quarterback coach in America, college or pro. So I’m very excited to get this guy. He’s one of the best offensive minds in America. This guy’s a total package. He can do it all.”
Personally, we’d say this hire doesn’t make a lot sense, but FIU fired Mario Cristobal. So, really it makes total sense.
Turner’s college experience included head coaching stops at San Jose State and Illinois. Though Turner led the Illini to a Big Ten title in 2001, he had just four wins in his final two years and was eventually replaced by Ron Zook.
In the NFL, Turner held two separate stints as the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears and was Peyton Manning‘s coach with the Indianapolis Colts.