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Ron Turner is entering his first season as an Assistant Coach at Clemson. Known throughout the nation as one of the premier coaching talents, Turner was added to the staff in June, 2008. The May 2001 graduate of the University of Tennessee will primarily work with the mid-distance free and stroke group, as well as recruiting and alumni efforts.
Turner has extensive experience at many levels of coaching, from early development with club teams to some of the best athletes in the world as a member of the USA Swimming Coaching Staff for the 2007 Pan-American Team.
Head Coach Chris Ip said, "We are pleased to add Ron to our staff as an Assistant Coach. He brings a lot of experience from the YMCA and USA Club level all the way up to SEC and Big Ten programs. We feel that he will be a valuable addition to our team as we continue to make strides toward our goals both academically and athletically."
Turner was looking for a challenging environment in which to provide academic and athletic opportunities to student-athletes.
Said Turner, "I am very happy to be part of the Clemson family. I think Coach Ip and his staff have done a great job of making the program one of the most competitive in the ACC. I am excited to make the program the best in the ACC and one of the top in the country in the future."
Prior to Clemson, Turner had served as an assistant coach at national powers Tennessee and University of Indiana. He also was the head coach of Irvine Novaquatics for a stint. The squad has a national reputation for its swimmers, having turned out Olympic Medalists Jason Lezak, Aaron Peirsol, and Amanda Beard.
Most recently, he was a Head Coach and Director of Competitive with the Winston-Salem YMCA swim team, a 175 member USA Swimming team.
Among his accomplishments, Turner has coached 3 Olympians, 12 Olympic Trial qualifiers and finalists, 5 World Championship Qualifiers, 18 NCAA All-Americans, two World University Games qualifiers, and a YMCA National Team Championship.
In 2007, Turner was the co-head coach of the Indonesia Swimming squad at the World Championships in Melbourne Australia. Turner has coached at USA Swimming National Team camps, and has been a key note speaker at numerous swimming clinics. He was also named YMCA National Coach of the Year in 2006.
Turner will be called upon early and often with the Tigers to help develop the student-athletes, as well as bring new competitors to campus.
