Belleville West hires football coach with a winning pedigree in the St. Louis region

Metro-east football fans will see a familiar face patrolling the sidelines at Belleville West’s Bob Goalby Field in 2023.

Ken Turner, who spent 12 season as the Althoff head coach from 2008 through 2019, was hired Tuesday to take over the Belleville West football program following a highly successful three-year stint at St. Mary’s High School in St. Louis.

And he’s ready to hit the ground running.

“I’ve been doing it a long time,” Turner said. “We’re going to work hard every day to put the best product on the field. We’re just going to work every day to become good. It’s taking on a challenge, working hard and getting better each day.”

Turner takes over for Jason Wells, who resigned in December after two seasons as the Maroons coach.

Belleville West Athletic Director Joe Muniz is elated to have Turner leading the program.

“I’m extremely excited to bring in a guy the quality of Ken Turner to lead our football program,” Muniz said. “I think his record speaks for itself. He’s coming off two back-to-back state championships in Missouri. He did great things for 19 years at Althoff with 12 of those as the head coach.

“What he did at Althoff in 2012 and 2015 — finishing second in state — speaks for itself. More importantly he’s a quality person. I’m really excited to have him as part of our program and our staff.”

Turner brings a highly successful pedigree to West.

After resigning from Althoff in March 2020 to become the head football coach at St. Mary’s, he led the Dragons to consecutive Missouri state titles in 2022 and 2023. The Dragons went 24-3 the past two seasons — winning the two state titles by a combined score of 98-0 — and 28-5 overall during Turner’s tenure.

He had similar success at Althoff, guiding the program to a 79-51 record in his 12 seasons as head coach after serving several seasons as an assistant under Glenn Schott.

The Crusaders had 10 winning seasons under Turner and made eight playoff appearances, highlighted by the trips to the IHSA Class 2A state title game in 2012 and the Class 4A state championship game in 2015.

A three-time Belleville News-Democrat coach of the year, Turner — who also was an assistant baseball and track and field coach during his time at Althoff — led the Crusaders to three South Seven Conference championships.

Turner now hopes to bring his winning touch to a Maroons program that went 0-18 the past two years and last had a winning season in 2018 when they made the playoffs.

“I’m just excited for a different opportunity and a chance to meet a challenge and try to change the culture of their football program,” said Turner, who will teach physical education at West. “Just my experience ... I’ve been coaching for 22 years at different places. it starts with the coaching and starts with the coach being disciplined and building character.”

Reflecting on St. Mary’s, familiarity with the Belleville scene

Turner spoke glowingly of his time at St. Mary’s, while also expressing excitement about the opportunity and challenge ahead at West.

“I love the guys at St. Mary’s. I really enjoyed the success we’ve had,” he said. “We had a great three-year run. We had a lot of hard working guys ... I love my guys. There are just a tremendous amount of hard-working young men there. They got a lot of things accomplished. They did some special things and broke a lot of records.

“But I just saw this as an opportunity and a chance to change the culture. It was an opportunity that intrigued me and I wanted to take a chance on that.”

Muniz noted Turner’s extensive familiarity with the Belleville football scene represented one of his many attractive qualities.

“I think that’s huge. His familiarity with Belleville, his familiarity with West just being down the (Frank Scott) Parkway, is huge because No. 1 he understands how good of a job this is,” Muniz said. “He understands what it takes to be successful at Belleville West. He’s got connections already within our school system because people know him — he’s been around 19 years in Belleville coaching. Nothing’s going to be new for him. In some ways, he’s coming home. I see him doing great things here.”

What separated Turner from the pack

Muniz said West received 15-20 applications for the job and interviewed seven or eight candidates. However, Turner’s pedigree both on and off the field as a coach and person set him apart from the rest, according to Muniz.

“I’m not going to lie ... when the position opened, our goal was to find a coach who’s been a head coach for a while but also has been a proven winner,” said Muniz, who himself led the Maroons boys to consecutive state basketball titles in 2017-18 and 2018-19. “And Ken fits that mold. He’s won in a big way. I know what it takes to win state titles. I know what it’s like to defend a state title. He’s done it.

“I think that situation ... we’re a long long way away from there, but to run a successful program I know how hard it is, but Ken has done it at the highest level. I know he’s going to come in and hit the ground running and do a great job.”

Muniz added, “We’re just super glad to have him leading our football program. To be able to get a guy of his quality both as a coach and person is just outstanding for our program.”

This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 9:41 AM.