By Katherine Jamtgaard for App State Sports. BOONE, N.C. — App State women’s basketball coach Angel Elderkin announced the hiring of Evan Turkish as the program’s assistant coach on Thursday.
“We are excited to add Evan to our coaching staff,” Elderkin said. “It was obvious in our first call that he has not only a great basketball mind but also the passion and commitment to work hard and grow on and off the court with our student athletes. His recent success with James Madison University and experience in the Sun Belt will be a tremendous asset to our program. We look forward to welcoming him and his wife Meghan to our App State Family.”
“My wife and I are excited to become a part of the Boone community,” said Turkish. “It will be a privilege to be able to work with Coach Elderkin, and I believe this team has a chance to be special next season.”
Turkish joins the Mountaineers after serving as the director of recruiting and player development at James Madison for the 2022-23 campaign. Turkish helped lead the Dukes to their first Sun Belt Conference title, first NCAA bid since 2016, and worked with Kiki Jefferson to help her become the Sun Belt Player of the Year. The Dukes went 26-8 (13-5 SBC) in their first season in the league. The team also ranked within the top-15 nationally in defensive rebounds per game, rebounds per game, field goal percentage defense, and rebound margin.
Prior to his time at JMU, Turkish was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Nicholls State for the 2021-22 season. While with the Colonels, Turkish mentored Chelsea Cain and Chyna Allen, who both ranked within the top-five in the Southland Conference in points per game with 15.3 (ranked second) and 14.0 (ranked fourth), respectively. In his role as recruiting coordinator, he helped sign the top-rated transfer in school history from the Mountain West Conference.
Before breaking into collegiate coaching, Turkish was an analyst at Entergy, a Fortune 500 integrated energy company in New Orleans, La. He was also the founder and owner of Sports Trainer Index, a platform to analyze collegiate athletic programs’ recruiting needs in addition to matching high school student-athletes with college coaches. Turkish was an assistant coach at Brother Martin High School in New Orleans, La. and for the Boo Williams AAU team in Newport News, Va.
Turkish also played professionally for the Freedom Professional League in Phoenix, AZ in 2013.
The Harrisonburg, Va. native was a member of the College of Charleston men’s basketball program for one season under head coach Bobby Cremins, who also coached at App State during his distinguished career. Turkish earned a bachelor of arts in management in 2013 while playing baseball at Loyola of New Orleans. He earned a master of science in analytics at American University in 2018.
