BT’s Turner Named A.D. of the Year for Class AAA

publication date: Jun 16, 2008

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author/source: Tim Altork / STAFF

By Tim Altork / STAFF

You would expect an athletic director at a fledgling private school to do whatever it takes to ensure the success of his program. So it’s no surprise to see Blessed Trinity’s Ricky Turner wearing a ridiculous-looking chef’s hat and flipping burgers on the grill outside the school for a year-end event; or to see him scooping French fries at the concession stand at a basketball game; or pushing a broom around the gym floor or loading Powerade into a truck by the case-full to take to a summer camp.

The Georgia Athletic Director’s Association recently named Turner the Class AAA Athletic Director of the Year for 2008, but you get the feeling he could just as easily have been the 2008 Custodian of the Year.

“The thing that’s unique to me, coming from other schools, is he’s just a hard worker,” said BT boys basketball coach Brian Marks. “My guys were always behind the desk and doing a lot of the paperwork and things like that before game time. He’s in there and he’s loading up the concession stand and loading up coolers and lugging Gatorade or Powerade or whatever.

“I always say, ‘You’re crazy. That’s not the job of an A.D. Do something else.’ But he’s going to do whatever it is to help bring funding in for the athletic program, and he’s going to work hard to make sure things look good and look right.”

But perhaps the driving force behind the widespread success of the BT program is that Turner is something of a moral custodian as well. He lives and operates under a basic mantra – We’re going to do it the right way.

“He’s constantly saying that,” Marks said.

It sounds simple enough. But in a fairly well funded private school in an environment rich with athletic talent, the temptation to go out and court that talent – something clearly against GHSA rules – can be strong, especially in a private school that is not limited by the geography of school districts.

In fact, the wary eye will look at BT and the almost immediate success that they’ve had – 15 state championships in seven sports over the first eight years of the school – and surmise that they’ve done it with the best athletes money can buy.

But Marks says nothing could be further from the truth.

“We never do those kind of things,” Marks said. “That’s something that Ricky has made clear from day one. I think a lot of private schools get a reputation for that, and I know a lot of them actually do do that. But we don’t.”

Recruiting is always a looming danger, but there are plenty of other aspects of running an athletic program that are in need of guidance from Turner’s moral compass. In 2006-07 the program won the Sportsmanship Award as voted by the schools in Region 5-AAA. They finished runner-up to Westminster in the voting for that award this year. That kind of recognition is the fruit of a concerted effort at maintaining the behavior of everyone involved in the program.

“It all comes back to Blessed Trinity and how people perceive Blessed Trinity,” Turner said. “So we want to make sure that our parents are doing the right things as far as cheering for the kids and that our kids are doing the right things.”

To facilitate that effort, Turner holds an annual meeting at the beginning of each school year with every student, parent and coach that will be involved in athletics in attendance. He then has meetings with each individual team throughout the year before their season begins just to reinforce his ideals.

And by all accounts he doesn’t discriminate against – or show favoritism toward – any one of the sports under his watch.

“He takes care of every single athletic program here,” said baseball coach Andy Harlin, who has provided BT with one of those 15 state championships. “He’s very conscious of that. He wants every program to have the best that he can get for them.”

“The best” includes the facilities, equipment and moral support, among other things, that Turner is devoted to providing for his coaches and athletes.

“If we need something equipment-wise he’s going to do whatever he can to get it for us,” Harlin said.

“Do we have everything we’d ever want? No,” Marks added. “But he certainly tries to give us, within reason, things that we want and things that we need.”

The track record of on-the-field success certainly went a long way toward the recognition that Turner has received. And he’s quick to deflect the praise for that success toward the athletes and coaches who have achieved it – and toss in his philosophy one more time for good measure.

“[The success] shows that our kids are able to come in here and compete, and the coaches are doing a great job,” he said. “But the main thing is we want them doing it the right way.”