Crim: Turpin’s mission of helping student-athletes has never changed even as her job and title have

NORTH PORT, Fla. — Once a coach, always a coach.

While it has been 28 years since Kathy Turpin walked away from Culver-Stockton College as the winningest women’s basketball coach in school history, never to coach another college game, she is still doing her part to create an atmosphere for student-athletes to succeed.

The competitive fire still burns, only the venue has changed.

“I never envisioned myself doing anything other than coaching,” she said. “It was my first love and I miss it every day. I still feel like I’m a coach, just for something a little bit different. I relate what I did in coaching to everything I do now.

“I’m fortunate to have had a lot of great experiences that make me feel like I can help others.”

Today, she is president and CEO of K. Turpin Consulting, LLC, a growing firm she opened in 2006 but didn’t focus on full time until 2018 after leaving the National Center for Drug Free Sport in Kansas City, where she was vice president of sport drug testing.

Turpin uses her experiences over decades as a player, coach, faculty member, administrator and business executive to advise colleges, universities, conferences, some high school programs and even the NCAA on a wide range of issues nationwide.

Turpin helps develop strategic plans for schools dealing with enrollment and staffing issues. She works with conferences on membership growth, conducts compliance audits and drug testing policy reviews, and develops educational programming on sexual assault, drug deterrence and injury management.

She also does professional growth and development speaking.

And that only scratches the surface.

“We focus on whatever people think will be most beneficial to them,” she said. “I’m enjoying that diversity of work.”

Turpin has recently turned her attention to student-athlete mental health and well-being. Her firm has partnered with Prevention Strategies in North Carolina to address how student-athletes deal with the stress of trying to balance athletic expectations, academics and life.

“We’re hearing a lot about mental health, unfortunately,” Turpin said. “Athletes expect to be perfect. They feel like they never accomplish what they want. There have been suicides. Even if it does not reach that level, we want to help them handle what is on their plate.

“We are beginning to get the word out in the collegiate area what services we can provide to educate staff and help institutions better evaluate how student-athletes are doing from a well-being standpoint, to help them balance their lives.”

Turpin knows firsthand the joys and stresses of athletics.

She helped lead Knox County High School in Edina, Mo., to the Class AA basketball state title in 1976. It was only the fourth year the Missouri State High School Activities Association had conducted a girls championship series, and there were only two classes.

Knox County, despite having fewer than 400 students, was placed in the higher classification. The Eagles defeated Springfield Kickapoo 44-42 in the semifinals and St. Mary’s of Independence 51-38 in the finals, with Turpin scoring 21 points to earn most valuable player honors.

She went on to play four seasons at the University of Missouri, battling through injuries and illness to become a co-captain. The program was in its infancy, yet the Tigers won 20 or more games three times, captured the Big 8 Conference title in 1977-78 and were ranked 13^th nationally at the conclusion of that season.

Turpin went on to earn a master’s degree while serving one year as a graduate assistant at Western Illinois University, and in 1981, at age 22, was hired as the women’s basketball coach at Culver-Stockton, another fledgling program.

She had two five-year stints with the Wildcats sandwiched around two years at Augustana (S.D.) and one at Quincy Notre Dame High School.

She was demanding and her Culver-Stockton teams responded by winning 200 of 292 games in those 10 seasons, capturing the Heart of America Athletic Conference title outright four times and tying for the league crown twice, and earning berths in the NAIA District 16 tournament seven times — advancing to the second round of the NAIA Division II national tournament in 1992.

Her final team averaged nearly 82 points per game and set a school record for victories with 29. She became the first woman inducted into the Culver-Stockton Hall of Fame.

Family considerations prompted her to resign on the eve of the 1994-95 season to become associate director of athletics at Truman State University. She held that position for five years and spent another as interim athletic director. She finished her doctorate while serving for six years as associate athletic director at Barry University in Miami.

Turpin returned to the Midwest in 2006 when she joined Sports Association Management in Kansas City, where she served as a consultant to several college athletic organizations, including the NCAA and the Division II Athletics Directors Association.

She soon moved into a role with the National Center for Drug Free Sport, a sister company. She oversaw a department that managed the firm’s amateur client base of about 300 college and university drug testing programs, Division I conference-wide drug testing, high school state associations and individual high school districts.

She has been a member of the Culver-Stockton Board of Trustees since 2014.

“When I left Culver-Stockton the second time to go to Truman State, I always thought I would get back in and coach again,” Turpin said. “I had some contacts (about coaching), but it wasn’t the right time or right fit. Then I started getting opportunities to move in athletic administration.

“Fortunately, I’ve loved every job I’ve had. Each experience, each opportunity has offered different challenges. I’ve had the ability to impact people around me and be impacted by them. It has been rewarding.”

Turpin and her husband, Rick, moved to the west coast of Florida last summer. North Port is between Sarasota and Fort Myers. They can now golf, swim, bike and be outdoors the year-around.

“We’re enjoying it,” she said. “The area is beautiful. The people and community have been very welcoming. I didn’t miss winter in Missouri.”

Their son, Andrew, is the rehabilitation coordinator for the Miami Marlins and is engaged to be married in January 2023. Their daughter, Jennifer, and her husband, Joe Holley, live in North Carolina.

Given her age and surroundings, it would be understandable if Turpin decided to kick back and join her husband in retirement. Only she’s not the retiring type. 

“The business is doing well,” she explained. “We’re getting calls, so there is a need. We’re coming up with new things. I may at some point decide to do less than I’m doing now, but it’s 2022 and we’re busier than ever.

“I love teaching. I always said I would like to get back on campus, to be on a faculty somewhere. I’m still able to be on campus and have that touch with what I’m doing now. I just don’t have a personal connection with one. Instead, I’m trying to help a lot of campuses, and that is rewarding.”

Turpin, ever the coach, has a simple message she believes can apply to any endeavor, not just athletics.

“Coaching is who I was and what I am,” she said.

“But experiencing the best in life and career are only possible when you step out of your comfort zone. My path has been full of exciting and new challenges, (the) opportunity to learn new things and ways to stretch your abilities.”