CHAMPAIGN — Illinois director of track and field and cross-country Mike Turk was fired Wednesday after more than a decade with the program. The decision was announced by athletic director Josh Whitman, with a national search for Turk’s replacement beginning immediately.
“I want to thank Coach Turk for his longtime service to the University of Illinois,” Whitman said in a release. “Regrettably, following our Big Ten championship in 2015, competitive success in our men’s and women’s programs has been fleeting. With the programs now combined under a single coaching structure and with the recent opening of Demirjian Park, the time is right to usher in a new era for our proud running and field event programs. We wish Coach Turk all the best in his future endeavors.”
The Illinois track teams finished near the bottom of the Big Ten in both of the recent indoor and outdoors seasons. The men’s team placed 10th indoors in February and 12th outdoors in May. The women’s team placed 10th and ninth, respectively, in the indoor and outdoor Big Ten championships.
Turk joined the Illinois track and field staff in 2006 as an assistant coach for jumps and throws. He took interim control of the men’s program for the 2010 and 2011 seasons before being named permanent head coach in 2012. He was put in charge of both the men’s and women’s track programs in 2017 and was promoted to director of track and field and cross-country in 2020.
During the early years of his time in charge of the men’s program, Turk led the Illini to four Big Ten runner-up finishes and the 2015 Big Ten outdoor championship.
Since 2015, when the men finished second at the Big Ten indoor championships and won the outdoor title, the men’s team has finished 10th or lower in eight of 13 Big Ten indoor and outdoor Championships and has finished better than eighth place only one time.
On the women’s side, in nine Big Ten indoor and outdoor Championships since Turk assumed leadership of the program, the team has only two finishes higher than 11th place, when they finished 10th and 9th, respectively, at this year’s indoor and outdoor championships.
Scott Richey is a reporter covering college basketball at The News-Gazette. His email is srichey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@srrichey).
