Robert Turner Jr. (born May 6, 1949) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach who is the running backs coach for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

. Since 1995, he has worked exclusively on the staffs of

Mike Shanahan Michael Edward Shanahan ( ; born August 24, 1952) is an American football coach, best known as the head coach of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2008. During his fourteen seasons with the Broncos, he led th ...

during his time with the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

and

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

and then his son Kyle with the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

and

Coaching career

Early coaching career

Early in his coaching days, Turner worked as an assistant football and basketball coach at

Kokomo, Indiana Kokomo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Indiana, United States. Its population was 60,093 according to the U.S. Census Bureau 2024 estimate. It is the principal city of the Kokomo, Indiana metropolitan area, Kokomo metropol ...

's Haworth High School from 1972 to 1974.

College coaching

He moved to the college ranks in 1975, working for the

Indiana State University Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified ...

football program in various roles until 1982. In 1983, he went to

Fresno State University California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

, where he was the team's running backs coach through 1988. One of the players he coached was future coach Kelly Skipper. In his final collegiate coaching stop before moving to the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

, Turner served as assistant

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

and running backs coach at

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

from 1991 to 1994. While at Purdue, he would coach RB

Mike Alstott Michael Joseph Alstott (born December 21, 1973) is an American former professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Nicknamed "A-Train", he played college ...

. Turner was the running backs coach at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

from 1989 to 1990; in this period, the Buckeyes reached bowl games in both seasons and had the top rushing game in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

in 1989. In 1990, he would coach running backs Robert Smith,

Butler By'not'e Butler B'ynote' (born September 29, 1972) is an American former professional football running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State University, and professionally for the Denver Broncos, Carolina Pa ...

, and Raymont Harris.

Denver Broncos

From 1995 to 2009 Turner worked as the running backs coach for the Denver Broncos. This was after over 20 years as a college assistant.

Washington Redskins

In 2010, he was hired to be the running backs coach by his former colleague,

, after Mike was selected to be the new head coach of the

Atlanta Falcons

On February 3, 2015, Dan Quinn announced that Turner would be his Running Backs coach. In the 2016 season, Turner and the Falcons reached

Super Bowl LI Super Bowl LI was an American football game played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Houston, Texas, on February 5, 2017, to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2016 NFL season, 2016 season. The American Football Confe ...

, where they faced the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

on February 5, 2017. In the Super Bowl, the Falcons fell in a 34–28 overtime defeat.

San Francisco 49ers

In 2017, Turner became the running backs coach for the 49ers.

Personal life

Turner grew up in

East Chicago, Indiana East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 26,370 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Centered around heavy industry, the city is home to the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, an artificial freshwa ...

, and attended EC's Washington High School, where he was a multi-sport athlete. He played basketball for Johnnie Baratto. He graduated from

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Bobby 1949 births Living people Atlanta Falcons coaches Denver Broncos coaches Fresno State Bulldogs football coaches Indiana State Sycamores football coaches Indiana State Sycamores football players Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches Purdue Boilermakers football coaches San Francisco 49ers coaches Washington Redskins coaches High school football coaches in Indiana Sportspeople from East Chicago, Indiana People from Midway, Alabama Sportspeople from Kokomo, Indiana Coaches of American football from Alabama