Turner Battle (born January 11, 1983) is an American former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

point guard for the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1 ...

Bulls men's basketball team from 2001 to 2005. Battle is credited with fueling the resurgence of the Bulls men's basketball program, which went from 5–23 during his sophomore season to a 23-win senior campaign. Battle is now currently the Athletic Director for The Park School in Buffalo, NY.

High school

The Bulls announced the signing of Battle on November 10, 2000 out of East Forsyth High School in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

. There, he led the Fighting Eagles to a 15–8 record and a conference championship as a senior, while averaging 17 points, five rebounds and five assists per game. Following his senior season, "All-Star Sports" Editor-in-Chief and college basketball recruiting expert Bob Gibbons had Battle rated as one of the top 100 prospects in the Class of 2001. "I think this is the steal of the millennium," said Gibbons. "Turner Battle could have played for an ACC school. He's a true point guard who is a tremendous floor leader and an outstanding student-athlete." Battle chose to play college basketball at Buffalo over competing offers from

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

and other schools in part because he wanted to play for UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon. Gibbons would later call Battle "the best thing to happen to Buffalo since the invention of the snowplow."

College

Following a senior season in which Battle averaged 15.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game, Battle led the Bulls to within a last second tip-in of the school's first MAC Championship and an automatic bid in the NIT. After the season, Battle was honored as the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, the first such award for a Buffalo player. Battle was also named to the All-MAC First Team for the first time in his career (he was named All-MAC Honorable Mention following his sophomore season). In addition, Battle was named to the Academic All-MAC squad after his final three seasons with the Bulls.

Professional

Following his collegiate career, Battle signed with

BC Kalev/Cramo BC Kalev, known as BC Kalev/Cramo for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Tallinn, Estonia. The team plays in the Korvpalli Meistriliiga, the Estonian-Latvian Basketball League and the FIBA Europe Cup. They play the ...

, a first division team in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

before briefly playing for a first division team in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. Battle then signed with the

Fort Worth Flyers The Fort Worth Flyers were a minor league basketball team in the NBA Development League (D-League) based in Fort Worth, Texas. They began play in the 2005–06 season and were shut down for the 2007–08 season. Franchise history In 2005, Sou ...

of the NBADL. On February 1, 2006, Battle returned to Buffalo to play with the

Buffalo Rapids The Buffalo Sharks were a professional basketball team in the American Basketball Association based in Buffalo, New York. The team played two seasons as the Buffalo Rapids and Buffalo Silverbacks before suspending operations. This team is not to ...

of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, leading to four A ...

Coaching

Battle was an assistant coach at Sweet Home High School in the Buffalo suburb of

Amherst Amherst may refer to: People * Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name * Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst'' * Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...

for the 2006–07 season and on July 5, 2007, he was named assistant coach at his alma mater. Battle was named assistant coach at

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

on May 23, 2013 under new head coach

Will Wade Frank William Wade (born November 26, 1982) is an American college basketball coach. He has served as the head coach at three institutions: Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball, Chattanooga from 2013 to 2015, VCU Rams men's basketball, VCU from 20 ...

. Battle was hired by UAB on September 23, 2014 as an assistant coach under

Jerod Haase Jerod Albert Haase (born April 1, 1974) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Stanford Cardinal men's team of the Pac-12 Conference. Haase played college basketball at the University of California, Berkeley from 19 ...

References

External links

Buffalo coaching bioTurner Battle's stats @ ESPN.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle, Turner 1983 births Living people Basketball coaches from North Carolina American expatriate basketball people in Estonia American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Sweden Basketball players from North Carolina BC Kalev/Cramo players Buffalo Bulls men's basketball coaches Buffalo Bulls men's basketball players East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basketball coaches Fort Worth Flyers players High school basketball coaches in New York (state) People from Kernersville, North Carolina Point guards American men's basketball players