Coaching Staff
Head Coach: Tony Turner
 Tony Turner
enters his third season as the Lady Pirates head coach.
Year two of his regime saw Coach Turner named KJCCC East
Coach of the Year after guiding ICC to a 24-9 record.
The Lady Pirates also won a share of the Eastern
Division Championship and advanced to the semifinals of
the Region VI Tournament.
In his first season at the helm Coach Turner led the
Lady Pirates to an 18-13 record. He took over the reigns
of a program coming off of a 10-21 season. Rebuilding a
program is nothing new to Coach Turner, prior to taking
over at ICC he had an
incredible one year stint at Allen County Community
College. Before his arrival to Allen
County, the Lady Red Devils had a combined 30-93 record in
four years. He directed them to a 19-13 record,
finished fourth place in the Jayhawk Conference-Eastern
Division, and reached the quarterfinals of the Region VI
tournament.
Turner officially began his coaching career at the high
school level, where he spent time as the assistant boy’s
basketball coach at Shawnee Heights in Topeka, Kansas.
He later moved to Highland Park High School, where he
became the women’s assistant before moving up to the
head coaching position. He took over a struggling Lady
Scots’ program that went from 2-19 prior to his arrival
to a state tournament bid in just his second season on
the job.
Coach Turner, a
graduate of Independence High School, was a standout
point guard at Independence Community College, where he
held the single season assists record (244) record for
nearly 20 years. That record was recently
surpassed in the 2005-2006 season. He then
continued his playing career at Morehead State (KY).
He completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Administration of
Recreation, with a minor in Psychology at Pittsburg
State University in Pittsburg, KS.
Coach
Turner has a wife (Molly), 2 daughters (D’Ambra, and
Jasmyn) and a son (Tate).
Assistant Coach: Mark James
 Mark
James
enters his fourth season with Independence Community
College. Coach James graduated from Emporia State
University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in
Sociology and earned his Masters in Physical Education
from ESU this past December.
Before coming to
Independence he completed a short stint within the community
relations department of the Miami Dolphins. Prior to that
Coach James was the assistant director of
marketing/sales/promotions with an arena football team
(Kansas Koyotes) in Topeka for 2 seasons. He has also been
an assistant baseball coach for the American Legion and Babe
Ruth teams in Council Grove, KS.
Coach James' duties include
being the recruiting coordinator, the academic coordinator,
summer camp director, assisting with on-court coaching,
travel arrangements, film exchange, managing/updating team
website, and scouting.
Coach James and his wife
Leah married in September of 2006. Coach James has a 12-year old
daughter, Bailey.
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