Turner, 37, is a former quarterback from UNLV and has had previous stops with the Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers before joining the Redskins. Turner has worked with many young quarterbacks such as Teddy Bridgewater and Cam Newton.
Below are five things Redskins fans should know about who will be leading their offense during the 2020 season.
1. He grew up in the NFC East.
Turner spent his childhood years growing up in Coppell, Texas, while his father, Norv Turner, was the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys during their back-to-back Super Bowl runs in 1992 and 1993. That success brought him and family to Virginia when he became the Redskins' head coach in 1994.
Turner was 11 years old when his family moved to Virginia, and he spent the next six years of his father's coaching tenure growing his hunger and love for football. He played quarterback at Oakton High School in Vienna, Virginia -- just a 30-minute drive from Redskins Park -- and played well enough to earn a scholarship from UNLV.
Turner spent plenty of time around Redskins Park while his father was the head coach for seven seasons. That was particularly true during training camp considering that his birthday always fell during practice time. And since he was the head coach's son, the players had plenty of fun with him.
"The players would always get me and tape me to the bench or put me in an ice bucket," Turner told the Twin City Pioneer Press in 2015. "They would always mess with me, being the coach's kid. Brian Mitchell and Terry Allen, they were really the ringleaders, and then the other guys would get involved."
2. He began his coaching career in Virginia at the high school level.
Turner was a three-year letterman at UNLV and graduated with his bachelor's in psychology. He then spent a year as a graduate assistant at Oregon State before returning to Virginia to be the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at South County Secondary School, which is just 30 miles from the Redskins' facility.
In the two seasons that Turner was with the Stallions, the offense saw immense success under his leadership. He helped them reach the playoffs for the first time in school history and produced two 1,000-yard rushers in the same season. Turner's offenses scored 23 points per game in the 21 games that he was the offensive coordinator.
That success brought him to the University of Pittsburgh where he became the receivers coach in his third year with the team. He specialized in recruiting players from the Washington Metropolitan area before joining the Carolina Panthers in 2011.
3. He has worked with Redskins head coach Ron Rivera twice.
During his first season as Panthers head coach, Rivera hired Turner as an offensive quality control coach in 2011, and Turner spent the next two seasons with the team. He worked with No.1 overall pick Cam Newton, who was named the Offensive Rookie of the Year after rushing for 14 touchdowns -- an NFL record for quarterbacks at the time -- and throwing for 4,051 yards. The Panthers had some of their best offensive seasons by averaging 389.8 yards in 2011 and 360.7 yards in 2012.
Turner spent the next five years with the Vikings and the Cleveland Browns as the quarterbacks and receivers coach, respectively. He even went back to the college ranks for a season when he was an offensive analyst for the University of Michigan in 2017.
Rivera brought Turner back to the Panthers in 2018, this time as the quarterbacks coach, where he was reunited with Newton, who had become a seasoned veteran in Turner's absence. In Turner's first year as the quarterbacks coach, Newton had one of his best statistical seasons by throwing for 3,395 yards and completing a career-high 67.9% of his passes, which is the highest of any quarterback in Panthers history.
4. He has a history of getting the best out of talented players.
Aside from Newton, Turner has worked for some talented NFL players throughout his career. After he left the Panthers for the first time, he was hired as the receivers coach for the Browns, where he worked with receiver Josh Gordon, who was entering his second season.
Gordon was a solid receiver in his rookie year, finishing with 805 yards and five touchdowns, but he was elevated to another level when Turner came to Cleveland. He led the league in receiving with 1,646 yards -- the first time in team history for a Browns player to accomplish that feat -- and had nine touchdowns on 18.9 yards per reception.
Turner then became the quarterbacks coach for the Minnesota Vikings, where he worked with two first-round quarterbacks in Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater. Bradford set a then-NFL record in completion percentage (71.6) in 2016, while Bridgewater had the best rookie season for a quarterback in Vikings history. He had the third-best completion percentage (64.6) and seventh-highest passer rating (85.2) in NFL history by a rookie.
In the two seasons that Turner worked with Bridgewater, he threw for 2,919 yards in 2014 and 3,231 yards in 2015, which are the best two statistical seasons of his career.
5. This is his first time holding the offensive coordinator title in his NFL career.
Turner has technically been an NFL offensive coordinator before taking the job with Washington. After Rivera was relieved of his duties in Carolina following their Week 13 defeat at the hands of the Redskins, Turner served in the role for the final four games of the 2019 season.
The Panthers averaged just 15 points per game in the last quarter of the season, but the sample size did offer a look into how he likes to direct an offense. According to NBC Sports' Josh Norris, Turner likes to "manufacture touches" in the backfield using a variety of weapons like wide receiver Curtis Samuel, who had nine rushes for 50 yards with Turner leading the offense.
He may not have plenty of experience in the position, but his resume should make Redskins fans excited about what he can get out of a talented, young offense that has Terry McLaurin, Derrius Guice and Dwayne Haskins Jr.
And make no mistake about it; he is happy to be back with Redskins and ready to work.
