Lucas Turner has a feeling he’ll feel at home with Monmouth Academy boys’ basketball, and he’s hoping to build the program so that it feels at home in post-season play.

Monmouth recently named Turner, 29, as boys’ varsity basketball coach.  He replaced Randy Parenteau, who posted a 9-27 record in two years with the Mustangs.

A Burlington native, Turner played basketball and tennis at Penobscot Valley High School in Howland. He attended the University of Southern Maine, where he played two years of tennis. 

Turner’s basketball coaching career began roughly the same time he became an academic advisor at Opportunity Farm in New Gloucester five years ago. He spent two years as freshman boys’ coach at Gray-New Gloucester High School, then moved up to coach the junior varsity there the last three years before applying for the Monmouth job.

“Having played at Penobscot Valley, it definitely mirrors a lot of that kind of the same small-town feel,” he said. “There was definitely appeal on that front.” 

He inherits a program that has not made an invitational tournament since moving to Class C and the Mountain Valley Conference in 2001. It may be a daunting task to reverse that trend and make the Mustangs a perennial contender, but Lucas had a hand in a similar building program at Gray-New Gloucester.

Turner met his team in mid-June with the start-up of summer basketball and has had a few practice and a couple of scrimmages to put it  through the paces. 

“We’re getting back to basics,” he said. “It was 3-15 last year for these boys and so we’re just getting back to the defensive fundamentals and offensive fundamentals and working from the ground up.”

“We’re definitely defense first,” he added. “I’ve told the boys if we improve our team defense, our help-side defense, and then our transition defense, our record definitely would be better, even if we didn’t improve anything else. But we also want to turn that good defense into instant offense.”

The Mustangs graduated four seniors, all of them starters, from last year’s squad but have five junior and seniors for the upcoming season with significant varsity experience. 

“There is definitely some talent there and it’s a great group of kids,” Turner said. “It’s just a matter of building it up.”

Lucas Turner believes he’ll feel at home with Monmouth Academy boys’ basketball, and he’s hoping to build a program that will finally feel at home in post-season play.

Monmouth recently named Turner, 29, as boys’ varsity basketball coach.  He replaced Randy Parenteau, who posted a 9-27 record in two years with the Mustangs.

A Burlington native, Turner played basketball and tennis at Penobscot Valley High School in Howland. He attended the University of Southern Maine, where he played two years of tennis. 

Turner’s basketball coaching career began roughly the same time he became an academic advisor at Opportunity Farm in New Gloucester five years ago. He spent two years as freshman boys’ coach at Gray-New Gloucester High School, then moved up to coach the junior varsity there the last three years before applying for the Monmouth job.

“Having played at Penobscot Valley, it definitely mirrors a lot of that kind of the same small-town feel,” he said. “There was definitely appeal on that front.” 

Turner met his new team in mid-June with the start-up of summer basketball and has had a few practice and a couple of scrimmages to put it  through the paces. 

“We’re getting back to basics,” he said. “It was 3-15 last year for these boys and so we’re just getting back to the defensive fundamentals and offensive fundamentals and working from the ground up.”

“We’re definitely defense first,” he added. “I’ve told the boys if we improve our team defense, our help-side defense, and then our transition defense, our record definitely would be better, even if we didn’t improve anything else. But we also want to turn that good defense into instant offense.”

Turner watched that forumla work at Gray-New Gloucester and believes it will work again with a Monmouth program that has not made an invitational tournament
since moving to Class C and the Mountain Valley Conference in 2001.

“It’s almost a mirror image of Gray-New Gloucester in Class B,’
he said. “In my first four years there, the most wins in a season was
four, I believe, but when coach Flagg and I got there, we did the same
thing — went back to basics, started teaching fundamentals, worked with
this current group of seniors and last year the fruits of our labor
finally paid off and we went to the Western B quarterfinals. 

 The Mustangs graduated four seniors, all of them starters, from last year’s squad but have five junior and seniors for the upcoming season with significant varsity experience. 

“There is definitely some talent there and it’s a great group of kids,” Turner said. “It’s just a matter of building it up.”

Turner and his wife, Melanie, live in Lewiston with their three-year-old son Payson and 10-month-old daughter Natalie.

Lucas Turner believes he’ll feel at home with Monmouth Academy boys’ basketball, and he’s hoping to build a program that will finally feel at home in postseason play.

Monmouth recently named Turner, 29, as boys’ varsity basketball coach.  He replaced Randy Parenteau, who posted a 9-27 record in two years with the Mustangs.

A Burlington native, Turner played basketball and tennis at Penobscot Valley High School in Howland. He attended the University of Southern Maine, where he played two years of tennis. 

Turner’s basketball coaching career began roughly the same time he became an academic advisor at Opportunity Farm in New Gloucester five years ago. He spent two years as freshman boys’ coach at Gray-New Gloucester High School, then moved up to coach the junior varsity there the last three years before applying for the Monmouth job.

“Having played at Penobscot Valley, it definitely mirrors a lot of that kind of the same small-town feel,” he said. “There was definitely appeal on that front.” 

Turner met his new team in mid-June with the start-up of summer basketball and has had a few practice and a couple of scrimmages to put it  through the paces. 

“We’re getting back to basics,” he said. “It was 3-15 last year for these boys and so we’re just getting back to the defensive fundamentals and offensive fundamentals and working from the ground up.”

“We’re definitely defense first,” he added. “I’ve told the boys if we improve our team defense, our help-side defense, and then our transition defense, our record definitely would be better, even if we didn’t improve anything else. But we also want to turn that good defense into instant offense.”

Turner watched that forumla work at Gray-New Gloucester and believes it will work again with a Monmouth program that has not made an invitational tournament
since moving to Class C and the Mountain Valley Conference in 2001.

“It’s almost a mirror image of Gray-New Gloucester in Class B,’
he said. “In my first four years there, the most wins in a season was
four, I believe, but when coach Flagg and I got there, we did the same
thing — went back to basics, started teaching fundamentals, worked with
this current group of seniors and last year the fruits of our labor
finally paid off and we went to the Western B quarterfinals.” 

The Mustangs graduated four seniors, all of them starters, from last year’s squad but have five junior and seniors for the upcoming season with significant varsity experience. 

“There is definitely some talent there and it’s a great group of kids,” Turner said. “It’s just a matter of building it up.”

Turner and his wife, Melanie, live in Lewiston with their three-year-old son Payson and 10-month-old daughter Natalie.