For Nebraska football fans of a certain age, the name Matt Turman evokes an emotional response. Its mention stirs memories of college football glory days in the heartland.
Turman was a largely unheralded walk-on at Nebraska, but not without talent. He earned a spot on the 1992 Shrine Bowl team after an all-state senior season at Bishop Neumann High School in Wahoo, Neb.
His place in Husker history was cemented two years later.
The crux of Turman’s legend lies in two halves of football: the second half of a 32-3 win over Oklahoma State and the first half of a 17-6 win over #16 Kansas State in October 1994. Turman, the third-string quarterback, was called on to hold the fort while Tommie Frazier and Brook Berringer recovered from injury.
Fast forward to 2017. Turman is now head coach at Omaha Skutt Catholic High School, a position he’s held since 2002. To say his tenure has been a success would be an amalgam of understated and obvious.
But it wasn’t necessarily the easiest task at the outset. The school had only one playoff win before his arrival. The Skyhawks weren’t known as a football powerhouse, but Turman remembers the turning point.
After a 3-6 year, the team played highly ranked Elkhorn in week two of his second season. “We pulled an upset,” he said. “At that point, our kids’ kind of said, ‘Hey, we have a chance. Maybe we can have a good football team.’”
It’s hard to find a Skutt team that hasn’t been good since. Turman has delivered three state championships and two runner-up trophies to the mantles of Skutt’s hallways.
Success, it seems, is contagious.
Watch Matt Turman lead Omaha Skutt as they take on the Elkhorn once again Friday night at 7PM CT on YurView and on YurView.com.
