Alan Turner (2004-07) applying skills he learned with Saluki Football to shore-up multi-million dollar companies

CARBONDALE, Ill. — In the four years that wide receiver Alan Turner (2004-07) played at Southern Illinois, Saluki Football won 40 games, including four playoff victories, beat two FBS teams and won two conference titles.

In a run-oriented offense, the former walk-on finished his career ranked eighth in school history in receiving yards (1,511) and fifth in touchdown catches (15). He played two seasons each with two of the best quarterbacks in SIU history — Joel Sambursky and Nick Hill — and played his whole career with the winningest coach in school history, Jerry Kill.

Now 41, the lessons he learned playing football at Southern have carried over into his professional career, where he helps shore-up struggling multi-million dollar companies.

Turner has a passion for helping young people, and was recently named the chair of the board for SIU’s School of Management and Marketing, where he is helping students gain more career opportunity access.

Turner began his career as a preferred walk-on at Southern.

StrongDawgs Conversation with Alan Turner

SD: Tell me about your family and playing sports in central Illinois.

AT: My parents are from Chicago. I was born in Bloomington, lived in Decatur, and then back to Bloomington for high school. I have two little sisters and a little brother, so I'm actually the oldest by seven years.

I loved all sports. I played football, basketball, track, I was actually good at baseball as well, but had to choose between that or track. I loved the competition. Sport was what kept me motivated every day to never miss school.

SD: What were your college options and how did you end up at SIU?

AT: I did a couple individual camps with some Big Ten schools and had some decent film, but we weren't a good football program. We were known way more for basketball. All the schools that I sent film to said the same thing, which was basically a preferred walk-on offer.

So at that point, the decision came down to what made the most sense from a school financially. I didn’t even consider Illinois State, because it was in my backyard, and it just wasn't that exciting to me. When I came down to SIU for an unofficial visit, I saw the wide receivers who were on the team already — guys like Brent Little, Kellen Allen, Quorey Payne — those guys were highly successful athletes, and I thought that was a good scenario for me.

SD: So you walked on at Southern?

AT: Yes, I was a preferred walk-on. I actually started with the number 59. I redshirted my first year in 2003, and in a naive way, was upset about that. I was the scout-team player of the year for offense, and I needed that development, no question.

Turner finished his career 5th in TD catches at SIU.

SD: How did you end up going on scholarship?

AT: After my redshirt year, I kind of put a little pressure on Coach Kill, but I think the play spoke for itself. Brent Little was a great teammate, as well, and applied pressure to Coach. As a redshirt freshman, I was playing in the rotation with Kellen, Quorey and Brent. It was a four-man rotation at that point.

SD: Let’s talk about some career highlights, starting with the Indiana win in 2006.

AT: Yeah, that was a big win. I think it solidified that we could compete on any level. We may not have the depth that those schools have, and I know things have changed a lot now, but that was really a confidence-builder for us. We had some new additions like Justin Allen. We had Craig Turner, who had moved to corner and found his groove. We had Arkee (Whitlock) in the backfield, and that was Nick's (Hill) first year starting, too. That was also the year that App State beat Michigan, and we were hoping that we were on a path to meet each other at some point down the road.

SD: You scored a touchdown on special teams that season versus Western Kentucky?

AT: Yes. First off, we lost the game. We were actually playing well and ended up letting that game slip, unfortunately. Western Kentucky transitioned up and switched conferences on us after that. But I did not block the punt, I just scooped and scored. Special teams were always critical for us. Coach (Jay) Sawvel was an amazing special teams coach, now the head coach at Wyoming.

The Salukis played at Montana in the 2006 playoffs.

SD: What do you remember about the UT Martin playoff win in ’06, where the team came back from 20 points down and you caught the winning touchdown with a minute to go?

AT: We were not playing well, but we were a resilient team and never wavered, stuck to what we were doing, and people made the plays that we needed to make. I happened to make a play right at the end of the game. I knew the ball was coming my way, just because of the way that they lined up on defense and the route that I had. Nick put a good ball out there. I felt a lot of relief for the seniors at that time, guys like Will Justice, Patrick Jordan, Marlon Heaston. We got them another game in the playoffs at Montana.

SD: You played two seasons each with two all-time great quarterbacks. What was that like?

AT: Yeah, it's interesting, because they’re two very different individuals, a changing of the guard. Joel was the ultimate leader and represented the blue-collar nature of the team, with guys like Tommy Koutsos, Muhammad Abdulqaadir, Jeff Jones, Lionel Williams. Joel led by his style of play, a lot of running, he took a lot of big hits over the years. He symbolized how we played. Everybody listened to him and respected him.

Nick comes in and takes over the baton as the new leader of the program. He was a basketball player, who transferred in from Western Kentucky and was a dual-sport athlete. I think that it’s difficult to come into a program that is already winning, and now how do you establish yourself as the new face, the new leader of the program? He did a great job figuring out how to lead the team.

His first year, the ’06 season, we were still pretty conservative, we didn't throw it a whole lot. I think (tight end) Braden Jones was our leading receiver that year. It was a transition year for Nick to come in and rally the troops and get a Big Ten win and have a decent playoff run. You couldn't ask for a better transition from two leaders.

One person I want to make sure I acknowledge in that changing of the guard is Jon Cairns. Jon, unfortunately, had a foot injury, but I think he was an amazing factor for both Joel and Nick in terms of his grasp of the offense and really supported the coaching staff.

Turner played two seasons each with Joel Sambursky and Nick Hill.

SD: Your senior year in 2007 was one of the best seasons in school history, making it to the final four of the playoffs. You were all-conference, caught seven touchdowns. Reflect on that season.

AT: We actually started throwing the ball. We were traditionally a running program, so it was nice to open it up a little bit. I think that's when you started to see football, in general, begin to transition to more of the spread offenses. We had a tenured group, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Our defense was actually young. We did have some seniors in the group, but young guys, like Brandin Jordan, Chauncey Mixon, Marty Rodgers, Korey Lindsey, Mike McElroy, all those guys played. You were starting to see the new classes come in and pick up where we left off in terms of the discipline, the tone that we set and the high expectations.

We had ESPN on campus for both the basketball and the football programs. We played the UMass playoff game in the afternoon and there was the basketball game versus Indiana that night. Then ESPN was back on campus the following week against Delaware. Kudos to Joe Flacco for still hanging in there at 40 plus years old in the league right now. But I mean, what an environment. That was probably the best environment I had ever seen at SIU. The crowd turned out. It was a dark, misty, nighttime game and another game that we unfortunately didn't come out on the right side of it. I can think of many plays that we let go. It was a really good run with a really good group of guys and the coaches, I think, had found their groove at that point, too.

SD: What were your biggest takeaways from playing for Jerry Kill?

AT: Jerry Kill is the program builder. Where I'm at now, I build businesses and lead organizations, and I would say that Jerry Kill was able to establish a mentality that enabled individuals to play up to their talent level and beyond. I think that is what makes a good leader, you're able to tap into individuals and get them to exceed expectations. He's done that at every place he's been, and numbers don't lie.

He had a way about him that was very discipline-oriented, heavy-handed, old-school is the best way to put it. Like, we're going to work-out in the snow, finish every drill, do all the little things that add up and help you win.

SD: How much do you attribute what you learned from Saluki Football to your success in your professional career?

AT: I would actually attribute most of where I'm at today to the identity that was created while I was at Southern Illinois. I was always competitive and had ability, but in terms of actually maximizing that, it was SIU that helped me find that. I think it does come down to the mentality of a Jerry Kill, the discipline and the ability to understand how to get people to buy-in. I learned what successful teams do, by seeing us young men from all over the country lay it on the line for one another. In my five years, we won 50 games at SIU, we were in the top 10 in wins of all college football.

Turner at 2025 Homecoming with Saluki Football alum Tony Rinella and Saluki Volleyball alum Jene Pulliam

SD: Tell me about your life and career after football.

AT: I went to a couple of NFL camps, went to the CFL and did Arena football for a couple of years. One of the most challenging things was transitioning from sport to the real world. I started out in Washington DC in a government-contracting role, and was part of a team that won the contract to build the Defense Intelligence Agency's cyber program.

From that, I got into the tech space. For the last 10 years or so, I’ve been working with European companies that have mature products and are looking ahead to some type of liquidation event, an acquisition or merger within a few years, and they need someone to run the Americas side.

So, that's my role now. I oversee multiple teams, all of them focused on driving revenue, and work with companies that range from $30 million to $200 million in annual revenue. I oversee the North and South America side, take it from X revenue to Y revenue, which makes them more attractive either to be acquired or to merge with.

SD: What do you try to bring to the businesses you work with?

AT: In today's world, where people work remotely all over the country, how do you get everybody to buy into the leadership, the direction? My role is to get people to buy-in, keep them hyper-focused on what that strategy is and get everybody to excel and maximize what they're bringing to the table. It’s very similar to sports — how do I get you to all-conference, to All-American? It’s the same thing in the professional world.

SD: Where are you based out of now?

AT: I started off in D.C., then to Los Angeles and San Francisco, back to Chicago, and then just recently to Charlotte, which is where I am now. I have a three and four-year-old, so I'm kind of an older parent, but this is where I think we'll do the family life for the time-being. I would say raising a family is the biggest thing that I feel most proud of.

Alan and wife, Sophia, with children, Vincent and Gabriel Turner

SD: You were recently back on campus lending your business expertise to the University. How did that come about?

AT: I’m very excited about the opportunity to come back and be the chair of the board for the School of Management and Marketing. I think the pandemic has done a number on a lot of schools and a lot of businesses in general. Christie Mitchell, one of the professors in the school, contacted me and started to put together this board.

Sports ends for everybody at some point, and a passion of mine is to focus on youth and experiential learning. I worked on a program in D.C. taking underprivileged children and getting them out and experiencing different things. I think experiential learning exposes you to what is possible.

SIU sits in a rural location. The businesses that come in, the career fairs, there's not many large ones, and I don't know if there's a ton of exposure for the students on what's possible. So I think Christie and I hit it off, understanding there's a lot of things we can do for students that will provide them more access. I’ve also brought Yemi Akisanya on board, and he's done some awesome things, brought Jene Pulliam, a former volleyball player who's gotten a lot of awards at SIU.  Alums can contribute, as well, providing kids more of an understanding of what is out here in the world to strive for.

I’m also interested in helping athletes make that difficult transition to the real world. I think that NIL only exposes it even more. I want to make sure we continue that conversation, because sports is only a platform and all sport ends at some point. How do you leverage it and continue to excel in life? I think that needs to be more of the conversation.

SD: How closely do you follow Saluki Football?

AT: I don’t live in the area, but I've only missed a few Saturdays, thanks to TV. A lot of us guys are still in touch, you know, group chats throughout the year, vacationing together, etc. I appreciate what you're doing with StrongDawgs and look forward to being able to help in any way I can.