His legacy in Husker football lore was cemented as the “Turmanator†during the 1994 undefeated national championship.
The third-string walk-on quarterback was forced into duty after injuries to Tommie Frazier and Brook Berringer, first finishing off a 32-3 victory at home against Oklahoma State, then starting the next week at Kansas State, helping to engineer a 17-6 win.
Since then, 2020 Lincoln Journal Star boys high school coach of the year Matt Turman has put together a Hall of Fame high school football coaching résumé at Omaha Skutt that continues to grow by the season. The SkyHawks will enter the 2020 football season with a 26-game winning streak produced by back-to-back undefeated Class B state championship teams.
In all, Turman has guided Skutt to five state championships (2005, ’13, ’14, ’18 and ’19) as well as three state runner-up finishes. The SkyHawks have been in the past four Class B state championship finals and six of the past seven.
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He’s settled into Skutt much like his father, Tim Turman, did at Bishop Neumann. The elder Turman, who retired after the 2018 season, coached at Neumann for 39 seasons, leading the Cavaliers to two state championships and five state runner-up finishes.
“I really like it here, I like what we’ve built here and I’m comfortable,†Matt Turman said. “Now my kids are going here, so I can’t see myself leaving anytime soon.â€
Turman has coached at Skutt 17 seasons, starting in 2002 but taking a leave of absence in 2007 when his wife, Kim, an orthopedic surgeon and former NU gymnast, was doing her residency at the University of Virginia.
Their oldest son, Jackson, is a junior at Skutt, but does not play football. He’s involved in music and speech. Their middle child, eighth-grade son Bennett, will be in the football program next season. Their daughter, Eliza, is a fifth grader.
Skutt opened in the fall of 1993, but the school failed to find an identity on the football field in its early years, making the playoffs three times in the first 10 years, reaching the second round once.
Turman spent his first four seasons out of college as an assistant coach at Millard West under Dan McLaughlin, the 1988 Journal Star coach of the year who won state titles at Broken Bow, Norfolk and Millard West before moving into the college coaching ranks, retiring as Wayne State’s coach after the 2019 season.
Turman then took on the head coach position at Valley one season before the opportunity opened up at Skutt.
“When I got the job here, I was a 28-year-old and I had no idea what I was doing,†Turman said, laughing. “Growing up in a Catholic school and seeing my dad teach and coach in a Catholic school made this a draw. Just talking to a lot of people around this area, they told me this had potential of being a great opportunity. They were right.â€
Turman, however, was a young coach with plenty of proven mentors he’s worked with both as a player and coach — his father, Nebraska legends Tom Osborne and Turner Gill (Turman’s quarterback coach at NU) as well as McLaughlin. All of them contributed something to the coach he is today.
“I got the full gamut from all of them,†Turman said. “My dad, Coach Osborne and Coach Gill were very calm and collected types and then I got to Coach McLaughlin and he was the very fiery and emotional guy who wasn’t scared to raise his voice.â€
Turman said Osborne still emails him, especially after state championship seasons to congratulate him.
“Sometimes he tells me I should be running a little more option," Turman said, laughing. “I find it amazing that he still keeps tabs on me, a backup quarterback from 25 years ago.â€
If the elder Turman is at the game, like he was more often last season after he retired, the son isn’t shy about getting advice in the heat of battle.
“I always try to talk to him at halftime and get his thoughts; he’s always got something for me to use in the second half,†Matt Turman said.
Under Turman, Skutt has gone 154-45 with 14 state playoff appearances. The first one came in 2003, Turman’s second year. And Turman credits a 13-12 season-opening win over Elkhorn that fall for laying the foundation for what was to follow.
Skutt would later beat Elkhorn in the first round of the playoffs that season as well.
“In my mind, that one game (the regular season win over Elkhorn) completely turned our football program around,†said Turman, whose career record is 158-50. “It just gave our kids so much confidence that they can win games against the really good programs like Elkhorn.â€
The first undefeated state title came in 2005, his fourth season at Skutt. The state titles in 2018 and ’19 were the second and third undefeated seasons and the second time the SkyHawks have won back-to-back state crowns.
The championship last fall added more validity to what he thought back in 2014 — it’s much harder to repeat than to win the first state championship.
After pulling out a tough 42-37 win over defending state champion York in the fourth week of the 2018 campaign to avenge the loss in the 2017 state finals, Skutt rolled the rest of the way. The SkyHawks’ toughest challenge after that was a 16-point regular season triumph over Waverly, a team they later beat by 20 in the semifinals of the playoffs.
They capped it with a 48-27 win over Scottsbluff in the finals.
Even though Skutt returned many key pieces from the 2018 team, including Super-Staters Tyson Gordon and Blake Anderson, it wasn’t nearly as stress-free last season. Skutt needed double-overtime to beat Waverly 28-21 in the regular season matchup, then overcame a four-point deficit in the third quarter to dispatch Waverly 27-10 in the semifinals of the playoffs.
In the state finals against Scottsbluff, Skutt stopped a Bearcat two-point attempt with 2:35 left in the game to preserve a 21-20 win.
“It’s really hard to repeat,†said Turman, whose younger brother, Seth, was an assistant coach at Skutt this past season. “We talked to the kids about it because there’s a lot to it. You get everybody’s best shot. I’m sure we’ll be in the same boat next year.â€
But even with all the wins and state championships, Turman most values the relationships he’s developed with the current and former players in the program. During playoff time, Turman says, his phone “blows up†with text messages from former players wishing the team good luck, something that makes all the long hours he puts in worthwhile.
“When they know you care about them outside of the football field, they’ll go the extra mile for you on the field,†Turman said. “The program is something people take pride in, they’re glad they were a part of it and they want to continue to see it do well.â€