FIU has fired Ron Turner as its head football coach. The Golden Panthers dropped to 0-4 with a 53-14 loss to UCF on Saturday.
Ron Turner is out as head football coach at Florida International.
According to Dave Hyde of the Sun-Sentinel, the Golden Panthers fired Turner after the team dropped a 53-14 contest to Central Florida on Saturday. FIU sits at 0-4 on the season.
Athletic director Pete Garcia has not seen his football program make enough progress under the former Illinois head coach, who was in his fourth season at FIU. Turner went just 10-30 during his tenure in the Sunshine State.
The 62-year-old former NFL assistant was the head man at Illinois for eight seasons and helped lead the Fighting Illini to a Big Ten title in 2001. He was 35-57 in Champaign and led the team to a Sugar Bowl appearance.
FIU has enjoyed just two winning seasons since the program began in 2002. Mario Cristobal led the school to 7-6 and 8-5 marks in 2010 and 2011, but Garcia dismissed Cristobal after a 3-9 season in 2012. The move raised eyebrows at the time considering how much work Cristobal put in to make the squad a viable FBS program.
Turner’s firing underscores just how strong of a job Cristobal did during his tenure despite facing obstacles such as a lack of good facilities.