Scott Nickerson
Elmore Autauga News
Marbury’s boys’ basketball team won 22 games in 2025. They won the Class 5A Area 6 championship and advanced to the Class 5A Elite 8 for the first time in school history. Based on that successful season, the Elmore Autauga News has named Marbury boys’ basketball Coach William Turner as the Autauga County Basketball Coach of the Year.
“I am so honored and humbled by my selection,” said Coach Turner. “I’m very proud of this team and all we accomplished. This type of award is never all about the individual coach receiving it. The players, my assistant coaches, and all the people who help keep this program going are the true winners as well. When everyone does what they are supposed to do, it allows for this award to be given to an individual coach. I feel this is truly a team award. I could not be prouder.”
Turner knew early on that the Marbury team had a chance to be special.
“My belief in this team was set after tryouts last year. When I put the JV and Varsity teams together last year, I knew the talent was there to make a run. Even better than that is I knew we’d be under the radar because no one else had a clue what I had here. Even when we started the 2025 portion of our season 7-8, I was not the least bit concerned. We went on a 15-3 run in the 2026 half of our season to finish 22-11.”
The start of the Bulldogs’ strong run began with a trio of early January blowouts. In the first game of January, Marbury beat Autauga Academy 72-39. The next night, they defeated BTW Magnet 79-19. A couple of nights after that was a 40-point blowout of Billingsley.
“We had a lot of things really start clicking toward the end of the season. Our shots were falling, and our defense was playing really well. We played fast, but under control, and from day one the team bought into our goals and potential for this season.”
Coach Turner realizes that the Bulldogs will have a target on their back going into next season. The team that advanced to the Class 5A Elite 8 will return all five starters and the first two players off the bench.
“There is a ton of talent in our classification, and the defending state champions are mostly underclassmen, so it will be a challenge, but nothing worth having is easy to get. We’ve already started hitting the weight room, and we are going to work really hard this summer trying to prepare to make another run in the state playoffs. Hopefully, we can stay healthy and continue our development and progression toward being a school you immediately think about as synonymous with basketball success. The future is bright, and the sky is the limit,” said Coach Turner.
