All Andre Turner has to do is look down at his clipboard for all the memories to come flooding back.

The legendary Memphis State point guard, now the coach at Division II Lane College in Jackson, pays homage to his alma mater every time he roams the sideline during a game.

Turner suited up for the Tigers in the mid-1980s in a four-year span in which he became one of the most decorated players to ever come out of the program. He played for coach Dana Kirk and assistant Larry Finch, both of whom he draws inspiration from as he looks to find his own footing in the college coaching world.

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“Man, there’s even a play in my playbook right now that I use that was one of the plays from Dana back in the day,” Turner said to The Daily Memphian.

With much of Turner’s foundation as a coach built throughout his time at Memphis, it’s only fitting that his Dragons have unofficially opened their season with an exhibition game against the Tigers in both of the past two years since he was hired at Lane College in 2021. They’ll do so again at 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon when Lane visits FedExForum to take on coach Penny Hardaway’s team.

Turner, nicknamed “The Little General” in his collegiate playing days, is a 5-foot-11 Memphis native whose name is etched in Tiger lore. He holds the Memphis program record for career assists with 763 and is revered for hitting game-winning shots in three consecutive NCAA Tournament games as a junior to propel the Tigers to the 1985 Final Four.

It’s the same qualities Turner possessed as a player that give him the potential to one day become a great college coach.

“I don’t let a whole lot rattle me,” said Turner, who began his coaching career in 2010 as an assistant at Mitchell High, his alma mater. “I guess I kinda took that from the way I played, with being able to make some shots at critical times of games. Not being afraid of the moment. Being able to kinda sit back and analyze, but not being afraid to jump when it was time to.

“That’s where my coaching style comes from.”

Turner’s ability to be an orchestrator on the floor as a Tiger — and throughout a 22-year pro career that had stops in the NBA, ABA and overseas leagues — made the transition to coaching logical. But it wasn’t until a former high school teammate pushed him that he got into the profession.

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When Kelvin Meeks, Turner’s backup point guard at Mitchell, applied to be the principal at Mitchell in 2010, he made Turner promise to return with him to their old stomping ground if he was given the job. Meeks was soon named principal. Turner kept his word.

Turner was an assistant under current Memphis assistant Faragi Phillips for five years. The two won back-to-back state championships in 2014 and 2015 before Phillips left to coach Whitehaven High in 2015 and Turner took over as head coach at Mitchell.

“When he left,” Turner said, “the bug (for me) was there.”

Despite being forced to rebuild much of his roster after many players graduated and some followed Phillips to Whitehaven, Turner’s enthusiasm for the position remained apparent.

Turner also knew he had to be much more than simply a basketball coach.

During Turner’s time at Memphis, Kirk found unique ways to connect with his team off the basketball court. The coach would often play pool with his players at their dorm, beating them while comparing the similarities in his approach to pool with his approach to basketball and life.

Kirk quickly earned the respect and trust of players; Turner wanted to do the same with his own.

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One time, Turner hosted a two-night sleepover for his team inside Mitchell’s gymnasium. The kids slept in sleeping bags on the gym floor and did everything together in those 48 hours — practiced early in the morning, played video games and even cleaned the locker room.

“(I just tried) to think of different ways to build camaraderie, build a brotherhood, a family atmosphere with those guys, knowing that (it was about) life lessons,” Turner said. “That was always preached to me — that basketball was just a vehicle.”

The method resulted in success on the court, too.

Turner led Mitchell to a third consecutive state title in his first year as head coach in 2016 before taking the team to the state playoffs again in 2017 and 2019.

By the time he left for Lane College in 2021, Turner knew he’d had an impact in his community that was bigger than wins and losses.

The past two seasons with the Dragons haven’t been easy, though.

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Turner inherited a program that didn’t even have a scorer’s table when he arrived. He ended his first season at the helm in 2021-22 on a four-game losing streak to finish 10-18 overall; he was just two games above .500 in his second campaign in 2022-23.

But Turner realizes it’s a process. He feels that coaching is his calling.

“I’ve just been in a blessed situation, but it’s not an easy task sometimes,” Turner said. “And it’s not always gonna be an easy road. But, man, if it’s something that you love to do, then the sacrifice is always worth it.”

The standard Turner set for himself as a player won’t let him rest without striving for the highest heights in his second act.

In Turner’s four years at Memphis, the Tigers went to two Sweet 16s and a Final Four and made the NCAA Tournament each season.

Even Hardaway, a Tiger legend himself who played for the school in the early 1990s, looks at Turner almost as a larger-than-life figure. Turner was one of Hardaway’s favorite Memphis players growing up.

That’s why the opportunity to again host Turner and Lane College for an exhibition on Sunday — in what’s become an annual event — is significant to him.

“It means a lot, because he’s a fellow Memphian, a fellow Tiger that’s doing something special at Lane College,” Hardaway said earlier this week. “Whenever he comes back to the building and to the city, it’s always special. It’s always special for me.”

And Turner can’t think of anywhere better to start yet another season than at the place that molded him to be right where he is today.

“I enjoyed every moment,” Turner said. “I tell folks all the time that those were probably four of the best early years of my life. Just to be there and to grow and to be at home, it was something extremely special.”