(Photo Courtesy of Army West Point Athletics)
Both Ohio State and Air Force filled their coaching openings at the assistant coaching positions yesterday. The Buckeyes hired former Army volunteer assistant Rick Lewis and Air Force hired former Amherst head coach Jon Thompson. Continue reading “Ohio State, Air Force Fill Assistant Coach Openings” →
(Photo Courtesy of VMI Athletics)
VMI has announced the hiring of James Purpura as the program’s next head men’s lacrosse coach. This hiring comes after John Birnser left his post at VMI to take over at Culver Military Academy, Ind.
Chris Jastrzembski was first to report the news this afternoon.
This will be Purpura’s second stint on staff at VMI. He serves as the Keydets offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator in 2017 and 2018. During his time running the Keydets’ offense, VMI averaged 12.50 points per game in 2018 and 12.31 points per game in 2018, ranking as the 63rd best offense in DI both years. Additionally, the Keydets saw their shooting percentage improve from .216 in 2017 to .247 in 2018 under Purpura.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am to return to VMI,” Purpura said. “I have continued to follow the program from afar and now for the opportunity to be at the helm of such a prideful program is a tremendous honor. I want to thank General Peay, Dr. Diles, and the search committee for bestowing their confidence in me to coach, teach, and mentor the Keydet lacrosse program. It’s important to me to be a part of an institution that strives for excellence in everything they do and I look forward to building a culture that’s committed to preparing our cadet-athletes for a lifestyle of winning,” Purpura said in a press release.
Purpura returns to VMI following a two-year stint as the head coach at Arcadia, where he was named the 2019 Middle Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year and led the Knights to a 14-11 record over two seasons. Arcadia went 9-9 in 2019 and was 5-2 at the time the 2020 season was cut short due to the Coronavirus Outbreak.
A Pittsford, N.Y. native and 2013 grad of SUNY Geneseo, Purpura got his start in coaching as an assistant at SUNY Brockport before serving as a grad assistant at Frostburg State in 2014. He served as the offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator at Queens University of Charlotte in 2016 prior to his first stint at VMI.
(Photo Courtesy of Duke Athletics)
The Tewarraton Award has been given out to the nation’s best player every year since 2001. And one trend has been similar since Hofstra midfielder Doug Shanahan took home that first trophy, no defenseman or goalie has ever won the award, at least on the men’s side. The women’s side has seen both the award, but it has only happened once at each position. Continue reading “What Would it Take For a Defenseman, Goalie to Win The Tewarraton?” →
(Photo Courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletics)
Lacrosse is unique in that multiple aspects of other team sports are all featured in the game. The physicality of football, the skill of hockey, and the IQ of basketball can be seen in lacrosse. Heck, basketball was based on lacrosse. Continue reading “What if College Lacrosse Had Bowl Games?” →
(Photo Courtesy of Yale Athletics)
One of the greatest series in the past decade has been the series between Penn and Yale during the 2019 season. The two squads met in regular-season Ivy League competition, the Ivy League Tournament, and the NCAA Tournament. And none of the three meetings disappointed. Continue reading “Game Rewind: Penn vs Yale in 2019 NCAA Quarterfinals” →
(Photo Courtesy of Duke Athletics)
Heading into the 2021 season, both Duke and North Carolina will have a lot of hype around them as they both look to be amongst the cream of the crop in the ACC, which has the potential to be as wild as we’ve ever seen in, and on the national landscape. Certaibly, all eyes will be on Tobacco Road for the entirety of the 2021 season, especially of both squads live up to their hype. Continue reading “2021 Could Be “The Year of Tobacco Road” in College Lacrosse” →
(Photo Courtesy of North Carolina Athletics)
From animals to representations of warfare to terms used to identify the people of a certain state, the nicknames in college sports vary tremendously from one end of the spectrum to the other. Continue reading “How All 74 DI College Lacrosse Schools Got Their Nicknames” →
(Photo Courtesy of Virginia Athletics)
The No. 2 seed Virginia Cavaliers and the No. 3 seeded Maryland Terrapins met at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md. for the 2003 NCAA semifinals. The contest was a rematch of a March contest between the two ACC foes, where Maryland defeated Virginia, 7-8. Continue reading “Game Rewind: Virginia vs Maryland in 2003 Semifinals” →
(Photo Courtesy of NC State Athletics)
A few weeks ago, I looked at the early days of college lacrosse in Georgia, specifically concerning Georgia Tech’s varsity stint, albeit it a short one, in the sport during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Well, this week we head six hours north to Tobacco Road, and take a look at another ACC school that once had men’s lacrosse, NC State. Continue reading “Throwback Thursday: When The Wolfpack Roamed the Lacrosse Field” →
(Photo Courtesy of UMass Athletics)
Hofstra and UMass went head-to-head at Stony Brook in the 2006 NCAA Quarterfinals. While this contest pegged two hunters looking for their first-ever Championship Weekend berth against each other, it was also a rematch of a regular-season meeting in which UMass handed Hofstra their first loss of the season. Continue reading “Game Rewind: UMass vs Hofstra in 2006 NCAA Quarterfinals” →
