Athletics Pupura, Lacrosse Coach: A Man on a Mission By Molly Rolon, Associate Editor
New-and-old lacrosse coach James Purpura returned to VMI in mid-2020. The new: Purpura recently took the reins of VMI’s lacrosse program. The old: He spent 2016-18 with the program, as the recruiting coordinator and offensive coordinator. He left the Institute to take on his first head coaching job at Philadelphiaarea Arcadia University after the 2018 season. And take it on he did. After two seasons under Purpura, the seven-year-old program showed tremendous improvements—breaking most school records. The team’s winning percentage nearly doubled, they made their first playoff appearance, and Purpura was named 2019 Coach of the Year in the Middle Atlantic Conference. “I’ve always been around young programs or teams that have ... needed to be rebuilt,” he said about going to a young program with a losing record. “I like the journey of taking something and making it better—and leaving it better than you found it.” A blue collar young man from upstate New York, he grew up playing hockey—and lacrosse when the ground thawed out. Like many kids from northern (aka, hockey-loving) states, he wanted to play in the National Hockey League. His size and athleticism lessened his chances, and he realized, “I wasn’t good enough to play in the NHL.” What he was good enough to play was lacrosse. He fielded offers from a few colleges. Ultimately, he played for and graduated from SUNY Geneseo—coincidentally, also the alma mater of VMI’s longest-serving lacrosse coach, Doug Bartlett. As a college student-athlete, he expected to teach high school and coach—though, as a coach, he points out, “you really are a teacher.” After earning his undergraduate degree, he began helping coach. Within a few weeks, he knew coaching was how he wanted to spend his life. Making it in the coaching world requires a good reserve of dogged determination. While his athleticism may be average, his drive, grit, and determination are anything but ordinary. He spent the first few years as a coach in low-paying positions—$10,000
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James Purpura returned to VMI in summer 2020 to lead the Keydet lacrosse program. He spent 2016-18 as the program’s recruiting coordinator and offensive coordinator. He left the Institute to take on his first head coaching job at Philadelphia-area Arcadia University after the 2018 season.—Photos by Molly Rolon, VMI Alumni Agencies. or less annual salary—and learned the art of frugality. He lived in his car during summer months and took on any extra summer work available. He called up—and crashed on—every buddy’s couch in every town he recruited in. In seven years, Purpura lived in five different states. Where a lesser man might have thrown in the towel, Purpura kept pushing. The world of lacrosse is small—evidenced by the coincidental alma mater of two VMI head lacrosse coaches. “Almost everybody knows everybody. It’s easy to get a phone number from somebody,” Purpura said. That small world brought Purpura to VMI the first time. Someone knew someone, and suggested he interview for the job. “Candidly, I didn’t know a ton about VMI at the time,” he said. After one visit to VMI,
he had fallen in love with VMI, the school’s potential—and the entire Lexington area. It’s a close-knit, friendly community with “a passion for college athletics.” And when it snows, “it’s generally only two or three inches,” the native New Yorker pointed out. “So, that’s another added benefit.” The alumni community makes a tremendous difference, too, he said. “The alumni support at VMI is a game changer. The support they provide and continue to provide allows us to build a better experience for our cadetathletes and we all are very thankful for that opportunity.” Two years ago, when he had the chance to become head coach of Arcadia University’s lacrosse team, the program was “young” and “underachieving”—but Purpura “saw a lot of opportunity there.” He had been traipsing up and down the East
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