James Purpura Named UMBC Men's Lacrosse Head Coach

BALTIMORE - UMBC Director of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation, Tiffany D. Tucker announced the hiring of James Purpura as the Retrievers next men's lacrosse coach today.

Purpura joins Retriever Nation after a one-year stint as the Offensive Coordinator and Recruiting Coordinator at Ohio State University. Prior to joining the Buckeyes, Purpura served as the head coach at Virginia Military Institute.

It's A Great Day To Be A Retriever!," said Tucker. "Coach Purpura's experience and success as a head coach, paired with a tremendous run as an assistant, made him a highly enticing candidate for UMBC. We are extremely thankful to have him as the next leader of our program."

This past season, Purpura was a key contributor to Ohio State's Big Ten regular-season championship run, helping the Buckeyes to back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since 1966. Ohio State reached as high as sixth in the national rankings this past season and remained in the top-10 for more than 10 weeks. The successful campaign saw five Buckeyes named to the All-Big Ten team, three named USILA All-Americans, one nominated for the Tewaaraton Award, and four players drafted professionally to the PLL and NLL.

"I can't tell you how excited I am to become the next Head Coach of UMBC Men's Lacrosse," stated Purpura. " I have always followed the program from afar, and the opportunity to lead such a proud program is a tremendous honor. I want to thank President Valerie Sheares Ashby, Director of Athletics Tiffany D. Tucker, and the entire search committee for placing their trust and confidence in me to coach, teach, and mentor the student-athletes in our program."

As the leader of the VMI program, Purpura took over a program that had gone winless in the truncated 2020 season and hadn't won more than four games since 2008. He increased the program's win total in each of his five seasons at the helm, finishing with a 10-4 record in 2025, the program's first winning season since 1995. Purpura navigated three different conferences during his run at VMI, competing in the SoCon, the Metro Conference, and the NEC.

During that stretch, the Keydets were the only team in the nation to improve their win total in each of those five seasons. Purpura's 2025 graduating class amassed 27 wins, the most for a class in the program's Division I history, and most as a class since 1996.

After serving as the program's offensive coordinator in 2017 and 2018, Purpura took his first head coaching job at Arcadia, coaching the Knights to a record of 14-11 in his two seasons at the Division III level. He was named the Middle Atlantic Conference's Coach of the Year in 2019. Other previous coaching roles include a stint as the Offensive Coordinator and Recruiting Coordinator at Queens University of Charlotte, a stint as a graduate assistant at Frostburg State, and a season as the offensive coordinator at SUNY Brockport.

"It was important for me to be at a university that strives for excellence in everything it does, and I look forward to building a culture committed to preparing our student-athletes for a lifestyle of winning," said Purpura.

Purpura competed collegiately at Mount Saint Mary's and SUNY Geneseo, earning his degree from SUNY Geneseo in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology.

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