Purcell Possesses A Passion For Recruiting
April 04, 2022 | Women's Basketball
STARKVILLE – Recruiting has and always will be the lifeblood for any college team.
Mississippi State just injected one of the top recruiters in the country to lead not only its recruiting efforts, but its entire women's basketball program in Sam Purcell.
Purcell comes to the Bulldogs from Louisville, where he has served as an assistant and later associate coach for the past nine seasons. Not only have the Cardinals enjoyed the best stretch in school history over that span, they have also signed a top 15 recruiting class every year of Purcell's tenure.
"What makes me a good recruiter is I'm just real," Purcell said. "I'm just a normal guy. Obviously, I understand the magnitude of being a head coach and what comes with that…The one thing I hope is that I never change as a person. That's why I can hopefully relate to a lot of people.
"My path and where I've been all over the country allows me to open a lot of doors because of relationships and understand where people come from. When they get to know me – especially now that I'm a girl dad of three – not only am I a coach but parents can have a trust factor with me that I will truly take care of their daughter because I'm going to treat them like I do my own three kids."
Purcell led Louisville's recruiting efforts for four signing classes ranked in the top 10 by ESPN, including the nation's No. 1 class in 2015. He has also reeled in the country's top overall recruit twice at two different schools.
Purcell helped Georgia Tech ink five-star shooting guard Kaela Davis in 2013 and then aided Louisville in gaining the signature of five-star point guard Asia Durr two years later. Davis went on to be the 10th overall pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft while Durr was selected second overall in 2019.
Durr, who competed against MSU in the 2018 Final Four, is one of 10 players Purcell recruited to Louisville that would later go on to be drafted by the WNBA, including six in the past three years. He also signed 13 McDonald's All-Ameircans while with the Cardinals.
And while stars and rankings are a great indication of a player's talents, it's not the only factor Purcell will use to evaluate when recruiting prospects to Mississippi State.
"I know a lot of time in recruiting, people get caught up in ranking numbers," Purcell said. "I'm not that kind of guy. I want people who understand how special this place is to go to school and how special this fan base is and that want to work every day. If they check those boxes, then that's the right fit for me and who I want to try to bring in."
The 42-year old native of Dalton, Georgia believes that honesty is the best policy when out on the recruiting trail. Purcell plans to pitch the Bulldogs' recent history of success coupled with an enthusiastic and loyal fan base and his own passion and dedication to potential recruits.
"This place is special and I hope they know they have a special coach that's energetic," Purcell said. "I think there's a lot of things that go in my favor of where I'm at in my coaching career. I can relate to players. I'm not a coach who is coming here on the back end that's looking for a retirement job. My wife's family is right down the road and my family lives in Florida, so I plan to stay here for a long time. That message is going to by crystal clear in the recruiting process."
Recruiting, of course, is only part of Purcell's job. And while his track record on the recruiting trail is second to none, MSU director of athletics John Cohen would not have hired him without confidence in his in-game abilities as a coach.
"Sometimes when you give compliments to someone in the area of recruiting it can be misconstrued as 'but they're not an X's and O's coach'," Cohen said. "This is an X's and O's coach who is an elite recruiter as well."
Purcell's time at Auburn, Tulsa, Georgia Tech and Louisville allowed him to work alongside elite coaches such as Jeff Walz, Nell Fortner and Joe Ciampi. While with the Cardinals, he created scouting reports that led to victories over Stanford, UConn, LSU and Oregon during his tenure there.
That attention to detail not only served Purcell well in scouting opponents, it has also helped him build lasting bonds with the coaches and players he has worked with over the years. Those connections are what ultimately helped him ascend to now being a head coach at one of the nation's premier programs for women's basketball.
"I'm a big relationship person so every handshake I have and every person I meet, it matters," Purcell said. "The way I'm going to go about this as the head coach at Mississippi State is I'm going to take it one day at a time. If we do it right one day at a time, then I'm confident in the success that we're going have at the end."
Mississippi State just injected one of the top recruiters in the country to lead not only its recruiting efforts, but its entire women's basketball program in Sam Purcell.
Purcell comes to the Bulldogs from Louisville, where he has served as an assistant and later associate coach for the past nine seasons. Not only have the Cardinals enjoyed the best stretch in school history over that span, they have also signed a top 15 recruiting class every year of Purcell's tenure.
"What makes me a good recruiter is I'm just real," Purcell said. "I'm just a normal guy. Obviously, I understand the magnitude of being a head coach and what comes with that…The one thing I hope is that I never change as a person. That's why I can hopefully relate to a lot of people.
"My path and where I've been all over the country allows me to open a lot of doors because of relationships and understand where people come from. When they get to know me – especially now that I'm a girl dad of three – not only am I a coach but parents can have a trust factor with me that I will truly take care of their daughter because I'm going to treat them like I do my own three kids."
Purcell led Louisville's recruiting efforts for four signing classes ranked in the top 10 by ESPN, including the nation's No. 1 class in 2015. He has also reeled in the country's top overall recruit twice at two different schools.
Purcell helped Georgia Tech ink five-star shooting guard Kaela Davis in 2013 and then aided Louisville in gaining the signature of five-star point guard Asia Durr two years later. Davis went on to be the 10th overall pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft while Durr was selected second overall in 2019.
Durr, who competed against MSU in the 2018 Final Four, is one of 10 players Purcell recruited to Louisville that would later go on to be drafted by the WNBA, including six in the past three years. He also signed 13 McDonald's All-Ameircans while with the Cardinals.
And while stars and rankings are a great indication of a player's talents, it's not the only factor Purcell will use to evaluate when recruiting prospects to Mississippi State.
"I know a lot of time in recruiting, people get caught up in ranking numbers," Purcell said. "I'm not that kind of guy. I want people who understand how special this place is to go to school and how special this fan base is and that want to work every day. If they check those boxes, then that's the right fit for me and who I want to try to bring in."
The 42-year old native of Dalton, Georgia believes that honesty is the best policy when out on the recruiting trail. Purcell plans to pitch the Bulldogs' recent history of success coupled with an enthusiastic and loyal fan base and his own passion and dedication to potential recruits.
"This place is special and I hope they know they have a special coach that's energetic," Purcell said. "I think there's a lot of things that go in my favor of where I'm at in my coaching career. I can relate to players. I'm not a coach who is coming here on the back end that's looking for a retirement job. My wife's family is right down the road and my family lives in Florida, so I plan to stay here for a long time. That message is going to by crystal clear in the recruiting process."
Recruiting, of course, is only part of Purcell's job. And while his track record on the recruiting trail is second to none, MSU director of athletics John Cohen would not have hired him without confidence in his in-game abilities as a coach.
"Sometimes when you give compliments to someone in the area of recruiting it can be misconstrued as 'but they're not an X's and O's coach'," Cohen said. "This is an X's and O's coach who is an elite recruiter as well."
Purcell's time at Auburn, Tulsa, Georgia Tech and Louisville allowed him to work alongside elite coaches such as Jeff Walz, Nell Fortner and Joe Ciampi. While with the Cardinals, he created scouting reports that led to victories over Stanford, UConn, LSU and Oregon during his tenure there.
That attention to detail not only served Purcell well in scouting opponents, it has also helped him build lasting bonds with the coaches and players he has worked with over the years. Those connections are what ultimately helped him ascend to now being a head coach at one of the nation's premier programs for women's basketball.
"I'm a big relationship person so every handshake I have and every person I meet, it matters," Purcell said. "The way I'm going to go about this as the head coach at Mississippi State is I'm going to take it one day at a time. If we do it right one day at a time, then I'm confident in the success that we're going have at the end."
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