Adam Purzitza named Ashley football coach
Ashley didn’t have to look far to find its next football coach.
Principal Michael Perez announced in a press release on Tuesday that the school had hired Hoggard offensive coordinator Adam Purzitza.
Purtzitza becomes the eighth coach in program history. He will finish out his teaching duties at Hoggard this week before starting at Ashley on Monday.
“I’ve wanted to be a head coach for a while now, but I didn’t really want to move far away,” Purzitza said. “My wife and family really love Wilmington, so I was really happy about the opportunity that presented itself with Ashley.”
He takes over for Dante Lombardi, who went 21-25 in his four seasons. Lombardi guided the Screaming Eagles to back-to-back winning seasons in 2023 (7-5) and 2024 (9-3) as well as first round playoff win in each of his final three seasons.
Ashley finished 4-8 in the fall, with five of those losses coming by eight points or less. Purzitza has already set realistic expectations for what he wants the program to achieve.
“The big thing is being good men in the community, being good in the classroom, and then competing to win conference championships,” he said. “It’s a program that has had some really good success lately. If you look at their results from last year, there are a handful of games they lost by two or three points. They easily could have had another eight-win season.”
Under Purzitza, Hoggard has been one of the area’s most productive offenses. The Vikings averaged at least 35 points each of the past three seasons, including 35.8 last fall en route to a 12-1 record and a trip to the 8A East final.
“Hoggard is in a great place,” Purzitza said. “I know I was just a small piece of the program, but I never wanted to leave when they say the cupboard is bare. I know they are going to be really good, and the offense is going to be phenomenal without me. I feel really good about leaving on the terms I am right now. Everybody seems happy for me and very supportive.”
He is unsure whether or not he will continue calling plays. Once he gets a chance to meet with the current Ashley staff, he’ll have a better idea of what his exact role will be.
“A route that (Hoggard) coach (Craig) Underwood has taken over the last couple of years is being a CEO of the football team, where he can bounce around. I’ve heard a lot of NFL coaches talk about the reason they got a head coaching job is because they were a coordinator, so they continued to coordinate. I would love to continue to coordinate, but I also want to try and find some type of avenue where I can be a part of the defense and be involved with the special teams. I feel like the head coach needs to move around a little bit.”
