Paul Purdy, who formerly coached numerous sports at DHS, has been appointed as the new boys’ golf coach starting this upcoming spring season. A beloved gym teacher by all students and faculty, Purdy is handed the torch by Mark Otish. Otish had coached the boys for nearly two seasons, but last season was canceled due to the pandemic. Purdy has plenty of prior coaching experience as he was involved with the boys soccer and lacrosse programs, as well as the wrestling program.

Through the years, Purdy had been around golf more and more. He ended up finding himself in love with the game completely. This drove him to strive for the job for many years, and when the job finally became available, it was a no brainer as he explained: “For the past 7 or 8 years I have taken a real interest in golf. I have grown older so I could not compete but the game just stuns me. I love playing it, I love being around it, and I love learning about it. So when I got the opportunity to take the job, I took it.”

Many are ecstatic with the appointment of Purdy, including junior golfer Logan Kovacs who has been coached and taught by Purdy before. “I was excited when I heard that he was our new coach. He’s not only a coach and a teacher to us, but he’s also a role model. He’s someone everyone looks up to.”
Previously, Purdy had been an assistant coach alongside boys wrestling head coach Rick Shook. During his time on staff, he built relationships with the wrestlers and still keeps tabs on those who have already left DHS. Among those wrestlers, Kovacs is one who is very close with Purdy.

“We have a really good relationship. He’s a mentor for me in school and he is always involved with the things I’m doing. The one thing that has made Mr. Purdy stand out to me is that he has always told me that no matter whom I’m wrestling or what I’m doing, he always believes in me and I admire that a lot. golf team consists of many golfers that are on the boys wrestling team and were on the team during Purdy’s time there. Going into this upcoming spring season, Purdy will already have some chemistry with his golfers that many new coaches don’t usually have. The team will have no problem adjusting to him becoming the new coach Kovacs explains.

“No, I do not think the team will have trouble adjusting. As some may know, we have two other wrestlers on the golf team, Jalen Hawkins and Daniel Camacho. They already have a pretty good relationship with him as well, so I think that it won’t be a hard change at all and I think we will have a really fun season this year.”

Purdy is fully aware of his participants for this upcoming season and is knowledgable that he will have strong bonds with his players early on. He also understands that he may have obstacles of his own this spring, but he is fully confident in his approach as a coach.

“Absolutely, I don’t want to blow my own horn, but I rate myself as a coach. I feel the kids and I already have that understanding from my teaching and [for some of the kids] from my coaching [for another sport]. However, it will be a learning period for me because this is my first time coaching high school golf. Some of the rules I still need to grasp and I do not want to become a disservice to the boys. But the transition for both the boys and I will not be hard.”
Purdy and his boys are anxious for the start of the season, and Purdy already has a general idea of his goals and his ambitions entering his first season: “For the kids to be successful, especially the seniors. I want the kids to be able to play competitively and know that they can compete while having fun with it.”

With the talent on the team already, and the effort that will be put in on the golf course, all are excited for the start of the season. Purdy and the boys golf team will start the season in the spring of 2021 barring any complication from the COVID-19 pandemic.