Photo courtesy of Rivier University Deanna Purcell is learning the ropes as the new women's basketball coach at Rivier University, after doing the job on an interim basis midway through last season.

NASHUA – Deanna Purcell was shocked.

Her Rivier University women’s basketball players not only were aware she’s the schools all-time leading scorer, they knew the point total.

“I don’t even know my point total,” she said with a chuckle. “They were like, ‘Oh my God, we love you.’ I felt like a small-town celebrity.”

And just think, that’s when she was a Raider assistant. Now, she’s the new Rivier head coach after filling in on an interim basis last winter when Paul Williams had to step down for personal reasons midway through the 2019-20 season.

But the fact the players knew that history meant a lot to Purcell.

Photo courtesy of Rivier University Deanna Purcell is learning the ropes as the new women's basketball coach at Rivier University, after doing the job on an interim basis midway through last season.

“It speaks to the program aspect, you know what came before you,” she said. “I think it shows they’re invested (in the program).”

And it’s a program that – whenever the pandemic loosens its grip on small college sports – is in need of a turnaround after a 4-20 season a year ago. Purcell remembers a game at Elms College while she was the interim coach, when the Raiders were being throttled at halftime.

“It was awful,” she said. “You could tell they looked defeated, and they knew I was frustrated. I just said, ‘Guys, no one’s feeling sorry for us at this moment. Yeah, there’s been some curveballs we’ve been dealt, things no one was expecting, but this can be a defining moment for us.”

It may have been. The Raiders lost the game by 20, but in Purcells mind, that was the “rebirth” of the Raiders.

Because, as she said, “Anyone who knows me knows I hate to lose.”

When the job was opened up, Purcell said she basically begged Rivier AD Joanne Merrill to strongly consider her for the job.

“She jumped in with really no warning,” Merrill said. “It just made sense. She’s coached at the AAU level, and she did a great job for us last year. I felt like we didn’t miss a beat.

“She’s local, she loves Rivier. Nothing like having a young woman coaching women. That’s a good thing, too.

“Someone who knows the school, chose the school, and had real success here.”

Before being hired as the permanent coach, Purcell, 27, had to contact recruits and let them know that there was a coaching vacancy.

“They said, ‘Well, as long as you’re still around, we’re still in.’ So that made me feel good.”

Still around? Rivier has been a huge part of Purcell’s life ever since she made the sudden decision to go there.

Ironically, she didn’t even think Riv was going to be in her plans after she had graduated from Alvirne nearly 10 years ago. She was recruited heavily by Division II Stonehill.

“Riv was on my radar because my sister (Amandra) went there,” Purcell said, adding that she knew Raiders head coach Paul Williams. “But it was like, ‘OK, let’s keep it as an option. I was a 17-18-year-old kid who wanted to play Division II, didn’t want to stay close to home.”

But when she went down to Stonehill, in Easton, Mass., she realized it wasn’t going to be a good fit.

“I was a homebody,” she said. “No fault of (Stonehill), but I didn’t think it was the right fit for me. I think I called Paul in August, and I said, ‘Can I please come to Riv?”

And, as she said, the rest is history.

Purcell went on to a stellar career as a scorer with the Raiders, playing one year with her sister, and that season the Raiders bowed to St. Joseph’s of Maine in the GNAC tourney, but were good enough to play in the ECAC tourney – the first non-conference postseason game for the program.

“I was close to home, I loved the small campus, being able to play with my sister, and I loved I was able to play for the Greater Nashua community,” Purcell said. “And Riv had such a good education program, and if I wanted to be a teacher anyway, it made sense to go somewhere where I could get my degree and be at home.”

She turned down some scholarship money as well. Purcell was a 1,000 point scorer with the Broncos, but as she said, “I wasn’t a 20-point a game scorer in high school.” That changed as a Raider.

“I had a green light (to shoot) from the minute I stepped in,” she said. “I was able to use the system that was in place and it worked well for me. I had the confidence from the coaching staff and my teammates. I always say it was the best decision I ever made to come back to Riv (for school). I don’t think I would’ve had the same career anywhere else, even at another Division III program.”

During her senior year, Purcell had the goal of being a history teacher after school – until she was a student-teacher. In what she said was a “common theme of making a decision and then realizing it’s not for me,” she scrapped that idea and began working with autistic children. She then came back to Riv to get her Masters in special education and currently teaches full time at Nashua North.

But did she ever think she would coach?

Pretty much.

“It’s tough as an athlete to go your whole life, involved in a sport, and to leave it,” she said. “It took me a couple of years to get back to it.”

She moved around a bit, and moved back to Hudson in 2018, at Riv, finally feeling settled. Then Williams called her for at least the second time to offer her a spot on his staff as an assistant coach. She had turned him down before, feeling she wasn’t ready to commit the time while she was deciding what to do with her personal and professional life.

But this time was different.

“I missed (basketball),” she said. “I missed part of who I am. It was perfect for me. I was re-envigorating my life.”

She coached some AAU, but this was special.

“It felt like I was back home,” she said, adding she had to resist the urge to just get on the court and play. “I had to change my nindset. It was teaching. Coaching and teaching go hand-in-hand.”

Purcell realized she had to get the players to realize what they were capabale of, and fight off the frustration that she wasn’t coaching any Deanna Purcells.

Suddenly, though, she was in charge, after just half a season as an assistant.

“It was tough, it was stressful for me,” Purcell said. “I knew Paul had had some personal stuff that he had to go take care of, so I was supportive of that. I wanted him to do what he needed to do and I was more than happy to step in and do what was needed of me.”

She stepped in, and is still in.

“I’ve always been the type that will rise to a challenge,” she said. “My first collegiate experience coaching was last year, and I said, “I want to do this, I can do this.’ Paul taught me the building blocks of what to do and how to do it. I was flying solo and to have that support from incoming freshmen who didn’t know me was big for me.”

Now Purcell is getting to know the difference between being a head coach and an assistant. She loves the fact she can carry on with her dual career as a high school special education teacher and college women’s basketball coach.

“I feel like I’m actually giving back to the community that gave me so much,” Purcell said, “and feel fullfilled professionally and keep that athletic side of me.”

Of course, Purcell will be fully immersed in the recruiting trail aspect of the job, traveling to watch high school players, when things return to normal. She makes sure she gives her all to both her teaching and coaching jobs.

“But I think the fact I’m lucky enough to really love both of my jobs, and that doesn’t happen for everybody,helps,” she said, noting she has full support from her family and her fiancee. “They know I’m doing what I love.”

But of course the job isn’t what it nomrally is thanks to the pandemic. Riv’s season would be about to start in another week or so, but on Monday the Great Northeast Athletic Conference cancelled the winter season. If Riv does play, it will be just a few games in late winter against some of the other New Hampshire Division III schools. Purcell has to become as innovative as she can; this semester she’s allowed five weeks of tiered practices, starting with conditioning and then advancing.

“We were never sure what our season was going to look like, which was awful because these girls just want to hit the ground running with the progress they made,” Purcell said. “But if there’s nothing else we can get from this year, as long as we can build our program back up to what it used to be, the culture what it used to be, and the team aspect, they’re happy with just being a part of that change we began last year.”

Purcell knows there’s work to do. She remembers a quote she and Williams saw on a team’s locker room white board when the Raiders were using it as a visitors locker room.

“It said something along the lines of ‘College basketball is a full time commitment, not a part-time hobby.’,” Purcell said. “So it’s going take getting athletes who want to make that full time commitment, who want to be a part of that change.

“I tell recruits that if I was being recruited by me right now, and seeing a 4-20 team, it wouldn’t be very appealing to me. But to get kids who want to be a part of ‘We’re not going to be 4-20 ever, ever, ever again’.”

Her players have bought in, and so have the recruits she’s been talking to. Purcell knows recruiting has been an adjustment – she’s honest with prospective future Raiders, and is not the salesman type. “I need to recognize the necessity of selling our school, selling our program,” she said. “And selling it while being honest. I’m not going to make empty promises – just finding the kids who mesh well with our program.”

Purcell is home. She wants her players to be able to discuss anything with her, as she has a genuine interest in them. And while they know her scoring numbers, the only numbers she wants to be associated with from hereon out are wins.

“This is for sure where I want to be,” she said. “I want to put our program back to where it was when I was a player. I don’t lose well. I don’t want this program to ever have a losing record again.”

She has history on her side. As a player, she came in to a program that went 7-18, and it won 18 games the next season.

Merrill remembers a competitive, driven Purcell as a player who was steady and composed, “and that serves her well as a coach.” Would Deanna Purcell the player enjoy playing for Purcell the coach?

“Oh yeah,” Purcell said. “I think she would.”