PURCHASE, N.Y. - Purchase College Athletics is excited to announce the hiring of Jake Fitzgerald as the new men's lacrosse head coach and academic coordinator, it was announced Friday.

Fitzgerald arrives at Purchase with an extensive background in the sport, as he has spent time as a coach, player and head of operations.

Most recently, he worked at Long Island Unversity as the school's Director of Lacrosse Operations. During that time span, Fitzgerald worked with the team's head coach to plan out all activities for the squad, including practice, travel, scouting and recruiting.

Prior to LIU, Jake worked at his alma mater, Mercy University, as the Defensive Coordinator of the men's lacrosse team.

Over his year with the squad, Mercy produced a top-15 NCAA Division II defense and achieved a national ranking of 5th in the country. Additionally, he coached 10 players to East Coast Conference All-Conference awards, won an ECC championship and went 5-2 against nationally-ranked foes.

Fitzgerald also has experience at the high school level too, as he worked at Bronxville High School for a semester as the Assistant Junior Varsity Coach.

As for his playing days, Jake played for five seasons at Mercy (2019-23), where he spent the final two as a key defensive starter on one of the best teams in the nation. In 2022, Fitzgerald and the Mavericks finished as the NCAA National Champion Runner-Ups, while he individually landed on the the ECC All-First and Second Teams in back-to-back years.

As the new head coach of Purchase men's lacrosse, Fitzgerald will be tasked with overhauling a squad that went 3-12 last year. 

Outside of coaching, the Bellmore, NY native will oversee the academic standing of all student-athletes at Purchase, including things such as weekly study hall and schedule planning.