The Future of Girls' Basketball
Updated: Oct 6
By: Gia Killilea
Jack Purtell, previously Newark High School's girls' varsity basketball coach, is bringing his 12 district finals, 3 semifinals, and 1 state championship to Watkins Memorial's girls’ basketball program, hoping to turn around last season's 5-18 record.
Purtell grew up in Ashland, Ohio, located 1 hour and 30 minutes northeast of Pataskala. He grew up a basketball and baseball multi-sport athlete. When it was time for him to decide which college he would play for, he decided to stay home and play basketball and baseball at Ashland University. Purtell has been married to his wife, Laurel, for 41 years and has 3 daughters.
This marks Purtell’s 44th year of coaching basketball. But he is best known for his 24 years of coaching girls' basketball. His first coaching opportunity was as soon as he graduated college, and he coached 7th-grade boys' basketball at Ashland. But he is most notable for coaching girls’ basketball at Reynoldsburg from 2002-2023. While Purtell coached at Reynoldsburg, he amassed a record of 407-122, and even a state championship among other accolades.
When asked, “What helped make your decision to leave Newark and come here to Watkins?” Purtell vocalized that his daughter is a speech therapist who works in the school district. He goes on to say that he has grandchildren that live in the school district and wants to be closer to them. But Purtell also describes the environment that the crowd has at games and how beautiful the school and the gym are.
Watkins girls’ basketball program has been notably unable to keep a basketball coach. The program has had 3 named head coaches in 3 years, making Purtell the 4th. When asked, “How long do you plan on coaching here at Watkins?” Purtell replies, ”I plan to stay a while, 4-5 years, but I have no plan to retire.”
When asked, “What are your goals for your first season?” Purtell replies, "I am not big on short-term goals, I focus more on long-term goals.” He later expresses that he wants to get the numbers back up in girls' basketball. He says he will do this by rebuilding the program from the bottom up, starting at the youth and middle school level.
Purtell is not just a high school basketball coach; he is also a credit recovery support teacher and an in-school suspension adviser. This allows him not only to rebuild our basketball program, but also to help students who are struggling to stay on track for graduation and to help. While Purtell is the girls' basketball coach, he’s also someone who wants to do good for the school district, and that’s exactly what we need.
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