Barnstormers Name Ernesto Purnsley Defensive Coordinator
September 30, 2011 - Arena Football League (AFL)
Iowa Barnstormers News Release
DES MOINES - Iowa Barnstormers Head Coach and Director of Football Operations Mike Hohensee announced this morning that veteran Arena Football League Coach Ernesto Purnsley has been hired as the team's Defensive Coordinator. Purnsley will join the organization effective immediately and begin to rebuild a Barnstormers defense that finished last in the AFL in points allowed last season.
Purnsley brings a wealth of experience to the Barnstormers organization, having coached in the AFL for 13 seasons. His AFL coaching career began with stops in Albany (1997-98) and Indiana (2000-02). In 2003, he began a 5 year run as Defensive Coordinator of the Colorado Crush (2003-07), where the team 3 division titles and the Arena Bowl XIX Championship in 2005. In 2008, Purnsley joined Hohensee in Chicago as Defensive Coordinator of the Rush. In 2010, Purnsley got his big break when he was named Head Coach of the AFL's Utah Blaze, however his tenure lasted just one year. Purnsley reunited with Hohensee in Philadelphia for the 2011 season.
"Coach Purnsley has a tireless work ethic, he knows personnel and most of all he understands how to teach the game of Arena Football," Hohensee said. "I am very excited to once again have him at my side as we focus on winning an Arena Bowl Championship".
Purnsley, a native of North Carolina, played collegiate football at Catawba College, where he was a wide receiver and quarterback. In 1991 he was named wide receivers coach at Concord College (West Virginia). He has also coached at Southern Illinois (1994-96), Charleston Southern University (1997) and Murray State (1998-99).
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