Beer League Live #45: Parker Ferrigan on Going From 1–14 to State Champs, Coaching Through Relationships, and Why Box Lacrosse Matters

beerleaguelive

Oct 9

6 min read

Bearded man in cap and Shure headphones speaks into a mic, with orange lacrosse graphic and text Parker Ferrigan, Ensworth Lacrosse

🎧 Watch Episode 45

Watch the full conversation with Parker Ferrigan on Spotify: #45 Parker Ferrigan

Ensworth's Head Lacrosse Coach on Building Two Programs From Scratch, and Why Every Kid on the Roster Lives by the Same Standard

When Parker Ferrigan arrived at Ensworth, the boys' lacrosse program was coming off a 1–14 season. He took his lumps with a roster full of freshmen in year one. In year two, the Tigers were state champions. He sat down at Get Off My Lawn Studios with Greg and Sam, an Ensworth student hosting his first full episode, to talk about how that turnaround happened, why he coaches through relationships first, and where Nashville lacrosse is headed.

👋 Meet the Guest

Parker Ferrigan is the head boys' lacrosse coach and a counselor at The Ensworth School in Nashville. He grew up a goalie in Baldwinsville, New York, just outside Syracuse, committed to Syracuse early in high school, and finished his college career in net at Delaware. Before Ensworth, he started the boys' program at Lucy Beckham High School in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, from scratch and led it to state titles, including the 2023 Class 4A championship. He holds a master's degree in secondary counseling from The Citadel.

📈 The Number That Matters

1–14. That was Ensworth's record the season before Ferrigan took over. Two years later, the Tigers went 16–3 and won the 2026 TSSAA Division II Class A state championship. He doesn't sugarcoat how his first year went:

"We took our lumps our first year. We really were playing a ton of freshmen, which is hard in a sport like that, rolling out a bunch of freshmen against seniors."

❄️ Snowbanks, Syracuse, and a Grandfather Who Never Missed a Game

In upstate New York, lacrosse is strong enough that college coaches recruit straight out of local high schools. Ferrigan committed to Syracuse early, then transferred to Delaware to get out of his comfort zone and try something new.

His biggest supporter growing up was his grandfather, a charter boat captain who still holds the New York State record for the largest brown trout. With snow on the ground from November through April, Ferrigan's team practiced in the high school parking lot, taking frozen shots in goal, and his grandfather parked his minivan on the snowbank to watch. He never missed a game. He was vocal, competitive and fiercely protective, and Ferrigan says that's where his own fire comes from.

"I think about him all the time. I think about him before every game that I coach."

🌴 Burned Out, Then Hooked

After a lifetime of playing, Ferrigan finished college burned out and never expected to coach. Fresh out of school in Charleston, he and his friend JP Walker started coaching a club team for some extra money. That led to the job at Lucy Beckham, a brand-new high school, where he built the program from the ground up. What kept him there was the competition. He doesn't play anymore, but he still gets to scout, run a program and compete between the lines.

"After year one of that, I was like, this is pretty cool. I kind of like this. And then the following year we had a good team, we're competitive, and I was hooked ever since then."

🤝 Coach and Counselor: Relationships Come First

Ferrigan's counseling background shapes how he coaches. Early on, Ensworth athletic director Jason Maxwell gave him simple advice: be visible. Don't hide in an office. Make an impact in the hallways and classrooms, not just on the field. Sam said it shows. Lacrosse players, hockey players and students who don't play any sport feel welcome in Ferrigan's office.

He sees counseling and coaching as the same work. A kid won't open up in a counselor's office without a relationship, and a player won't buy in without one either.

"My kids aren't going to work hard and be bought in if they don't feel that relationship… You can coach the guys hard because they know you love them."

He also borrowed an idea from Ensworth basketball coach Pearson: every kid gets the same care, but not every kid needs the same amount of it. Some already have plenty of support at home. Others need a coach who checks in more often.

🏆 From 1–14 to State Champs: "I Can't Do It Myself"

Asked how he turned Ensworth around, Ferrigan started with his staff. Coach Jack Kelly, a Toronto native and former All-American at Penn State, came with him from Charleston and works full time in Ensworth's lower and middle schools, building lacrosse into the school from the youngest grades up. Ferrigan surrounded himself with experienced assistants and gives them much of the credit.

The players had to trust a lot that first year. Ferrigan admits they "must have thought we were nuts" with how often they were on the field and how much was asked of them. The staff runs the program like a Division I team. The foundation is one rule that applies to everybody.

"The standard is the standard, and you have to hold everyone to the same standard. If the standard isn't the same across the board, you could kind of lose the respect of the kids in the locker room."

Ferrigan is quick to say Ensworth isn't the best team in Tennessee yet. They still lost to MBA, MUS and McCallie last season. The long-term goal is to compete in the same division as those programs, even as a smaller school. Year three brings more pressure, which he called "certainly a privilege."

🎓 Why He Pushes Players Toward College Lacrosse

Ferrigan wants every player to at least consider playing in college. For him, playing Division I meant learning to balance school, workouts, film, treatment and study hall while being a good teammate through adversity.

"I believe so strongly in it that I really just want my kids to be able to have the same experience and pursue it."

His network does a lot of the work. Coaches who recruited his staff, and former teammates who now coach in college, will watch Ensworth players on a livestream or at tournaments. Even when they don't recruit a player, they send feedback on what he needs to improve. Last year's goalie, Jonathan Drobny, now plays at Stevenson. Cooper Rice, who has only played lacrosse for a handful of years, is headed to Ohio State, and several other seniors and juniors have committed or are close.

🏈 Share the Athletes

At a school with roughly 220 boys, Ferrigan says coaches have to share athletes. In a perfect world, every lacrosse player would also play football. His face-off specialist, Ethan Starling, is an elite football player too. Ferrigan played every sport growing up and three in high school, and says it did wonders for him.

"You have to be unselfish and be able to allow kids to play multiple sports."

On the club side, he works closely with Joel White of Mad Dogs Nashville so club and high school schedules don't pile up on families. That's different from soccer, where some clubs won't let players suit up for their high school teams.

🥍 Why Box Lacrosse Matters for Young Players

Ensworth has its own box lacrosse rink at the Bellevue Sports Complex, across the street from campus, and Ferrigan wants young players in it. On a full-size field, young kids can go an entire game without touching the ball. Box has no out of bounds, the ball stays in play like hockey, and everyone is involved.

"You can't hide out. You have to be involved in the play. Everyone has to be involved in the play."

Box goalies are huge and heavily padded, and the net is small. Kids who learn to finish in box should find a lot more open net when they move to the field.

🧤 Recruiting Goalies: "Find the Kid With a Few Screws Loose"

Ferrigan joked that the best way to find a goalie is to look for a kid with a few screws loose. Then he explained why the position takes a certain mindset: standing in front of shots for two hours after school, then carrying the pressure of the game.

"You're either the hero or the zero. There's no in-between."

His advice for young goalies is simple. In high school he tried to do everything, including running the ball upfield and shooting. He wishes someone had told him his main job was just to save the ball.

📅 What's Next for Ensworth Lacrosse

Ferrigan handles Ensworth's scheduling himself, and his coaching relationships bring a national slate to Nashville. Teams want to spend spring break here, see Broadway and get a good game in. This season includes Episcopal School of Dallas, Charlotte Catholic, Blue Ridge School and Episcopal from Virginia, Trinity from Kentucky and St. Albans from Washington, D.C. Ensworth also pairs visiting teams with other local programs, which helps lacrosse across the area. The season opens March 1.

Five years from now, he hopes Ensworth has a strong K–12 lacrosse culture, with younger students already on the sideline at varsity games.