Mark Ferfolia Sr. is in his fourth season with the Gilmour Academy hockey program in 2024-25 and is serving as the Varsity B head coach.

Ferfolia brings a lifetime of hockey knowledge to the Lancer program, having served as a high school head coach for the past 45 years.

Ferfolia began coaching at Trinity High School in 1979 and remained there until 2011. In 1988, one of his Trojan players, Mark Smith, was drafted directly off the Trinity roster by the Winnipeg Jets in the eighth round. Smith remains the only OHSAA player ever drafted in Ohio directly from their high school roster.

Ferfolia then took the head coaching position at Chagrin Falls High School, where he coached from 2011-2014. Prior to Gilmour, he served as the head coach at Lakewood High School, a position he held from 2016-2021. Each summer, he serves as the head coach for a team of Ohio players which participates in the Hockey Night in Boston sophomore series.

During his career, Ferfolia has been named Coach of the Year on three occasions in the Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League. He has taken two teams to the OHSAA Final Four, finishing as State Runner-up once. His teams have won five Divisional Championships. In the 2022-23 season, the Gilmour Varsity B team won the Ohio JV state Championship under Ferfolia's guidance.

Ferfolia was awarded the OHSAA Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity award in 2005. He was a member of the National Federation of High Schools playing rules committee from 2005-2009 and a member of the OHSAA ice hockey advisory committee from 1995-2014. He served as President of the Ohio High School Hockey Coaches’ Association from 1990-2014. He serves as a USA Hockey Mid-Am District board member as the Vice President of Ohio. He also is a member of the USA Hockey Coaches Developer team, instructing youth hockey coaches across the country in over 40 coaching clinics each season.

Coach Ferfolia also has 46 years of coaching experience in local youth hockey (34 years at Garfield Heights and eight at Gilmour). He has won eight divisional championships in the Cleveland Suburban Hockey League (CSHL) during that time.

Coach Ferfolia stresses fundamentals, work-ethic and accountability with his players in order to prepare them for high school hockey and beyond. He loves working with hockey players to get them to the next level.