Boys Lacrosse

About Head Coach Chris Bates

Chris Bates is originally from Katonah, New York, a suburb of New York City. Both his parents were educators. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a B.A in psychology and played lacrosse as a two-time All-Ivy attackman. After a brief stint working in New York City, Chris began his coaching career by establishing the first lacrosse program at Archbishop Ryan High School in Philadelphia and then went on to work at Drexel University, both as an assistant and then head coach for 10 years. He helped build the Dragons into a perennial CAA conference contender, winning two conference championships, as well as being named the CAA Coach of the Year twice. Chris moved on to become the head coach at Princeton University for seven years where he guided the Tigers to three Ivy championships and two NCAA tournament appearances.

Chris most recently worked at Episcopal Academy. At Episcopal, Chris helped create and lead the school’s auxiliary programs, including athletic camps and clinics, summer academic offerings, and Lower School enrichment classes and aftercare. He served in the role as a liaison between the college counseling and athletic departments and worked with athletes on campus interested in playing a sport in college. He also served as an advisor for the freshman class. Chris was the head lacrosse coach of Episcopal’s boys’ varsity program. During his tenure, the team was a top three Inter-Academic Athletic League competitor each season with many of the boys going on to play in college.

Chris has a M.Ed. in school psychology from the University of North Carolina. He is currently the head coach of the 2023 Premier Lacrosse League championship team, the Archers Lacrosse Club. Chris is married to Melissa, who is currently pursuing her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling through Wake Forest University. Together they have three children: Eliza, Charlie, and Nicholas.

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