T.W. Johnson is well-regarded within the lacrosse community. He spent nine years as both an assistant and head coach at Hobart College before accepting the position as director of athletics and boys’ lacrosse coach at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy in Virginia in 2013.

Prior to Hobart, Johnson coached at both Limestone, where he captured the 2002 NCAA Division II national championship, and at Lynchburg.

Before making each move in his career, including the decision to return to NSA, his alma mater, he had to make one phone call. Each time, that call was to his former lacrosse coach at Nansemond-Suffolk, Neil Duffy.

“Any job I have considered or interviewed for, he has been my first call,” Johnson said. “I can’t remember a single month in all these years in which we did not speak.”

That’s quite a statement, considering the fact that Johnson finished playing for Duffy 30 years ago.

“Outside of my parents, I can not think of another adult that has had a more meaningful impact on my life than Coach Duffy,” Johnson said.

It’s that type of resounding influence in the lives of students and players that makes Duffy such a remarkable leader of young people, both on the field and in the classroom. He understands that everything is important, and every interaction has the potential to make a difference.

The quick conversation in the hallway can be just as meaningful as the two-hour practice out on the field.

“Nothing is more important than anything else,” Duffy said.

After five years at Nansemond-Suffolk, Duffy moved to Norfolk Academy in 1994, where he continued his student-centered approach to education. He’s worn the dual lacrosse hats of boys’ varsity assistant coach and boys’ JV head coach since joining the Bulldogs’ program.

In recognition of his years of dedicated service, Duffy was the recipient of US Lacrosse’s 2019 Gerald J. Carroll, Jr. Exemplary Coaching Award.

Originally from Massapequa, N.Y., Duffy was a lacrosse player and team captain at Navy in the 1980s. His personal connection to Gerry Carroll dates back more than three decades.

“Coach Carroll was one of our lacrosse coaches and my leadership instructor at the United States Naval Academy,” Duffy said. “I can certainly recall my many interactions with Coach Carroll during those days — and I fondly remember his energy and spirit. Because of this award’s connection to Navy Lacrosse, it’s the most meaningful recognition that I have ever received.”

In many ways, Duffy credits Carroll, who passed away in 1993, with influencing his career path.

“The support that Gerry bestowed upon me and countless others is one of the central reasons I have been teaching and coaching all these years,” he said. “Any support that I have been able to offer my players has been driven by the gratitude I have felt for all of the goodness and support that has come my way. I have simply been trying to pay it forward as best I can.”

In addition to his coaching duties, which also includes girls’ basketball, Duffy has been a classroom teacher of physical science, algebra and physics.

Dennis Manning, headmaster of Norfolk Academy, provided an overwhelming endorsement of Duffy for the Carroll Award and considers him to be one of the most outstanding role models the school has ever had.

Manning’s letter of recommendation noted, among other things, that Duffy is, “among the most selfless, caring, supportive, involved, tirelessly dedicated and engaged mentors, teachers and coaches I have known in my career. He leads a deep, abiding life of integrity, and his students have extraordinary respect for this facet of his character. Neil's students and players revere him.”

It is precisely because of that deep relationship with players that Duffy commits significant time each year to further building the bond with his NA graduates. He makes the incredible effort to attend at least one game each year for each of his former players now competing at the collegiate level.

In 2019, that monumental effort allowed him to visit with all nine of Norfolk Academy’s graduates that were playing at the next level, with trips up and down the East Coast. With his wife, Jen, at his side for most of these roadies, Duffy estimates that he saw 15 or 16 games last spring.

“This gesture has meant a great deal to each player and their families and to our program,” said Tom Duquette, a member of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame who retired as head coach at Norfolk Academy in 2019. “Coach Duffy has had a deep and lasting impact on hundreds of players and students.”

Somehow, in the midst of coaching, teaching, mentoring, raising his own family and making the countless college road trips, Duffy has also found time to author two lacrosse novels, The Spirit in the Stick and Fly to Honor. Both books are currently out of print but available for free access through the Norfolk Academy website.

“The motivation came from all the people who helped me,” Duffy said. “I made cold calls to people like Jimmy Lewis and Bob Scott and so many others, and they were fantastic. That kept the energy level up for me, and then, how could I not do it?”

Now in his 31st year coaching, Duffy explains that there’s been an evolution in his perspective. It’s based on a constant cycle of feedback and enjoyment.

“When you first start in coaching, you want to compete and you want to win,” he said. “And we still want to do that. Winning matters. But after about 10 years, you start to look at things a little differently as you start going to the weddings of your former students and when you see them becoming parents. You start to see the bigger picture, and you have a better understanding of how the things you are doing fit in.”

He’s still enjoying every minute.

“I always feel that my students have given me quite a bit more than I have given them,” Duffy said. “Working with kids is so much fun. That’s why I’ve stayed in it.”