As part coach, part salesman, Scott Nady has a vision for his Parish Episcopal football team.

He aims for a national ranking.

"My goal," Nady said, "is to play with the best and against the best."

The salesman in Nady could be traced to the three years out of college he spent working with San Francisco sports agent Steve Baker. That's when Nady learned skills that help him market his team and sell players on his program.

But national recognition is a stretch, even though the private school in Farmers Branch is 7-0 and has outscored opponents 331-40.

Parish has just 337 students in grades 9-12 and is in only its second varsity season. Nady, 35, wouldn't say what his budget is, but he said coaches at area schools Highland Park and Jesuit would laugh at it.

The Panthers' only public school opponents this year were weak Dallas ISD teams Thomas Jefferson and North Dallas and fourth-year varsity program Carrollton Ranchview.

None of Parish's players has committed to a college, and none appears on any list of top recruits.

Yet Nady, a W.T. White graduate, has his believers. He is a fast talker, a stocky man whose demeanor oozes energy and enthusiasm.

Scott Noble, an area oil and gas executive, donated $2.75 million toward Parish's new stadium, saying he buys into Nady's vision.

MIKE STONE / Special to DMN

Parish Episcopal, in its second varsity season, is 7-0 this season after finishing 2-8 in 2006.

Kevin Murray, a former Texas A&M quarterback and now a Dallas bank executive, assists Nady, coaching Parish's quarterbacks.

"I know Scott Nady," Murray said. "I know he's committed to being successful. I have a lot of faith in this guy."

And Dennis Dixon, the quarterback at Oregon, calls Nady weekly and worked at his summer camp in Dallas. Nady coached Dixon at San Leandro High School near San Francisco.

"Coach can do anything," Dixon said. "He has a way of convincing you that nothing is impossible."

Parish, a Division II member of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, draws about 2,000 fans per game to its nearly completed, 3,500-capacity stadium, which has no name.

AMY CONN-GUTIERREZ/Special Contributor

Parish players Brant Costilla (left) and Cecilio Carter went door to door to drum up support before the season.

Noble, president and chief executive officer of Addison-based Noble Royalties Inc., said about a dozen other donors added at least $400,000 to fund the facility.

"I felt obligated to back Scott Nady because of his philosophy," said Noble, who has a son on the sixth-grade team at Parish.

Parish has a $100,000 weight room, opened in 2002 and paid for out of the school's private fund. The 50-acre campus includes the stadium and the 360,000-square-foot school building, which used to house Exxon Mobil's offices.

Athletes use the firm's old board room as their film room. Hundreds of the company's red Pegasus symbols mark the walls, and players sit at tables arranged in a U as the projector rolls.

Parish head of school Gloria Snyder interviewed Nady in 2002 when she learned he wanted to return to Texas, where his parents still live. She hired him on the spot. Snyder said she approves of Nady's vision as long as he does not sacrifice balance with academics.

"I would certainly like for us to have a competitive sports program," Snyder said.

Private schools are not restricted to an attendance zone in drawing students. Under TAPPS rules, Nady can push the benefits of Parish Episcopal. He cannot offer inducements based on a student's athletic ability, such as free or reduced tuition, free room and board and free sports camps.

"There's nothing wrong with having high goals," TAPPS director Edd Burleson said, "as long as you operate within the rules."

On offering inducements, Nady said, "We don't do it and never have done it."

But he said he's confident he can persuade potential football players to attend Parish Episcopal.

"If kids who are not in the program come to me before the ninth grade and are interested in the school," Nady said, "it's a done deal."

Danny Calcagno, who hired Nady as offensive coordinator at San Leandro, said Nady is the perfect person to build a top program.

"He has the gift of gab," Calcagno said. "He'll be able to get some guys."

Doug Huff, who compiles the Rivals.com Fab 50 National Football Rankings, said it's a long shot for Parish to be nationally ranked. It's harder to do in football than, say, in basketball.

MIKE STONE\Special Contributor

Coach Scott Nady entertained his Parish Episcopal players with stories from his life after lightning delayed the start of a preseason scrimmage.

"Football has more bodies, and you have to play a better schedule," said Huff, who lives in Wheeling, W.Va., and put out the first National Prep Poll in 1987.

"You have to travel a little bit. And at the same time, who's going to want to play them? Teams like Longview, Katy and Southlake Carroll, what do they have to gain?"

But Huff said Nady's goal is not unreachable.

Evangel Christian of Shreveport, La., had 289 students in grades 9-12 last year and has been a power for years, having produced top quarterbacks Brock Berlin and Josh and John David Booty.

Concord (Calif.) De La Salle, a private school near San Francisco, has about 1,000 boys and once won 151 straight games.

Nady's vision for Parish stems in part from his brushes with De La Salle.

Nady said he was dissatisfied with being a sports agent and in 1995 took the job at San Leandro, a public school. The team won 48 of 52 games in one stretch.

All four losses were to De La Salle, and Nady recalls being frustrated – and envious – that De La Salle could draw top talent on the power of its name.

All of Parish's teams – about 100 players – practiced at the same time Wednesday at the stadium. Opponents have been studied for even the fifth-graders, who ran plays against a scout team.

About 30 parents watched, some helping the younger teams. Nady says he knows each player by name. Wearing blue shorts and a gray T-shirt, he paced, yelling encouragement to the varsity. At the end of practice, he addressed all the teams, some in blue, some in white and some in red. His impassioned speech ended with him telling the players, "I love every one of you."

Parish was 2-8 in 2006. This summer, Nady took his varsity to a camp near Bridgeport for a four-day retreat to focus on football.

Parish's strongest player last year lifted 750 pounds total – bench press, squat, and clean and jerk. This year Ryan Simms, an offensive lineman, is at 1,185 pounds. Six players have lifted more than 1,000 pounds.

Before the season, Parish players went door to door in the neighborhood of W.T. White, Nady's alma mater, inviting people to come to their games.

Each season, Nady said, they will pick a different neighborhood.

"There are older couples who have had all their kids graduated who would love to come support us on a Friday night," Nady said.

Trey Morse, a junior who has rushed for nearly 1,000 yards for Parish, said Nady's coaching has prepared him for life. Morris drives 45 minutes to school. He lives in Mesquite Horn's attendance zone.

Cecilio Carter, a 6-4, 205-pound senior defensive end who last year was a receiver on Plano East's junior varsity, said Nady brings the team together as a family. He said he believes in Nady's goal of being a national power.

"With hard work," he said, "I believe we have a chance of doing that."

ABOUT PARISH EPISCOPAL

Founded: 1972 with pre-kindergarten through eighth grade; added the high school in 2003, with 2006 the first graduating class

Enrollment: 1,156 (pre-K through 12); 327 (9-12)

2007 graduating class: 75

Classification: TAPPS Division II

SCOTT NADY

Age: 35

At Parish: Five seasons. Varsity program began in 2006.

High school: W.T. White (graduated in 1990; four-year starter; all-district as a senior)

College: Cal Berkeley (1990-94; played in 1992 Citrus Bowl and 1994 Alamo Bowl)

Family: Wife Ronnica; daughter Phoenix, 3

Last book read: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Favorite movie: Braveheart

PARISH'S RESULTS

LEADERS

Rushing: Trey Morse, 943 yards, 14 TDs

Receiving: Alex Henderson, 11 catches, 272 yards, 6 TDs

Passing: Brant Costilla, 693 yards, 6 TDs

Parish Episcopal (7-0, 3-0 TAPPS 2-II) at Dallas Christian (5-2, 2-1) , 7:30 p.m. today

NADY'S AIDES

Parish Episcopal coach Scott Nady relies on a staff heavy on volunteers. The breakdown:

* Receives $1,500 stipend