Harry Wayne Parrish is a 1966 graduate of Dothan High School. He played football at Dothan before attending the University of Alabama. Parrish began his coaching career at Tuscaloosa High School while still attending college in 1969.

He returned to southeast Alabama and worked as an assistant coach at Daleville High School in 1970 and 1971. The next year, Parrish moved over to Dothan High where he served for seven years as an assistant football coach.

In 1978, he accepted the head coaching position at Northview High School in Dothan. The school was about to field their first football team and he saw an opportunity to lead the new program. His first team went 6-4 and the second reached the state playoffs finishing with a 9-2 record.

Parrish went to the state finals twice with the Tigers and led Northview to state championships in 1981 and 1985.

Parrish went on to become head coach of the Early County Bobcats in Blakely, Georgia, in 1991. During his 10 years there, he took the Bobcats to the state finals in 1998 before retiring after the 2000 season.

His overall coaching record is 91-51 in thirteen seasons as a head football coach in Alabama. His record in Georgia is 75-39 and the combined slate for both stated stands at 166-90. Parrish was elected to the Wiregrass Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. He later served on the Dothan City School Board as chairman.