In subsequent National League coaching assignments, he again assisted McKechnie in Boston and Cincinnati. After his coaching days, Ens enjoyed a successful, eight-year run as manager of the Syracuse Chiefs, making the International League playoffs five times and winning three (1942–43; 1947) Governors' Cup championships. He was still the incumbent manager and general manager of the Chiefs when he died at age 60 in Syracuse, from pneumonia, in January 1950. He was elected to the International League Hall of Fame the year of his death.