Longtime college football assistant, head coach dies

Stan Parrish, who was the head coach at Wabash, Marshall, Kansas State, and Ball State among many other stops in his long coaching career, has unfortunately passed away at the age of 75 years old. On Monday morning, Ball State football tweeted the unfortunate news.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Parrish family during this difficult time,” the tweet said.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Parrish family during this difficult time.#1AAT | #TrueCardinal pic.twitter.com/KmHGA2BZiN

— Ball State Football (@BallStateFB) April 4, 2022

Parrish began his head coaching career at Wabash, at the Division III level, in 1978. He spent five years with the Little Giants, leading them to a 42-3-1 record, including a perfect 10-0 mark during the 1982 season. In 1984, he became the head coach at Marshall, where he spent two seasons. Over those two years, the Thundering Herd went 13-8-1.

Following the 1985 season at Marshall, Parrish was hired as the next head coach at Kansas State. The Wildcats won just two games over three years under Parrish, both of which came in the first year. Kansas State went 0-10-1 and 0-11 over the final two seasons with him at the helm. In 2008, he got another shot as a head coach, this time at Ball State. There, the Cardinals went 6-19 over two seasons, plus one bowl game at the end of the 2008 season.

Parrish also served as the interim head coach at Eastern Michigan in 2013, leading the Eagles to a 1-2 record.

Parrish also had extensive experience as an assistant

In addition to his stops as a head coach, Parrish has extensive appearance as an assistant coach across football. Prior to getting to Wabash, he spent time at the prep level and also as a GA at Purdue. He began as an assistant at Wabash in 1977 before getting the full head coaching gig after one year. Parrish later returned to Purdue for one season in between the Wabash and Marshall head coaching jobs.

Following his tenure at Kansas State, Parrish became the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Rutgers, where he coached from 1990-1995. In 1996, Parrish went to Michigan to coach the Wolverines quarterbacks, and legendary quarterback Tom Brady came through the Michigan program at that time.

Parrish also spent time as Michigan’s offensive coordinator, and later held the same position at Ball State before getting their head coaching position. He also spent time in the NFL, coaching quarterbacks for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2002-2003.