HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Former Marshall Football Coach Stan Parrish has died at the age of 75.
FootballScoop.com reported Parrish, who also served as head coach at Wabash, Kansas State and Ball State, died Sunday.
Parrish served as head coach for the 1984 and 1985 seasons and although his time with Marshall was brief, it marked a major turning point for the program that had been struggling since the tragic plane crash in 1970.
Parrish came to Marshall after posting a 42-3-1 record as the head coach at Wabash College and had immediate success upon arriving in Huntington. In Parrish’s first season with the Herd, Marshall posted a record of 6-5, marking the program’s first winning season since 1964,. The following year, the Herd went undefeated at home and finished with a 7-3-1 record.
Those two years laid the foundations for the success that was to come for Marshall football. The program went on to post 20 consecutive winning seasons, winning two FBS (Division 1-A) National Champions in 1992 and 1996 before making the jump to FBS in 1997.
Parrish left Marshall following the 1985 season to become the head coach at Kansas State where stayed for two seasons. Later, Parrish had stints as an assistant coach with Rutgers, Michigan and in the NFL with Tampa Bay. During his time at Michigan from 1996 to 2001, Parrish served as quarterbacks coach mentoring the likes of Tom Brady and Brian Griese.
In 2008, Parrish got another shot at a head coaching job when he succeed Brady Hoke at Ball State, who had taken another job with San Diego State. Parrish led the Cardinals in the 2008 GMAC Bowl and patrolled the sidelines for the next two seasons.