Heidelberg University Athletics

Heidelberg 1969 graduate Stan Parrish has relished the role of teacher of the game of football. His mentoring began at the Berg following suiting up and it's turned into 39 years of success.

Parrish was a defensive back for Heidelberg from 1964-1967, earning two varsity letters. During his time donning the red, orange and black, the Berg posted a 12-18-5 record and was 7-16 in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

Following his playing days, Parrish got his start on the sidelines serving as a student assistant coach with Heidelberg, which laid the foundation for his present day success as the head coach at Ball State University.

Parrish is in his second season at the helm of the Cardinals. He became the first Ball State assistant coach to be promoted to head coach since the 1968 season.

Parrish was Ball State's quarterbacks coach in 2005 and was promoted to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2006. In 2008, he was one of five finalists for the Broyles Award, which goes to the top assistant coach in the nation.

In 2008, Parrish engineered a Ball State offense which helped the Cardinals to a 12-2 overall record, an 8-0 Mid-American Conference mark, the MAC West Division Championship and the first back-to-back bowl games in school history. In addition, the Cardinals were nationally ranked for the first time in school history and spent nine weeks in the ESPN/USA Today Poll and the Associated Press Poll.

Prior to coming to Ball State, Parrish spent the 2002 and 2003 seasons as the quarterbacks coach of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2002, he tutored starting quarterback Brad Johnson, who led Tampa Bay to a 12-4 regular season record and the first Super Bowl Championship in franchise history.

Parrish has 11 years of head coaching experience in the collegiate ranks and has a 59-52-3 overall record. He served as the head coach at Wabash College from 1978-82, at Marshall from 1984-85 and at Kansas State from 1986-88. Parrish coached the Cardinals in the GMAC Bowl after the 2008 season in his first game as Ball State's head mentor.

Parrish and his wife, the former Ruth Purdy, have one son, Andrew, and one daughter, Libby. Parrish is a 1964 graduate of Valley Forge High School in Parma Heights, Ohio.

(This profile was published in the Hall of Fame banquet program.)