MUNCIE, IND. ? Stan Parrish, Ball State’s offensive coordinator the past three seasons, signed a four-year contract on Thursday and promised a smooth transition as the new coach of the 23rd-ranked Cardinals.

He replaces Brady Hoke, who resigned this week to become the coach at San Diego State, and his first game will be on Jan. 6, when the Cardinals play Tulsa (10-3) in the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala.

“Brady’s footprints, fortunately, will stay on the program,” Parrish said at a news conference announcing the coaching change. “It makes the transition for me very, very easy. There will be a lot of continuity in this program, because I had a lot of say in what we did before. That’s a wonderful situation.”

Hoke was 34-38 in six years as coach, including 12-1 this season.

Led by QB Nate Davis, a Unitas Golden Arm award finalist, Ball State was ranked as high as 12th — best in program history — before a loss to Buffalo in the Mid-American Conference title game.

Parrish said he would also remain offensive coordinator and continue calling the plays for the Cardinals.

Parrish, a former head coach at Wabash, Marshall and Kansas State and assistant at Rutgers and Michigan, was an NFL assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002-03.

His record as a head coach is 57-41-3. Most of those wins came at Division III Wabash, where his teams were 42-3-1 in 1978-82. He was 13-8-1 in two years at Marshall but won just two games in three seasons at Kansas State.