“I think the kids were in awe that a Hall of Famer was coaching them,” Parrella said.

Parrella spent four years there, helping the Vikings qualify for the playoffs each year. He then moved on to Chabot College in 2013 to coach the defensive line. Danny Calcagno, the head coach at the California junior college, said Parrella was an “excellent teacher” and a strong recruiter who worked hard each day with players.

“He was really, really good,” Calcagno said. “If he believes in a situation, he’s really passionate, and he’s quite a technician. He did a real good job of zeroing in on what players needed to do to get better.”

Parrella took the Northern Michigan job in 2014. When he arrived, NMU needed a total rebuild. The entire roster, he said, had just six defensive linemen. When he left, the team had 25. Just in the last year, he recruited 10 linemen into the program.

Parrella wanted to walk that road — to earn his stripes, so to speak.

“I didn’t want to be a guy who used his NFL card to be standing on the sidelines,” he said.