Gerad Michael Parker (born January 4, 1981) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach and former wide receiver. He is the tight ends coach at Notre Dame. He was previously the offensive coordinator at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

. Parker played college football at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

from 2000 to 2004 for head coaches

Hal Mumme Hal Clay Mumme (born March 29, 1952) is a former American football coach and former player. He most recently served as an offensive advisor for the Dallas Renegades of the XFL. Previously, Mumme served as the head football coach at Iowa Wesleyan ...

Guy Morriss Guy Walker Morriss (May 13, 1951 – September 5, 2022) was an American football coach and player. He served as the head football coach at the University of Kentucky for two seasons (2001–2002) and at Baylor University for five seasons (2003� ...

Rich Brooks Richard Llewellyn Brooks (born August 20, 1941) is a retired American football player and coach. He was the head coach at the University of OregonMcCann, Michael C. (1995). Oregon Ducks Football: 100 Years of Glory. Eugene, Oregon: McCann Communic ...

. He served as the interim head coach at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

for six games in 2016.

Early life

Gerad, a native of

Louisa, Kentucky Louisa is a home rule-class city located at the merger of the Levisa and Tug Forks into the Big Sandy River. It is located in Lawrence County, Kentucky, in the United States, and is the seat of its county. The population was 2,467 at the 2010 ...

, was born the son of Rick and Laura Parker. Parker graduated from Lawrence County High School, where he was a member of the basketball team, track and field team as well as the football team as a record-setting wide receiver. As a freshman and sophomore, Parker teamed up with Jason Michael to form one of the best passing attacks in the state of Kentucky. A 2000 graduate, Parker was Kentucky's all-time leading receiving with 4,814 career receiving yards in high school. His 65 receptions, 1,504 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns as a senior made him a finalist for the 1999 Kentucky Mr. Football Award, losing out to eventual teammate Travis Atwell. Parker also ran the 400-meter dash, 400-meter relay and 1,600-meter relay, as well as was a member of the basketball team.

College career

In January 2000, Parker accepted a scholarship to the

to continue his football career. He chose Kentucky over offers from

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

and

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

. During Paker's career at Kentucky, he went through three head coaches, two broken collar bones and a leg injury.

Statistics

Source:

Coaching career

Early coaching career

Parker coached wide receivers and defensive backs at Raceland-Worthington High School from 2005–2006. In 2007 Parker took a graduate assistant job at

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, where he worked with wide receivers and the offensive scout team. The following year Parker was hired by UT Martin, where he was the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator. In 2011, Parker became the wide receivers coach at

Purdue

On February 11, 2013, Parker was hired by

Darrell Hazell Darrell Ivan Hazell (born April 14, 1964) is a former American football college and National Football League (NFL) coach. Hazell has been a head coach twice, with Kent State from 2011 to 2012, and Purdue from 2013 to 2016. A native of Cinnam ...

as the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator at

. In 2015, Parker took over as the wide receivers coach and maintained his role as the recruiting coordinator. Parker mentored standout receiver DeAngelo Yancey during his time at Purdue. Yancey earned second team All-Big Ten honors after recording a career-high 49 receptions for 951 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2016, and wrapped up his four-year collegiate career ranking among the top receivers in Purdue history, finishing with 141 career receptions for 2,344 yards and 20 TDs. After a loss to Iowa on October 16, 2016, Purdue fired head coach

and named Parker the interim head coach for the final six weeks of the season.

Cincinnati and East Carolina

On January 17, 2017, Parker was named the running backs coach at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

. Parker resigned from Cincinnati the week of February 13, 2017 to become the wide receivers coach at East Carolina University. On February 22, 2017, Parker was arrested and charged with driving under the influence. Because of the arrest, the East Carolina rescinded their offer.

Duke

On June 1, 2017, Parker was hired by

David Cutcliffe David Nelson Cutcliffe (born September 16, 1954) is the Special Assistant to the Commissioner for Football Relations at the Southeastern Conference and former college football coach, most recently head coach of the Duke University Blue Devils. ...

and the

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

as a Football Operations Assistant. In 2018, Parker transitioned into an assistant coaching role to mentor Duke’s wide receivers. During his one season coaching the Duke wide receivers, the unit combined for 2,252 yards, accounting for 70.4 percent of the Blue Devils’ passing production.

Penn State

On January 10, 2019 Parker was named the wide receivers coach for the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interc ...

, replacing David Corley.

West Virginia

Before the 2020 season, Parker was hired as the offensive coordinator at

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

Notre Dame

After being demoted following West Virginia's hiring of

Graham Harrell Graham Stanton Harrell (born May 22, 1985) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current offensive coordinator for the Purdue Boilermakers. He played college football at Texas Tech from 2004 to 2008. He played in the ...

as offensive coordinator, Parker joined the Notre Dame staff as tight ends coach for the 2022 season.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Penn State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Gerad 1981 births Living people American football wide receivers Duke Blue Devils football coaches Kentucky Wildcats football coaches Kentucky Wildcats football players Marshall Thundering Herd football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Purdue Boilermakers football coaches UT Martin Skyhawks football coaches High school football coaches in Kentucky Players of American football from Kentucky Sportspeople from Huntington, West Virginia West Virginia Mountaineers football coaches