Former West Virginia offensive coordinator Gerad Parker is headed back to the Sycamore State as he joins the new coaching staff at Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish announced on Monday.
Parker joined the Mountaineers’ coaching staff in 2020 as the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. He helped lead the WVU offense to a massive resurgence that year, scoring six more points and gaining 90.7 more yards per game.
WVU’s offense took a hit in 2021, amassing 371.5 yards and 25.2 points per game — both decreases from 2020.
The Mountaineer offensive staff has already undergone a shuffle, starting with the hire of offensive coordinator Graham Harrell from USC. After Harrell’s announcement, Neal Brown moved Parker to co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach “as the No. 2 lead in the offensive room.”
Tony Washington was announced on Saturday as the team’s new recievers coach, effectively replacing Parker’s other role, while Sean Reagan was moved to tight ends coach after the departure of Travis Trickett.
Parker joins the staff of first-year head coach Marcus Freeman in South Bend. The two have worked together in years past, working at Purdue from 2013-2016. In that final season with the Boilermakers, Parker acted as the team’s interim head coach for six weeks.
“I have been fortunate enough to coach with Gerad previously in our careers,” Freeman said. “The energy he brings each and every day is contagious. It is part of what makes him a great leader. He is also a very detailed teacher and that combination of skills is going to make us a better program.”
They then briefly worked together at Cincinnati during the spring of 2017 before Parker joined Duke’s program for a two-year stint.
Freeman was named the 30th head coach in Notre Dame’s history on Dec. 3, 2021 after joining the program as defensive coordinator at the beginning of the season. He led the 5th-ranked Fighting Irish in the Fiesta Bowl for his first game at the helm, but fell to No. 9 Oklahoma State.