Gerad Parker named head football coach at Troy
Notre Dame OC Gerad Parker has been officially announced as the new head coach at Troy. Parker is a Kentucky-native who played wide receiver for the Wildcats from 2000-04 and has been coaching at the collegiate level since 2007.
“Gerad Parker is a proven winner with an infectious personality and passion for success who has significant experience at some of the best programs in America,” AD Brent Jones said in a statement. “He competed in the SEC as a player, has been a recruiting coordinator in the Big Ten and has coordinated highly productive offenses in the Big 12 and now at Notre Dame. He has an extremely diverse background that spans from coaching in high school, the FCS and throughout FBS in the SEC, American, Big Ten, Sun Belt, ACC and Big 12.
“He understands the commitment to excellence that we have at Troy University and embraces the total student-athlete experience. His proven pedigree will maintain our status as the leader in the Sun Belt Conference and the Group of Five. Gerad’s energy and dedication to building relationships with the community, fans and student-athletes will resonate with all of Trojan Nation.”
Parker has been at Notre Dame for the last two years, coaching tight ends in 2022 before adding OC duties in 2023. The Irish offense saw significant improvements in yardage and points per game this past season under Parker’s leadership.
Prior to his tenure in South Bend, Parker was the OC at West Virginia (2020-21), coached WRs at Penn State (2019), was on the offensive staff at Duke (2017-18) and spent a number of years at Purdue (2013-16). His time in West Lafayette included a stint as interim head coach, leading the Boilers for the final six games (0-6) of the 2016 season after Darrell Hazell was let go.
Troy will be coached by former DC Greg Gasparato when they play Duke in the Birmingham Bowl on 12/23. Former head coach Jon Sumrall left for the Tulane job earlier this month after leading the Trojans to a 23-4 (14-2) record over the last two seasons.
credit to Troy Athletics for the image
