New Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker’s wide array of offensive experiences in his own words

New Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker’s résumé is long and varied, part of what made him an alluring candidate to Irish head coach Marcus Freeman. As Freeman interviewed Parker, more a focus on offensive specifics than who Parker is personally given they have known each other for more than a decade, the applicability of that experience became more and more clear.

“The ability to say here’s where the (2022 Notre Dame) offense that I was a part of is at, here’s the strengths, here’s some of the weaknesses, here’s the ways that I believe we can improve,” Freeman said Monday of what stood out to him. “Here’s where I can bring in my own philosophy as an offensive coordinator and help us enhance.

“That to me, halfway through [the interview], I said, this is the guy. The way [Parker] talked about installs, the way he talked about developing our staff, the way he talked about developing the culture of that offense, there were so many different points.”

During Parker’s introductory press conference, he mentioned most of his stops and their myriad of offensive philosophies. In his 11 roles in nine stops across the last 16 seasons, Parker has moved from the graduate assistant ranks to offensive coordinator, from the FCS-level to the Power Five.

Parker on his year (2007) as a graduate assistant at Kentucky: “Randy Sanders is the quarterbacks coach at the University of Kentucky at the time, Joker Phillips is the coordinator. Everyone asks, how do you [develop a relationship with a quarterbacks coach, reportedly former Cincinnati offensive coordinator Gino Guidugli]? I saw two guys who were pros function that way in my first job as a GA, and it was phenomenal to see them do it and do it at a very high level.”

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