Notre Dame’s promotion of Gerad Parker official, ending dramatic week

Notre Dame has made official its promotion of former tight ends coach Gerad Parker to offensive coordinator. The Saturday morning announcement puts a bow on a tumultuous process.

“I am excited to announce Gerad as our new offensive coordinator,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said in a statement. “I know firsthand the person, teacher, recruiter and innovative football mind he is. I look forward to watching our offense flourish under Gerad’s leadership and direction.”

Parker’s promotion comes after just one season as Notre Dame’s tight ends coach, following two years as the co-offensive coordinator at West Virginia. He was not fully in charge of the offense there, both working in concert with Graham Harrell and working under head coach Neal Brown, a coach known for staying quite involved with his offenses.

Those offenses struggled, for the most part, but their best stretch came in six games to close the 2021 season when Brown turned over the play calling to Parker. The Mountaineers had averaged 20.8 points per game up to that point against FBS competition. That number jumped to 25.3 in Paker’s six games truly at the helm, perhaps most notably scoring 38 points and gaining 492 yards against a top-25 Iowa State team that gave up 20.5 points and 309.6 yards per game that season.

West Virginia was 2-4 when Brown ceded more control to Parker, with one of those wins coming against FCS-level Long Island University. The Mountaineers closed the regular season 4-2, including 3-0 in one-score games.

Per Irish Illustrated’s Tim Prister, Parker dictated red-zone play calls the entire season, notable given West Virginia turned 66 percent of its red-zone possessions into touchdowns. For context, that ranked No. 37 in the