An In-Depth Look at the Hiring of Gerad Parker
In a slew of hiring’s over the past week, the West Virginia football program has also landed a new offensive coordinator and wide receiver’s coach in Gerad Parker, who most recently served as the wide receiver’s coach at Penn State.
With the hiring comes a number of other moves as former offensive coordinator Matt Moore will now take on the role of assistant head coach as well as continuing to coach the offensive line. Chad Scott will also continue his role as co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach.
Coaching the Penn State offense last season, the Nittany Lion offense averaged 35.8 points per game while ranking no. 15 nationally in scoring. Parker’s wide receiver, KJ Hamler, led the team with 56 completions for 904 yards and eight touchdowns, earning him the All-Big Ten First Team.
Parker began his college coaching career at Kentucky in 2007 where he graduated from in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in business management and master’s in education in 2005.
"I'm excited to add Gerad to the coaching staff at West Virginia," Brown said. "I have known him for many years, and we have similar roots in the state of Kentucky. He brings years of successful experience, not only on the field but also as a recruiter who has covered a lot of territories. He will make an immediate impact on our staff.”
Only a year later, the Kentucky native found himself at UT Martin from 2008 until 2009 where he coached running backs in 2008, wide receivers from 2009 to 2010 and passing game coordinator and recruiting coordinator in 2010.
Parker then went to Marshall to coach wide receivers from 2011 to 2012 where his receivers were part of an offense that led the nation in passing offense with 365.1 yards per game.
Following the Marshall stop, Parker ventured to Purdue where he stayed for four seasons while coaching tight ends from 2013-2014 and wide receivers from 2015-2016. He served as recruiting coordinator and even spent six weeks as the interim head coach.
The offensive mind then coached at Duke from 2017-2018 where he led the wide receiver’s group to a monster season of 2,252 passing yards of the team’s combined 3,199 total offensive yards.
Parker comes to West Virginia while having experience coaching at six different colleges as well as serving as offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach, tight ends coach and interim head coach throughout those years.
"I have known Neal for a long time and have the utmost respect for him as a coach, a man, husband, and father. I have seen his progression and have kept up with him as a head coach and know he is special," explained Parker. "My father worked in a coal mine and in the coal industry, and I have a lot of respect for this state and for what it stands. I am honored and thankful to join this staff and work with these players. I look forward to trusting the climb."
The veteran coach brings a great offensive mind to a rebuilding Mountaineers team who seems to be struggling at the moment in various areas of the offense.
