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Fans Are Pushing for Tyron Carrier to Return to WVU

Will the Mountaineers replace Gerad Parker with a familiar face?
Schuyler Callihan|
Fans Are Pushing for Tyron Carrier to Return to WVU
Fans Are Pushing for Tyron Carrier to Return to WVU

Just a few weeks after WVU head coach Neal Brown hired Graham Harrell as the team's new offensive coordinator/play-caller, Gerad Parker left to become the tight ends coach at Notre Dame. The move isn't official yet, but Parker is expected to take the job soon. By doing so, this will open up a spot on Brown's coaching staff to coach receivers. 

Parker was the Mountaineers' co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach for the past two seasons, but once Harrell was hired, Parker was going to lose the opportunity to call plays completely. He called some red zone stuff for WVU, but most of the calls were handled by Brown. 

With WVU needing to find a new receivers coach, the most talked about name on social media right now is former WVU assistant Tyron Carrier. Carrier coached receivers at West Virginia under Dana Holgorsen from 2016-18. During those years, WVU produced two 1,000-yard receivers (Gary Jennings, Ka'Raun White) and had four receivers finish with at least 950 yards in a season - Shelton Gibson (951 in 2016), David Sills V (980 in 2017), David Sills V (986 in 2018), and Gary Jennings (917 in 2018). Had Sills accumulated 20 more yards in 2017, the Mountaineers would have had three 1,000-yard receivers in the same season. 

Since Carrier left with Holgorsen to go to Houston, the highest receiving total for a single season has been 688 yards, which was set by Winston Wright Jr. in 2021. Wright is now at Florida State. WVU has really struggled to hit on explosive plays consistently during the Neal Brown era which is a big reason why he brought in Harrell - for new ideas, a new voice. 

Given that Carrier got his start in coaching in 2015 as a GA at Baylor and has been with Holgorsen ever since, he and Brown have never crossed paths. That doesn't completely rule out the possibility of Carrier returning to WVU since Brown has hired a handful of assistants that he hadn't worked with in years past, including Graham Harrell.

Last May, Holgorsen released a statement announcing that Carrier and Houston have parted ways. 

"We are grateful for Tyron’s commitment to our program as an assistant coach and as well as a student-athlete at the University of Houston,” Holgorsen said. “After meeting today with Tyron, we determined it was in the best interest of both sides to part ways at this time. We wish him and his family the best going forward.”

With Carrier out of coaching for a year, he recently sent a couple of reminders to folks who may be in need of a receivers coach with two tweets stating that he is available and that he can get the job done. A large portion of the WVU fan base saw the tweets, "I'm no longer employed at the University of Houston," and "I develop receivers," and hopped all over it trying to entice him to come back to Morgantown.

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Schuyler Callihan
SCHUYLER CALLIHAN

Schuyler Callihan is the publisher of West Virginia On SI and has been a trusted source covering the Mountaineers since 2016. He is the host of Between The Eers, The Walk Thru Game Day Show, and In the Gun Podcast. The Wheeling, WV native moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2020 to cover the Charlotte Hornets and Carolina Panthers.

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