The small Eastern Kentucky county that has produced a national football coaching tree

As the new offensive coordinator at Notre Dame, former Kentucky Wildcats wide receiver Gerad Parker will be one of the most-scrutinized college football coaches in America in 2023.

“Thanks for reminding me,” Parker said late last month. “I understand in this job, people expect results. I get it.”

Parker’s career ascension is part of a unique “Kentucky” story. He is one of three coaches who hail from Lawrence County in the Eastern Kentucky mountains who have reached the top levels of football.

In the same calendar year that Parker, 42, will begin running the offense for Notre Dame, another Lawrence County product, Philadelphia Eagles tight ends coach Jason Michael, 44, has already coached in the Super Bowl.

A third Lawrence County native, Dontae Wright, 39, will soon begin his fourth season coaching the safeties for West Virginia.

It is fairly remarkable that a county with a population of approximately 16,290 has produced three coaches — who knew each other growing up — who have risen so high in the world of big-time football coaching.

“Lawrence County is extremely proud of these men,” says Alan Short, the current Lawrence County Bulldogs football coach.

In part, the success of “the Lawrence Country coaching tree” stands as a tribute to a fourth product of the county whose own coaching dreams were cut short.

Notre Dame OC

When ex-Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees departed last February for Alabama, media speculation centered around Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig and Kansas State OC Collin Klein as possible replacements.

In South Bend, the incumbent Notre Dame tight ends coach, Gerad Parker, patiently waited for a shot at the job himself.

Parker’s connection with Notre Dame head man Marcus Freeman had formed when they both served as assistants on the staff at Purdue from 2013-16. “We became very close there, developed a strong bond on and off the field,” Parker says.

So when Notre Dame’s talks with neither Ludwig nor Klein yielded a deal, Freeman turned to Parker. When the Fighting Irish open their season Saturday against Navy in Dublin, Ireland, Parker will be calling the plays.

“I am going to be the same guy from Louisa, Ky., here in South Bend,” Parker says. “I am going to put great people around me, which we’ve done. (The plan is) trusting our people, building great relationships and then being very aggressive in how you call a game — and making people proud.”

The Super Bowl

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to participate in a Super Bowl, Jason Michael can now tell you.

“It was awesome, everything you ever imagine,” the Eagles tight end coach said this month.

For Michael — the starting quarterback on Western Kentucky’s 2002 NCAA Division I-AA (now FCS) national championship team — the best part about this past February’s Super Bowl LVII was who was with him in Arizona to share the experience.

In the labor-intensive world of an NFL assistant coach, family time often loses out. Once training camp opens until the season ends, “My wife (Jamie) is ... a single parent because I’m so busy at work,” Michael said.

That reality made Michael cherish getting to have Jamie, son Wyatt, 10, and daughter Charlie, 7, with him for the entire time the Eagles were at the Super Bowl site. Late that week, Michael also had his parents, Eddie and Sue Michael, plus other family members arrive for the game.

“My kids are at the age, that they could see it and understand it,” Michael says. “To be able to take them to Arizona and then get a chance to enjoy the experience with them, that’s probably the most special part.”

Michael says Philadelphia’s gut-wrenching 38-35 loss to Kansas City in Super Bowl LVII remains both painful and motivating.

“(Losing) makes you hungry to get back there,” he says of the Super Bowl.

The Big 12

When Neal Brown hired Dontae Wright to coach the West Virginia safeties three seasons ago, it marked the ex-Lawrence County High School and Miami (Ohio) standout’s first shot coaching in a Power Five league such as the Big 12

“It’s, obviously, more of a business,” Wright said last week. “There’s a bunch of eyes watching and there is a bunch of money involved in this thing. There’s no getting around that.”

Still, for Wright, coaching retains a higher calling. Growing up, Wright says his father was not involved in his life. His mom died when he was 15. Sports coaches helped fill the voids.

“I could sit here all night and talk about the people who have influenced my life and filled in those gaps,” Wright says. “I am forever thankful for that. And I want to be that for other people.”

Brown, the former Boyle County and UK wideout, is 22-25 in his prior four seasons as West Virginia head man. It is widely thought he and his staff are coaching for their jobs in 2023. The Mountaineers will open their season Sept. 2 at Penn State.

“I think we’ve got a chance to surprise some people,” Wright said. “ ... I like the work this team has put in. I like the cohesiveness they have. We’ve got a chance.”

The mentor

In 2011, when I first wrote about the “Lawrence County coaching tree,” there was a fourth member then climbing the college coaching ranks.

As a high school athlete in the late 1980s, Phillip Ratliff was a three-sport star at Lawrence County. In a community where post-high school athletic success had not been abundant, Ratliff became an All-America offensive lineman at Marshall and the captain of the Thundering Herd’s 1992 I-AA national title team.

Says Parker: “Jason and I, we kind of idolized Phil. His success, it started this whole deal.”

Says Michael: “Growing up, Phillip was the guy I wanted to be.”

Following college, Ratliff came back to Lawrence County. He was a Bulldogs football assistant coach when Michael, Parker and Wright all played for Lawrence County.

“The way he coached and cared about people, he was able to coach you hard because you knew he cared about you,” Wright says. “That really inspired me. I knew I wanted to coach from the second I was underneath him.”

After 10 years coaching in high school, Ratliff returned to Marshall and broke into college coaching. He subsequently surprised many when he left his college alma mater to take a coaching position at Charlotte.

“His dream was to be a head coach, and he wanted to come back to Marshall (to do that),” says Melinda Feltner, the Lawrence County girls’ basketball coach and Ratliff’s younger sister. “(To make that a reality) he knew he had to get other (coaching) experiences. He knew he had to leave (Marshall) to be able to come back.”

In a cruel twist, Ratliff never got the chance to fulfill his highest coaching ambition. On Aug. 9, 2014, he died after having experienced a significant “cardiac event” days earlier. He was 44.

To this day, Parker works to keep Ratliff’s memory alive by organizing an annual seminar/networking session for young coaches at the site of the annual American Football Coaches’ Association convention. It is called “The ‘Rat’ Session.”

This fall, Ratliff’s son, Dylan, will work as an offensive graduate assistant at Charlotte.

This year, three guys from Lawrence County who Phillip Ratliff inspired to think big have coached in the Super Bowl, will call plays for Notre Dame and work in the Big 12.

“Man, (Ratliff) would have loved this,” Melinda Feltner says. “He would be so proud of those guys.”

After Purdue interim coaching stint, ex-Cat Parker wants another shot

Mark Story: Phillip Ratliff’s Kentucky homecoming turns to heartbreak

Mark Story: Plane scare emotional for Marshall coaches

Lawrence County: Tiny county growing a football coaching tree