Troy hires another ex-Kentucky football player to be its new head coach

Apparently happy to stay with a winning formula, Troy University announced Monday it had hired former Kentucky Wildcats wide receiver Gerad Parker as its head coach.

Parker, a Lawrence County High School product who spent last season as the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame, will become the third ex-UK football player to coach the Trojans in the past decade.

The ex-UK wideout will follow his former college teammate at Kentucky, Jon Sumrall, who was named coach at Tulane after leading Troy to a 23-4 overall mark and back-to-back Sun Belt Conference championships over the past two seasons.

From 2015 through 2018, Neal Brown, also an ex-Wildcats wide receiver, was Troy’s head man. Brown led the Trojans to a 35-13 mark and three bowl victories before leaving to become West Virginia’s head coach.

Chip Lindsey, the only non-UK alumnus to coach Troy in the past 10 years, went 15-19 from 2019 through 2021 and was replaced by Sumrall.

“We are excited to appoint Gerad Parker to lead our proud and storied football program,” Troy Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins Jr. said in a university news release. “His experience at Notre Dame and several other premier programs in America and his proven plan of success will provide a clear path to continue our championship winning status. He comes to Troy with outstanding credentials and with the highest recommendations. We are proud to welcome Gerad and his family into the Trojan Family.”

In the same news release, Troy Athletics Director Brent Jones said, “Gerad Parker is a proven winner with an infectious personality and passion for success who has significant experience at some of the best programs in America. He competed in the SEC as a player, has been a recruiting coordinator in the Big Ten and has coordinated highly productive offenses in the Big 12 and now at Notre Dame. He has an extremely diverse background that spans from coaching in high school, the FCS and throughout FBS in the SEC, American, Big Ten, Sun Belt, ACC and Big 12.”

Before Notre Dame, Parker had served as an assistant at Penn State, West Virginia, Purdue, Duke, Marshall and Tennessee Martin. He began his coaching career at Raceland High School in Kentucky in 2005 and broke into college coaching as a graduate assistant under Rich Brooks at UK in 2007.

In 2016, Parker spent six games as interim head coach at Purdue, with the Boilermakers going 0-6 after the firing of head man Darrell Hazell.

In this past season, Parker’s Notre Dame offense averaged 39.1 points a game, which stood eighth in the FBS, and ranked and 29^th in total offense (429.2 yards a game). With Parker calling the offensive plays, the Fighting Irish went 9-3 in Marcus Freeman’s second season as head coach.

“I have had the chance to work closely with Gerad for a number of years and what stands out to me the most are his leadership skills and how tirelessly he works to get the most out of his players,” Freeman said in a statement released by Troy.

Parker is part of a remarkable football coaching tree with roots to Lawrence County. Jason Michael, Parker’s former high school teammate, is the tight ends coach for the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL. Dontae Wright, who grew up in Lawrence County idolizing Michael and Parker, is the safeties coach for Neal Brown at West Virginia.

A fourth member of the Lawrence County coaching tree, Phil Ratliff, worked as an assistant at Marshall and Charlotte before dying unexpectedly in 2015 from a coronary issue at the age of 44.

As a player at Lawrence County, Parker had 238 career catches for 4,814 yards and 52 touchdowns.

Parker is married to the former West Carter High School basketball star Kandi Brown, and the couple has three daughters and a son.

Troy was to formally introduce Parker as its head coach with a news conference at the university Tuesday at 2 p.m. (EST).

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