Gerad Parker
Introduction
Gerad Michael Parker (born January 4, 1981) is an American football coach who us currently the Running backs coach at the University of Cincinnati. Parker was the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Purdue University from 2013 to 2016 and served as interim head coach for the Boilermakers for the last six games of 2016 season.
A native of Louisa, Kentucky, Parker graduated from Lawrence County High School, where he was a member of the basketball team, track and field team as well as the football team as a record-setting wide receiver, and then attended the University of Kentucky starting in the fall of 2000. Parker spent his first three seasons as a special teams contributor, and finally saw playing time as a wide receiver in 2004, where he was 4th on the team in receptions and 3rd in receiving yards.
He held assistant coaching positions at Raceland-Worthington High School, Kentucky, UT Martin, Marshall and Purdue. On October 16, 2016, Parker was promoted to interim head coach Purdue after three and a half season as tight ends/wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator.
Early life
Born the son of Rick and Laura Parker, Gerad attended Lawrence County High School in Louisa, Kentucky. As a freshman and sophomore, Parker teamed up with Jason Michael to form one of the best passing attacks in the state of Kentucky. A 2000 graduate, Parker was Kentucky's all-time leading receiving with 4,814 career receiving yards in high school. His 65 receptions, 1,504 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns as a senior made him a finalist for the 1999 Kentucky Mr. Football Award, losing out to eventual teammate Travis Atwell. Parker also ran the 400-meter dash, 400-meter relay and 1,600-meter relay, as well as was a member of the basketball team.
College career
In January 2000, Parker accepted a scholarship to the University of Kentucky to continue his football career. He chose Kentucky over offers from Marshall and Western Kentucky. During Paker's career at Kentucky, he went through three head coaches, two broken collar bones and a leg injury.
Statistics
Source:
| | ||||||||||||||
| | ||||||||||||||
| Season | Receiving | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rec | Yards | Avg | Yds/G | TD | ||||||||||
| 2000 | | |||||||||||||
| 2001 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- | 0 | |||||||||
| 2002 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- | 0 | |||||||||
| 2003 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- | 0 | |||||||||
| 2004 | 15 | 168 | 11.2 | 18.6 | 0 | |||||||||
| NCAA Career Totals | 15 | 168 | 11.2 | 18.6 | 0 | |||||||||
Coaching career
Early coaching career
Parker coached wide receivers and defensive backs at Raceland-Worthington High School from 2005–2006. In 2007 Parker took a graduate assistant job at Kentucky, where he worked with wide receivers and the offensive scout team. The following year Parker was hired by UT Martin, where he was the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator. In 2011, Parker became the wide receivers coach at Marshall.
Purdue
2013-2016
On February 11, 2013, Parker was hired by Darrell Hazell as Purdue's tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator.
Interim head coach
After a loss to Iowa, Purdue University fired Darrell Hazell on October 16, 2016, naming Parker the interim head coach.
Cincinnati
On January 17, 2017, Parker was named the running backs coach at the University of Cincinnati.
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purdue Boilermakers (Big Ten Conference) (2016–present) | |||||||||
| 2016 | Purdue | 0–6 | 0–6 | 7th (West) | |||||
| Purdue: | 0–6 | 0–6 | |||||||
| Total: | 0–6 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title | |||||||||
| #Rankings from final Coaches Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll. | |||||||||