Troy hires Kentucky alum Gerad Parker

Troy football has a type when it comes to hiring head coaches. The Sun Belt program has a strong Kentucky pipeline. That pipeline is going to continue this coaching carousel. A third former Kentucky player and assistant will be the head man in charge for the Trojans.

Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker is leaving South Bend to become the next head football coach at Troy. Parker will be the third head coach at that program with extensive Kentucky ties.

Welcome to the Troy Family, @GeradParker1!

📰 – https://t.co/bA6eCjL6HK#OneTROY ⚔️🏈 pic.twitter.com/ttBGpQWCe1

— Troy Trojans Football 8x⚔️ (@TroyTrojansFB) December 18, 2023

Former Kentucky wide receiver and offensive coordinator Neal Brown spent four seasons at Troy from 2015-18 compiling a 35-16 record with one Sun Belt title (2017) before departing for West Virginia. Former Kentucky linebacker and co-defensive coordinator Jon Sumrall spent two seasons at Troy compiling a 23-4 record with two Sun Belt titles before bolting for Tulane.

Parker looks to follow a similar path.

The Louisa (Ky.) Lawrence County product was a wide receiver and teammate of Jon Sumrall’s at Kentucky from 2000-04. Gerad Parker would then become a graduate assistant at Kentucky in 2007 before landing his first full-time college gig at UT-Martin. Parker rejoined the Power Five at Purdue and spent four seasons in the Big Ten ultimately becoming the interim head coach for the Boilermakers in 2017 after Darrell Hazell was fired. From there, Parker spent was at Duke in 2018 and Penn State in 2019. Parker then worked for Brown at West Virginia from 2020-21. That led him to Notre Dame where he was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2023. Parker called plays for a Notre Dame offense that finished No. 11 in success rate and No. 18 in points per drive.

The 42-year-old will now run his own program for the first time at Troy. The Kentucky pipeline continues in the Sun Belt.