Gerad Parker - Troy Head Coach :)

[CrystalHead]

I was like everyone else when the news came out it was Parker. I'm trying hard to spin this a different way. Maybe this guy is ready for the opportunity, who are we to judge. Just about everyone has had a bad experience and didn't perform well with a job in their lives. Lou, Saban and Carrol couldn't find success in certain avenues. If Freeman, who has proven he is relentless in being successful and wants to surround himself with people that he trusts and has same philosophy as him, I'm willing to give him a chance. Sometimes it's nothing more then the cohesiveness of a staff that gets the job done and gets it done well. Not bringing in the biggest name out there

 

[irishff1014]

Okay, but also I’ve been told he is a War Daddy.

If you say so. I have never seen you say you have sources though.

 

[Riddickulous]

How do you pronounce his name? Is it like Jared?

 

[ThePiombino]

How do you pronounce his name? Is it like Jared?

It's pronounced "consolation prize".

 

[MacIrish75]

How do you pronounce his name? Is it like Jared?

I believe it’s like the “G” in GOB Bluth.

 

[1219Booopa]

I’m rooting for Parker and I have no reason to believe that he won’t be successful but the administration really neutered Freeman during this process, they shown to the CFB world that they’re not willing to win championships.

 

[ColinKSU]

Maybe our offense will kill it so hard that Parker gets hired away for a head coach gig in December and we can do this again next year but at the front end of the hiring cycle instead of the back.

God I hope so.

 

[MacIrish75]

God I hope so.

Well shit in that case why would we want Parker to leave?

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

It'll be funny if Parker does well enough to the point that in a couple of years the offensive staff all start getting job offers and when the pant pissing begins, we'll circle back to the starting point of calling Parker names in the title of his OC thread.

Or he'll suck and the pant pissing remains the constant. I hope he doesn't suck and as many as possible manage to stay dry.

 

[ColinKSU]

Well shit in that case why would we want Parker to leave?

Because it’s entirely likely that the stacked offense in 2023 can score enough to many any OC look good, but it’s what comes after that requires an actually gifted playcaller.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

If you're interested, I can easily get you 20 matches at the Irsay Y. Quit being such a whiney Karen.

This is all he does; it's his schtick. "Driskell, Mt Dew... blah blah blah"

"ND isn't a top 10, it's a top 25 program.... blah blah blah"

"Brian Kelly is the GOAT, Tommy Rees sucks..." it's an algorithm.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

Sampson's tweet is disingenuous at best. Long was Co-OC under Norvell at Memphis. Also, it wasn't an unimaginative, lazy hire like this one.

The way I read his tweet was he was just trying to provide some perspective vs making some 180 degree turn on his opinion that ND screwed up the Ludwig hire.

 

[notredomer23]

Because it’s entirely likely that the stacked offense in 2023 can score enough to many any OC look good, but it’s what comes after that requires an actually gifted playcaller.

This is where I am at. I am actually very optimistic Parker is going to do well this year. We have no clue if it will be as good as Ludwig or Klein or whoever, but I expect them to be in the top 25 of PPG (last year, App State was 23rd at 34.9). What's he gonna do once his 6th year center, top 5 pick LT, and elite college level possibly pro level QB are gone?

 

[irishff1014]

This is where I am at. I am actually very optimistic Parker is going to do well this year. We have no clue if it will be as good as Ludwig or Klein or whoever, but I expect them to be in the top 25 of PPG (last year, App State was 23rd at 34.9). What's he gonna do once his 6th year center, top 5 pick LT, and elite college level possibly pro level QB are gone?

After this year should have been considered. But I bet they look at it as he’ll have a years worth of experience.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

I take pause each time I hear talking heads like Sampson assumed ND’s offense will light up the scoreboard next season. I know a lot of fans feel the same way. I’m thrilled ND has Hartman & two phenomenal OTs to protect him & the running game but that doesn’t guarantee anything. The OL will still need to gel early (good thing ND plays all those guaranteed wins before tOSU). So while the offense should be high powered this season, I’ve been an ND fan long enough to know nothing is certain.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

This is where I am at. I am actually very optimistic Parker is going to do well this year. We have no clue if it will be as good as Ludwig or Klein or whoever, but I expect them to be in the top 25 of PPG (last year, App State was 23rd at 34.9). What's he gonna do once his 6th year center, top 5 pick LT, and elite college level possibly pro level QB are gone?

I'm willing to give Parker the benefit of the doubt. I tend to agree with Lax's excellent post yesterday regarding the poor timing of this entire process and getting stonewalled by the administration, so it's all a bit raw.

However, Sampson and others had Parker on their initial lists of candidates for a reason, though I don't think any of us or them really thought he was going to be the final choice. All that being said, I think it's a little disingenuous for us all to burn Parker at the steak before he's had a chance to at least prove what he can do, especially with competent weapons for the first time running an offense.

If he can stay true to what this offense is built to do (RTDB and take shots when they present themselves) I think we're going to be just fine in 2023, especially with a QB who excels at taking shots downfield. If he can keep the recruiting machine going, all the better.

Let's not forget he's going to still have an experienced Buchner at the helm in 2024 as well as Minchey with a season under his belt and a 5* in Carr, plus an even more experienced WR group than he'll have at his disposal this year.

it could go horribly wrong as many predict, but I'm not going to draw that conclusion until I see the results first hand, personally.

We still have Freeman's defensive prowess overseeing that side of the ball and an actual, proven "war daddy" as a ST coordinator.

As underwhelming as this hire appears, all hope is not lost.

 

[GATTACA!]

Because it’s entirely likely that the stacked offense in 2023 can score enough to many any OC look good, but it’s what comes after that requires an actually gifted playcaller.

This feels like hopium. This offense could easily suck.

 

[Dale]

Sam Hartman is not Trevor Lawrence, but a decent example is a Clemson staff that was clearly lacking at the OC level but having Trevor Lawrence kinda hides that till you have DJ U.

It’s reasonable assuming Hartman is still here, he can hide some deficiencies.

 

[Plankton]

Jared Porker?

More like Jared (kiddie) Pornker, given the photo.

 

[ColinKSU]

This feels like hopium. This offense could easily suck.

Oh, I expect it to suck. I think Parker's a terrible OC and is going to lead to Marcus losing his job in a couple of seasons. I'm devastated.

I'm just speaking to OP who floated the scenario where he does really well in 2023 and then immediately leaves Notre Dame.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

This feels like hopium. This offense could easily suck.

It's the opposite of hopium. These guys who live in negative clouds set it up so they can keep their negative views no matter what. If we light it up in the fall, it's only because everything was set-up for success. If we perform below expectations, it's because the coach(es) suck.

I'm a bit disillusioned with how this process went down and I think we should see changes with the admin/BOT but....I still root hard for the Irish and won't predict failure because it defeats the purpose of my fandom.

People who have experienced a sizable amount of failure or whose failures have left an indelible mark on their psyche, sometimes develop a coping strategy to view everything through a negative lens or concoct stories for why things will fail. It allows them to enjoy the smug moment of being right when things go bad. It's a coping strategy but it's not based on hope.

I also think some of this coping strategy is genetically driven. Some have a propensity to experience negative emotions more strongly than positive so they find ways to reduce the negative cascade. I don't fault them for it even if I grow tired of the behavior.

 

[arrowryan]

I started to think yesterday that maybe we are undervaluing Parker. Sure, he could be a dud of an OC. But Freeman was very quick to hire him when McNulty left. Freeman is clearly a fan of Parker. Maybe Parker was higher up on the OC list than we/the sites thought? I know the guys at II said that it was unlikely Parker would be the guy, but it turns out they don't know shit about anything anymore. He very well could've been #2 behind Ludwig.

 

[PutuporShutup]

Sam Hartman is not Trevor Lawrence, but a decent example is a Clemson staff that was clearly lacking at the OC level but having Trevor Lawrence kinda hides that till you have DJ U.

It’s reasonable assuming Hartman is still here, he can hide some deficiencies.

Clemson had Tony Elliott for 5-6 years with watson and Lawrence. He left for VA and Dabo promoted streeter who absolutely bombed. Clemson had a great offensive staff for Lawrence.

 

[Dale]

Clemson had Tony Elliott for 5-6 years with watson and Lawrence. He left for VA and Dabo promoted streeter who absolutely bombed. Clemson had a great offensive staff for Lawrence.

Elliott was OC in 2021.

I don’t think Elliott is a good OC. Like you said, he had Watson and Lawrence. This isn’t just my thought, other folks had pieces while Elliott was there saying Clemson does nothing special schematically on offense.

 

[yankeehater]

IE reads like the Bama board after Rees was announced.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

IE reads like the Bama board after Rees was announced.

I mean, pretty similar parallels tbh. Both hires were pretty far down on the list of candidates.

Rees was Saban's 4th or 5th choice based on his interviews and interest in candidates, and Parker appeared to be around the same for Freeman. We know he for sure had Klein and Ludwig flown to interview in person and who knows how many he interviewed virtually who either weren't fits or turned him down before scheduling an interview.

 

[yankeehater]

Honestly, I never looked at the Utah offense and said to myself I want that coordinator. Amazing how maybe just the thought of the how the process unfolded hurts more than losing out on the coach himself.

I did like the way their Oline played so maybe we can still poach that coach.

 

[IAIrish]

I'll be curious if parker keeps the Rees offense and terminology for the sake of continuity or goes a completely different direction. Obviously he'll put his own stamp on it, but save for Hartman and impact freshman, the continuity angle allows the bulk of your roster not to have to re-learn everything.

 

[NDohio]

Clemson had Tony Elliott for 5-6 years with watson and Lawrence. He left for VA and Dabo promoted streeter who absolutely bombed. Clemson had a great offensive staff for Lawrence.

Most Clemson fans I work with have hated the offensive strategy and coaches throughout Dabo's tenure. They almost all know that their offensive success was driven by the players and not the coaches.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

IE reads like the Bama board after Rees was announced.

Better punctuation and grammar here.