Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Parker and Mountaineers Ready To Take The Next Step
March 10, 2020 12:40 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A little reflecting last December led Neal Brown to make a few tweaks to his West Virginia football program.
He thought some minor schematic adjustments were needed to help with blocking in the running game, and when a spot opened up on his offensive coaching staff last January, he felt the time was right to bring in an offensive coordinator that he could trust.
And the guy he really wanted was just a couple hours away in State College, Pennsylvania – Gerad Parker.
"I've known Gerad for a long time," Brown said. "I'm biased, but I believe he's the best wide receivers coach in the country. He's going to take the lead in our offensive room managing our game plan. I have a lot of trust there because of our history and our personal relationship."
That history dates back to the year they overlapped at Kentucky playing for coach Hal Mumme before Brown transferred to Massachusetts.
The relationship really blossomed a few years later when Parker was a high school coach at Raceland High in Eastern Kentucky, not too far from Huntington, where he was actually born.
"We used to go down to the Tony Franklin system camps when Neal was at Troy so I got a chance to really catch up and stay in touch and build a stronger relationship in the profession," Parker recalled last week. "As fate would have it, that led us here some 20 years later to be a part of this program."
Parker's path to WVU has included stops at Kentucky as a graduate assistant coach, Tennessee-Martin, Marshall, Purdue, Cincinnati, Duke and most recently Penn State.
Parker briefly served as Purdue's interim head coach when Darrell Hazell, a former Mountaineer assistant under Don Nehlen, was fired and his on-field duties have included working with the running backs, wide receivers and tight ends.
His prior administrative responsibilities have entailed being the passing game coordinator at UT-Martin and Penn State, recruiting coordinator at Purdue and football operations assistant at Duke.
Those were all things appealing to Brown.
"He's been at a lot of good places," Brown said. "He knows what great offenses look like and he's not only going to benefit me, but our program."
Because West Virginia didn't go to a bowl game last year, Brown had time to hit the pause button for really the first time since he took the WVU job last January. From the moment he got to Morgantown it was go, go, go, which means he really didn't have much time to think about where he was heading.
"I never want to have that long of a break, but I think the break we had during bowl season was really positive for me as the head coach just because you do so much reflection," Brown admitted. "Everything from last January, which is late in the process, through signing day was really about next, next, next. So, what you do is you reflect and take ownership of what I could have done better – which is the same thing I did with the players."
What he quickly realized was being a head football coach at a Power 5 football school requires a lot of time outside the team room, especially during the season.
There are just simply many more demands on his time in all aspects of the program.
"A year ago, I felt like those guys (in the offensive room) were waiting on me a lot," Brown said. "Now, Gerad is leading that room so when I'm called out to do head coaching stuff there is a true leader in there. It's not knocking anything we did last year, but a lot of guys were waiting on me, and they weren't as prepared as they probably needed to be until later in the week."
Parker views his new role as a great career opportunity.
"There is a lot of respect that comes from being where I was, but there is a lot of respect for this place, too, and for whom I am working," Parker said. "Clearly, this is a pretty nice opportunity for me in my career, to take a step and be something I have never been, and that's to be an offensive coordinator. Hopefully, I can build morale and empower the staff and players to do something I haven't done before so that's a cool challenge."
Parker has experience coaching in the Big Ten and ACC, and he played in the SEC, but this will be his first involvement with the Big 12, which is vastly different than the Big Ten where he has spent most of his time since leaving Marshall in 2012.
"It plays different," Parker noted. "The cool thing is the last few years I've been in the Big Ten, the ACC and played in the SEC so I've kind of been around it and seen different things. I'm anxious to go to the different venues and take it all in."
Parker said most of the conversations he's had with Brown about personnel haven't really been about football, per se.
It's been more about them as individuals.
"We've talked a lot about our guys in workouts. Are they growing? How are they responding to adversity? Are they giving us exactly what we're asking of them?" Parker said. "I purposely don't go out and look at a lot of things and go hunt up a lot of film from last year and the reason why is I really don't want to have a whole lot of opinions of them before I see them with my own two eyes."
Parker said the offensive plan for West Virginia is the same plan they had at Penn State, which is the plan Brown has utilized wherever he's been – getting your best playmakers the football in space.
That's what everyone does these days.
"One of the best things we did at Penn State was take our playmakers and put them in a position to make the most plays that we could," he explained. "I think you have to because it allowed us to be pretty good on offense. Here, we'll be no different. We have to put our best guys in position to make plays and make sure the other guys around them make them, too. That is the game. When you look at our talent at the wideout position, I think we're going to be really pleased."
Meanwhile, Parker understands that any good offense needs balance. Running the football was West Virginia's Achilles heel last year and it's the No. 1 area to address this spring.
Parker said it's going to be a collaborative effort.
"That's the charge and that's the growth in me," he said. "I've invested a lot of my time and our time in continuing to find ways to improve our run game. That's a full staff effort. I want to try and help us find ways to run the football better and it may not look the way it used to be where you line up under center with two backs and run it down your throat.
"There are other ways to kind of impose your will and be physical and run the football and have answers for us moving forward," Parker added. "That's a cool charge and I'm excited about that piece."
Besides that, his other top objective this spring is to develop a cohesive working relationship with the other outstanding offensive coaches that are already in place. All of them are talented and bring different things to the table – something Parker wants to foster.
"I put up on my board, 'What are the three things I can do for us?' Be organized is the first one I listed," he said. "The second thing I wrote is 'empower the staff.' This isn't my deal – it's our deal. The third thing is to 'serve everyone around me.' More importantly, it's about us getting a bunch of good decisions out there, putting a bunch of stuff out on the table and sifting through it through sensible conversation."
Overall, Brown is excited about where his program is heading. He lost three good football coaches, but he replaced them with three good football coaches, which is always the objective whenever there is some turnover.
"I'm excited about where we're going," Brown said. "I believe in this group. That belief is stronger now than it was a year ago, just because I know the guys in our program now."
Spring football practice began this morning and will continue this week with morning workouts on Thursday and Friday.
Spring work will continue until Saturday, April 18, when the Mountaineers will conduct their annual Gold-Blue Spring Game at 1 p.m. at Milan Puskar Stadium.
He thought some minor schematic adjustments were needed to help with blocking in the running game, and when a spot opened up on his offensive coaching staff last January, he felt the time was right to bring in an offensive coordinator that he could trust.
And the guy he really wanted was just a couple hours away in State College, Pennsylvania – Gerad Parker.
"I've known Gerad for a long time," Brown said. "I'm biased, but I believe he's the best wide receivers coach in the country. He's going to take the lead in our offensive room managing our game plan. I have a lot of trust there because of our history and our personal relationship."
That history dates back to the year they overlapped at Kentucky playing for coach Hal Mumme before Brown transferred to Massachusetts.
The relationship really blossomed a few years later when Parker was a high school coach at Raceland High in Eastern Kentucky, not too far from Huntington, where he was actually born.
"We used to go down to the Tony Franklin system camps when Neal was at Troy so I got a chance to really catch up and stay in touch and build a stronger relationship in the profession," Parker recalled last week. "As fate would have it, that led us here some 20 years later to be a part of this program."
Parker's path to WVU has included stops at Kentucky as a graduate assistant coach, Tennessee-Martin, Marshall, Purdue, Cincinnati, Duke and most recently Penn State.
Parker briefly served as Purdue's interim head coach when Darrell Hazell, a former Mountaineer assistant under Don Nehlen, was fired and his on-field duties have included working with the running backs, wide receivers and tight ends.
His prior administrative responsibilities have entailed being the passing game coordinator at UT-Martin and Penn State, recruiting coordinator at Purdue and football operations assistant at Duke.
Those were all things appealing to Brown.
"He's been at a lot of good places," Brown said. "He knows what great offenses look like and he's not only going to benefit me, but our program."
Because West Virginia didn't go to a bowl game last year, Brown had time to hit the pause button for really the first time since he took the WVU job last January. From the moment he got to Morgantown it was go, go, go, which means he really didn't have much time to think about where he was heading.
"I never want to have that long of a break, but I think the break we had during bowl season was really positive for me as the head coach just because you do so much reflection," Brown admitted. "Everything from last January, which is late in the process, through signing day was really about next, next, next. So, what you do is you reflect and take ownership of what I could have done better – which is the same thing I did with the players."
What he quickly realized was being a head football coach at a Power 5 football school requires a lot of time outside the team room, especially during the season.
There are just simply many more demands on his time in all aspects of the program.
"A year ago, I felt like those guys (in the offensive room) were waiting on me a lot," Brown said. "Now, Gerad is leading that room so when I'm called out to do head coaching stuff there is a true leader in there. It's not knocking anything we did last year, but a lot of guys were waiting on me, and they weren't as prepared as they probably needed to be until later in the week."
Parker views his new role as a great career opportunity.
"There is a lot of respect that comes from being where I was, but there is a lot of respect for this place, too, and for whom I am working," Parker said. "Clearly, this is a pretty nice opportunity for me in my career, to take a step and be something I have never been, and that's to be an offensive coordinator. Hopefully, I can build morale and empower the staff and players to do something I haven't done before so that's a cool challenge."
Parker has experience coaching in the Big Ten and ACC, and he played in the SEC, but this will be his first involvement with the Big 12, which is vastly different than the Big Ten where he has spent most of his time since leaving Marshall in 2012.
"It plays different," Parker noted. "The cool thing is the last few years I've been in the Big Ten, the ACC and played in the SEC so I've kind of been around it and seen different things. I'm anxious to go to the different venues and take it all in."
Parker said most of the conversations he's had with Brown about personnel haven't really been about football, per se.
It's been more about them as individuals.
"We've talked a lot about our guys in workouts. Are they growing? How are they responding to adversity? Are they giving us exactly what we're asking of them?" Parker said. "I purposely don't go out and look at a lot of things and go hunt up a lot of film from last year and the reason why is I really don't want to have a whole lot of opinions of them before I see them with my own two eyes."
Parker said the offensive plan for West Virginia is the same plan they had at Penn State, which is the plan Brown has utilized wherever he's been – getting your best playmakers the football in space.
That's what everyone does these days.
"One of the best things we did at Penn State was take our playmakers and put them in a position to make the most plays that we could," he explained. "I think you have to because it allowed us to be pretty good on offense. Here, we'll be no different. We have to put our best guys in position to make plays and make sure the other guys around them make them, too. That is the game. When you look at our talent at the wideout position, I think we're going to be really pleased."
Meanwhile, Parker understands that any good offense needs balance. Running the football was West Virginia's Achilles heel last year and it's the No. 1 area to address this spring.
Parker said it's going to be a collaborative effort.
"That's the charge and that's the growth in me," he said. "I've invested a lot of my time and our time in continuing to find ways to improve our run game. That's a full staff effort. I want to try and help us find ways to run the football better and it may not look the way it used to be where you line up under center with two backs and run it down your throat.
"There are other ways to kind of impose your will and be physical and run the football and have answers for us moving forward," Parker added. "That's a cool charge and I'm excited about that piece."
Besides that, his other top objective this spring is to develop a cohesive working relationship with the other outstanding offensive coaches that are already in place. All of them are talented and bring different things to the table – something Parker wants to foster.
"I put up on my board, 'What are the three things I can do for us?' Be organized is the first one I listed," he said. "The second thing I wrote is 'empower the staff.' This isn't my deal – it's our deal. The third thing is to 'serve everyone around me.' More importantly, it's about us getting a bunch of good decisions out there, putting a bunch of stuff out on the table and sifting through it through sensible conversation."
Overall, Brown is excited about where his program is heading. He lost three good football coaches, but he replaced them with three good football coaches, which is always the objective whenever there is some turnover.
"I'm excited about where we're going," Brown said. "I believe in this group. That belief is stronger now than it was a year ago, just because I know the guys in our program now."
Spring football practice began this morning and will continue this week with morning workouts on Thursday and Friday.
Spring work will continue until Saturday, April 18, when the Mountaineers will conduct their annual Gold-Blue Spring Game at 1 p.m. at Milan Puskar Stadium.
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