Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM APRIL 2023 17 had ideas and thoughts he didn't want to forget. "My phone is decorated with those," Parker said. "When you put those in, you always stay prepared, because what a sin it would have been if Marcus Free‑ man calls my number to do an interview and I'm not ready." Freeman did call after about 10 days' worth of dizzying swerves that resulted in the two external candidates brought to campus for interviews — Kansas State offensive coordinator Collin Klein and Utah's Andy Ludwig — staying in their respective jobs. Parker was no longer an assistant in the search. He was the focus. It ended with his elevation from tight ends coach to offensive coordinator (he will also remain a position coach). Parker, as promised, was prepared. It was no surprise to Freeman, either in hindsight or in the moment. He de‑ scribed what he observed as an assistant last year, what he liked, what he didn't and what he could add. "Here's where the offense I was part of is at — here's the strengths, here are the weaknesses, here are the areas I can improve," Freeman said, recalling the interview. "Here's where I can bring my own philosophy as an offensive coordi‑ nator and help us enhance. "I might not have paid too much at‑ tention toward the end of it, because I knew at that moment, we found our next offensive coordinator." Above all, Parker will bring conti‑ nuity — on the field and as a voice that Freeman trusted before he became the head coach. Their relationship dates to 2013‑16 at Purdue, where Freeman was the linebackers coach and Parker the tight ends coach. The two envisioned days like Feb. 20, when Freeman the head coach introduced Parker the coordinator. "We've had many conversations about this," Freeman said. The on‑field impact is of the greatest interest, though. Parker did not suggest an overhaul or rip Rees' work to shreds. Nor is he interested in being a dictator who hears no other voices. The oppo‑ site, in fact. Notre Dame's offense will be, in Free‑ man's words, "pro style." That's the di‑ rective. Period. But Freeman didn't need to back Parker into a corner to agree. And Parker feels Notre Dame has the person‑ nel to be better in that mold than it was in 2022. The Irish have a 45‑game starting quarterback, two possible three‑and‑ done NFL Draft pick tackles and an ex‑ perienced group of running backs. "This offense moving forward is a collaborative effort, but it certainly falls on my name first," Parker said. "We see this as our structure in the shell looking very familiar to a lot of things within the organization. By formation. By the way we line up. By the way we get things going in and out of the huddle. Those things will look similar." Parker's name first, though, means more room to put his stamp on it. "To adjust and grow is one of our golden standard things, and we'll do that," Parker said. "We'll find ways to make sure it fits what we do. But there's ways we can en‑ hance what we're doing and take a step in our passing game or our run phase or how we operate against highly loaded boxes in the run game. The motivation moving forward will be, 'What can our players do best? And how do we make the ball go for‑ ward and gain yards and score points?'" On that last point, Parker brings no shortage of ideas from various schools of thought. He was Tennessee‑Martin's running backs coach from 2008‑10 in a "two‑back offense." He was the receiv‑ ers coach for a Marshall offense that ran the third‑most plays in the FBS in 2012 and averaged 50.6 pass attempts per game. Purdue ran a West Coast of‑ fense in his tenure there. Penn State was mainly an 11 personnel team in his 2018‑19 stint as its receivers' coach. Before Notre Dame, Parker was the offensive coordinator at West Virginia. In 2021, he split coordinator duties with Graham Harrell, a former Air Raid quar‑ terback at Texas Tech who has employed a similar approach as a coach. Moun‑ taineers head coach Neal Brown has an Air Raid background as well. "I've been 10 personnel spread out, 11 personnel, rocket and roll and go RPO," Parker said. "We've been in 12 pro style, and then what we've done here. I hope that scope prepares us to be as multiple as we want to be here." Parker did not use his background as his primary selling point when talking with Freeman. It does, though, lend itself to intriguing tweaks to Notre Dame's offense and a new way of pro‑ cessing what the Irish did in 2022. "You want to put out more of who you are," Parker said. "Then also have a clear and concise way of portraying, 'Hey, this is where we're at. This is where we want to continue to find ways to grow and push it forward.'" Good thing the notes app has unlim‑ ited pages. FREEMAN'S PHILOSOPHY COMES TO LIGHT The first time Freeman discussed his offensive philosophy, it felt like a defer‑ ral, and probably a wise one. Freeman, at that moment, was a first‑time head coach with a defensive background at his introductory press conference. He had never worked with an offense up close every day. He didn't play offense in col‑ After first assisting head coach Marcus Freeman by vetting candidates for the Irish's next offensive coordinator, Parker ultimately became the focus of the search and earned the promotion. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER