Below is a transcript of new offensive coordinator Gerad Parker's press conference Monday.
Questions may be paraphrased. Answers aren't.
GERAD PARKER
Opening statement:
“Thank you all. That's a little different walk than the one we got here a year ago, huh? So listen, first thing I want to do, there's some things I want to make sure I don't miss. No. 1 is I want to thank Jack (Swarbrick), Father John (Jenkins) and coach (Marcus) Freeman for giving me this opportunity. And it is a large opportunity I'm very thankful for. The last thing I won't let Katy (Lonergan) tell me to do will be that I'm going to thank my wife now. For nine moves, for having four beautiful children, from supporting us through all of it, through the hard times through the great times and all in between. Those moments are what put you in a position to be here. I couldn't be more grateful to her and the rest of my family for the support. And then back to Coach Freeman for getting us here to this position.
“Nobody is more charged to do this job than I am. Every morning I wake up from this point forward will be to put my feet on the ground and make this the right hire for coach Freeman and everybody in this organization. As far as it goes with the offense, I think that anything you talk about — leadership’s a very lonely role, I've learned throughout my career. The first job I have is to lead a group of men that are very, very motivated to be great. And what that looks like is is unfortunately when you lead you have to hold everybody accountable to the standards set forth from the head coach and then for me in this offense. So, holding staff and players accountable is one of the toughest things to transform to. I know early my career, that looked like really wanting to be a pleaser in some ways and make sure that everybody likes you. Certainly you want to treat people with respect that at the end of the day, they know that. But at the same time we're doing them an injustice, if we don't hold people accountable to the standards of it.
“This offense moving forward is a collaborative effort, but it certainly falls on my name first. As coach Freeman said, we see this as our structure and the shell this thing, 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 and to adjust and grow is one of our golden standard things. We'll do that. We'll find ways to make sure it fits what we do. But also there's ways we can enhance what we're doing and take a step in our passing game or our run phase or how we operate against how highly loaded boxes in the run game and all those things will come up.
“But I think the motivation moving forward will be what can our players do best? And how do we make the ball go forward and gain yards and score points? If the answer to that question is yes with any scheme we broach, then we're going to do it. If the answer collaboratively is no or it's too much, then we'll dump it. We'll move forward, keep things as simple as we can and continue to let our guys make our plays work. Which is going to be a big thing that I've shared already with the guys. We want our guys to take care of the football, we want them to have effort with physicality and we want them to play with great details and make our plays work. So sometimes we'll cut the amount of plays and more look at making our plays work against multiple fronts and coverages, so our guys are confident and play fast. That would be where I would start. Again, so appreciative to be in front of you.”
How did you transition from one day helping pitch bringing an offensive coordinator on board to a couple days later interviewing to have the job yourself?
“As coach Freeman said, it is maturity as you go through a process and go through the things we've all been through in this coaching career, that the first thing you have to do is make sure that you're not letting your ego get in the way. So, as we went through the process together and things change, the number one thing is do what's best for Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman. That's my job: to serve the message of the head coach and go through. You do that. You do that job well, because that was the job that was called. When that transformed, you also want to be able to say, ‘Hey, I'm not going to flinch at the opportunity to be the offensive coordinator here,’ because of the work put in before this to put yourself in position. Because as we're going to ask our players, when your number's called, be prepared, right? All I knew that I could control through the process was help feed the message of the head coach and get us to a great decision. If that changes gears when it did, it was to also be able to give to him my confidence, my direction and what we would do if we wanted to move forward that way. So that's what I tried to do.”
Sam Hartman made a big decision to come to Notre Dame under different circumstances. How much have you prioritized or will you prioritize connecting with him and making sure you guys are on the same page with the way you want to do this?
“Sam and all of them, they're all critical. Because now you're not building relationships with eight guys in the tight end room. You're building relationships with an entire offensive unit. I understand the question about Sam, because of the nature of him coming here and him getting here. It was a big news. But he is driven by ball and driven to get better and come here to have what he wants to have success here at Notre Dame. So there's been communication with all of them. But especially with him to obviously sit down and talk to him about the direction of the offense to maybe ease some anxieties, because with change comes a lot of thoughts and things that you want to get addressed. So, we've addressed it with the entire offensive unit, the staff and we'll continue to give our guys confidence and let them know the direction is to move forward, as coach Freeman says.”
How did you navigate the process of transitioning to Tommy to ultimately culminating with you getting the offensive coordinator job? How did you stay ready to kind of shoot your shot, so to speak?
“Yeah, I like that. I'll tell you this. No. 1, me and Tommy had a great relationship. The first piece of that is when he left is, ‘Aww, shucks. I hate to see him go.’ And then you transition to what is the direction in the times and conversations you get to have with Marcus. And say, ‘Where are you headed with it? How can I help?’ And I mean that. He knew I meant it. Then there's a little piece where you let your mind drift, because I've always been ambitious. We all are. Ambition has a price. But also put a plan together. If my job were to maybe help with how we're going to construct certain interviews, then I want to provide help that way. But then when my mind would drift late at night when I was wondering, I put notes in my phone. And I'm sure he knew that if he knows me at all. I would constantly have things that I would put in. If those things were just things that I kept in my phone for next year or the year after or the year after, so be it. But my phone’s decorated with those. And when you put those in, you always stay prepared. Because what a sin it would have been if Marcus Freeman calls my number to do an interview and I'm not ready. That's how I feel. That's how I felt about it. And what a shame had I not been ready for this opportunity.”
Marcus said probably midway through your interview that he knew you were the guy. What do you think you did in that interview? When did you maybe think I nailed this?
“I know him very well, which is good to know. Now that's good and bad. That also means I know that when it's getting ready to erupt a little bit. I know it's getting ready to come at us. But I will say this, being able to communicate, look directly at him and see something halfway through that interview, I felt like I did. Just to know that he liked where it was heading and a genuine approach. So I felt that energy but more than anything, you just want to put out more of who you are. And then also have a very 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. I believe I did a nice job of being able to push that message to him.”
(more)
Questions may be paraphrased. Answers aren't.
GERAD PARKER
Opening statement:
“Thank you all. That's a little different walk than the one we got here a year ago, huh? So listen, first thing I want to do, there's some things I want to make sure I don't miss. No. 1 is I want to thank Jack (Swarbrick), Father John (Jenkins) and coach (Marcus) Freeman for giving me this opportunity. And it is a large opportunity I'm very thankful for. The last thing I won't let Katy (Lonergan) tell me to do will be that I'm going to thank my wife now. For nine moves, for having four beautiful children, from supporting us through all of it, through the hard times through the great times and all in between. Those moments are what put you in a position to be here. I couldn't be more grateful to her and the rest of my family for the support. And then back to Coach Freeman for getting us here to this position.
“Nobody is more charged to do this job than I am. Every morning I wake up from this point forward will be to put my feet on the ground and make this the right hire for coach Freeman and everybody in this organization. As far as it goes with the offense, I think that anything you talk about — leadership’s a very lonely role, I've learned throughout my career. The first job I have is to lead a group of men that are very, very motivated to be great. And what that looks like is is unfortunately when you lead you have to hold everybody accountable to the standards set forth from the head coach and then for me in this offense. So, holding staff and players accountable is one of the toughest things to transform to. I know early my career, that looked like really wanting to be a pleaser in some ways and make sure that everybody likes you. Certainly you want to treat people with respect that at the end of the day, they know that. But at the same time we're doing them an injustice, if we don't hold people accountable to the standards of it.
“This offense moving forward is a collaborative effort, but it certainly falls on my name first. As coach Freeman said, we see this as our structure and the shell this thing, 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 and to adjust and grow is one of our golden standard things. We'll do that. We'll find ways to make sure it fits what we do. But also there's ways we can enhance what we're doing and take a step in our passing game or our run phase or how we operate against how highly loaded boxes in the run game and all those things will come up.
“But I think the motivation moving forward will be what can our players do best? And how do we make the ball go forward and gain yards and score points? If the answer to that question is yes with any scheme we broach, then we're going to do it. If the answer collaboratively is no or it's too much, then we'll dump it. We'll move forward, keep things as simple as we can and continue to let our guys make our plays work. Which is going to be a big thing that I've shared already with the guys. We want our guys to take care of the football, we want them to have effort with physicality and we want them to play with great details and make our plays work. So sometimes we'll cut the amount of plays and more look at making our plays work against multiple fronts and coverages, so our guys are confident and play fast. That would be where I would start. Again, so appreciative to be in front of you.”
How did you transition from one day helping pitch bringing an offensive coordinator on board to a couple days later interviewing to have the job yourself?
“As coach Freeman said, it is maturity as you go through a process and go through the things we've all been through in this coaching career, that the first thing you have to do is make sure that you're not letting your ego get in the way. So, as we went through the process together and things change, the number one thing is do what's best for Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman. That's my job: to serve the message of the head coach and go through. You do that. You do that job well, because that was the job that was called. When that transformed, you also want to be able to say, ‘Hey, I'm not going to flinch at the opportunity to be the offensive coordinator here,’ because of the work put in before this to put yourself in position. Because as we're going to ask our players, when your number's called, be prepared, right? All I knew that I could control through the process was help feed the message of the head coach and get us to a great decision. If that changes gears when it did, it was to also be able to give to him my confidence, my direction and what we would do if we wanted to move forward that way. So that's what I tried to do.”
Sam Hartman made a big decision to come to Notre Dame under different circumstances. How much have you prioritized or will you prioritize connecting with him and making sure you guys are on the same page with the way you want to do this?
“Sam and all of them, they're all critical. Because now you're not building relationships with eight guys in the tight end room. You're building relationships with an entire offensive unit. I understand the question about Sam, because of the nature of him coming here and him getting here. It was a big news. But he is driven by ball and driven to get better and come here to have what he wants to have success here at Notre Dame. So there's been communication with all of them. But especially with him to obviously sit down and talk to him about the direction of the offense to maybe ease some anxieties, because with change comes a lot of thoughts and things that you want to get addressed. So, we've addressed it with the entire offensive unit, the staff and we'll continue to give our guys confidence and let them know the direction is to move forward, as coach Freeman says.”
How did you navigate the process of transitioning to Tommy to ultimately culminating with you getting the offensive coordinator job? How did you stay ready to kind of shoot your shot, so to speak?
“Yeah, I like that. I'll tell you this. No. 1, me and Tommy had a great relationship. The first piece of that is when he left is, ‘Aww, shucks. I hate to see him go.’ And then you transition to what is the direction in the times and conversations you get to have with Marcus. And say, ‘Where are you headed with it? How can I help?’ And I mean that. He knew I meant it. Then there's a little piece where you let your mind drift, because I've always been ambitious. We all are. Ambition has a price. But also put a plan together. If my job were to maybe help with how we're going to construct certain interviews, then I want to provide help that way. But then when my mind would drift late at night when I was wondering, I put notes in my phone. And I'm sure he knew that if he knows me at all. I would constantly have things that I would put in. If those things were just things that I kept in my phone for next year or the year after or the year after, so be it. But my phone’s decorated with those. And when you put those in, you always stay prepared. Because what a sin it would have been if Marcus Freeman calls my number to do an interview and I'm not ready. That's how I feel. That's how I felt about it. And what a shame had I not been ready for this opportunity.”
Marcus said probably midway through your interview that he knew you were the guy. What do you think you did in that interview? When did you maybe think I nailed this?
“I know him very well, which is good to know. Now that's good and bad. That also means I know that when it's getting ready to erupt a little bit. I know it's getting ready to come at us. But I will say this, being able to communicate, look directly at him and see something halfway through that interview, I felt like I did. Just to know that he liked where it was heading and a genuine approach. So I felt that energy but more than anything, you just want to put out more of who you are. And then also have a very 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. I believe I did a nice job of being able to push that message to him.”
(more)
