The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Gerad Parker

Followed Jon Sumrall. Gerad Parker slid Troy from National Program III to Regional Program I in 3 seasons.

The journeyman

12–20

2016–now · 2 stints

Purdue Troy

← all coaches

In his own words

Awaiting signal — no quotes collected from this staff yet this cycle.

Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Reached Regional Program in his 1st career season — faster than 20% of the 925 FBS coaches who have ever reached Regional Program (rank #1 of 925 by seasons-to-arrival).

Troy, 3 seasons (active)

−3.3

Regional Program I → Regional Program I.

Style position and drift

Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.

Pass rate — share of offensive plays that were pass attemptsfirst covered seasonmost recent covered seasonfull season-to-season range (3+ covered seasons)

How much that is, against every other stint

Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.

Typical stint7.010.2 median13.9middle half of all stints

Troy7.3pt#188 of 258 · a typical amount

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

1–1 against his rivals.

Rivalry record

1–1

50.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

5–4

55.6% · margin ≤8

vs. Blue Blood or better

0–1

0.0%

Buyout owed

$2,025,000

bigger than 19% of FBS buyouts

Rivalry ledger

South Alabama1–150%

Performance by opponent class

Blue Blood

0–1 0.0%

Power Program

0–1 0.0%

National Program

0–3 0.0%

Regional Program

9–8 52.9%

Coaching career

2024–now

Troycaretaker

National Program III → Regional Program I

Gerad Parker slid Troy from National Program III to Regional Program I in 3 seasons.

4th-best Troy tenure of 7 by the numbers.

Recruiter or developer?

Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on offense and outperforms his recruiting talent on defense.

Offense vs. talent

-7.0 pts

#139 of 208 · a typical amount

Defense vs. talent

+23.8 pts

#20 of 208 · more than most

Recruiting talent is team-wide (no offense/defense split exists in the source data) -- both sides are scored against the same talent input, only the outcome is side-specific.

Followed Jon Sumrall (2022–2023).

Season	2024	2025	2026
Record & result
Record	4–8	8–6	0–0
Postseason	—	L bowl	—
Recruiting rank	#89	#82	#76
Style — pass rate
Pass rate	43.9	46.8	39.6
Coordinators
OC	Sean Reagan	Sean Reagan	Adam Austin
DC	Nathan Burton / Dontae Wright	Nathan Burton / Dontae Wright	Nathan Burton / Dontae Wright
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense	57	11	19
Defense	59	72	18
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only)
1st-down pass%	43.1	42.1	34.6
Red-zone pass%	32.6	34.1	53.3
4th-down go%opp. territory	46.7	51.2	—

Roster construction · portal era

A typical amount of portal roster-building.

Portal arrivals

3.0★ avg rating

Portal departures

left via the portal

Net portal flow

-34

#134 of 187 FBS stints

Who they bring in

Brings in smaller-than-position-typical players than most.

A typical class-year mix of incoming transfers.

Avg. size (raw)

6′1″, 218 lbs

across 25 of 28 arrivals — unadjusted for position mix

Size vs. position-typical

-0.4 lbs

#235 of 255 · less than most

Avg. class year

#102 of 255 · a typical amount

Top states: FL (6), GA (4), MS (3), NC (2), TN (2)

Who won the portal our read

Talent added

45.9

position-weighted

Talent lost

55.4

position-weighted

Net

-9.5

arrivals minus departures

Best addition: Marquez Dortch (WR) from California

Biggest loss: Caleb Mccreary (QB) to Tennessee State

Position-value-weighted (QB/CB weighted highest, depth-decayed within each position) — the same scoring engine as the Portal Heat feed, not a separate grade.

Does the system survive a coordinator change?

OC: Sean Reagan → Adam Austin · 2026

1-season window either side — numbers shown, not enough to badge a verdict.

1st-down pass rate: 42.1% → 34.6% (-7.5 pts)

Confound, shown not hidden: only 35% of offensive production returned the year the coordinator changed — the roster turned over at the same time, not just the play-caller.

Roster size, by position

Skill positions · usage-weighted (real participation)

Quarterback

211 lbs

6′2″ avg · #442 of 767 · a typical amount

Running back

203 lbs

5′10″ avg · #544 of 791 · a typical amount

Wide receiver

184 lbs

6′0″ avg · #724 of 791 · less than most

Tight end

248 lbs

6′4″ avg · #267 of 731 · a typical amount

Trench & secondary · recruited roster, not confirmed starters

Interior line

317 lbs

6′4″ avg · #105 of 779 · more than most

D-line

298 lbs

6′3″ avg · #112 of 753 · more than most

Edge

261 lbs

6′3″ avg · #43 of 188 · more than most

Linebacker

223 lbs

6′2″ avg · #626 of 772 · less than most

Safety

197 lbs

6′1″ avg · #184 of 346 · a typical amount

Offensive-line size is one undifferentiated bucket — the source data almost never distinguishes tackle from guard from center, so we can't split them out.

Where the roster comes from, by position

Grows Interior line from high school

83%

#185 of 224 stints

Grows Wide receiver from high school

71%

#195 of 243 stints

Postseason detail2025: Lost to Jacksonville State 13–17 IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl

2 NFL Draft picks: Javon Solomon (2024), Kimani Vidal (2024)

2 player-seasons honored (All-America / national award): Evan Crenshaw (2025), Evan Crenshaw (2026)

12–14

2016–2016

Purduecaretaker

Regional Program II → Regional Program III

Gerad Parker slid Purdue from Regional Program II to Regional Program III in 1 season.

21st-best Purdue tenure of 21 by the numbers.

Recruiter or developer?

Underperforms his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.

Offense vs. talent

-34.6 pts

#206 of 208 · less than most

Defense vs. talent

-40.3 pts

#204 of 208 · less than most

Recruiting talent is team-wide (no offense/defense split exists in the source data) -- both sides are scored against the same talent input, only the outcome is side-specific.

Succeeded by Jeff Brohm (2017–2022).

Where the roster comes from, by position

Grows D-line from high school

100%

#214 of 239 stints

Grows Cornerback from high school

100%

#225 of 236 stints

2 NFL Draft picks: Anthony Brown (2016), Deangelo Yancey (2017)

0–6

The Zeitgeist List · coordinating

Gerad Parker

Offensive coordinator across 2 programs, 2 stints, before and after wearing the head-coach hat — every season measured on the same axis, whether he personally ran the unit or someone else did.

How to read this. Coordinator seasons come from coordinator_journeys(); head-coaching-era seasons are the same unit's FBS-relative percentile for those years, regardless of who coached it, read directly from staff_assignments. A role change (a “hinge”) is a fact, never a performance verdict — only the season-by-season data itself is colored by outcome.