Report: Notre Dame closing in on next tight ends coach

Notre Dame is reportedly set to hire West Virginia’s Gerad Parker to be its next tight ends coach.

Parker is currently serving as WVU’s co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach. ESPN’s Pete Thamel was first to report Notre Dame’s interest in Parker:

Sources: Notre Dame is targeting Gerad Parker to become the school’s next tight ends coach. He’s worked most recently as the offensive coordinator at West Virginia and also had stops at Penn State, Duke and Purdue.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 2, 2022

Head coach Marcus Freeman has experience working with Parker at Purdue. He was the Boilermakers interim head coach for 6 games in 2016 while Freeman was co-defensive coordinator.

Parker has also worked at Penn State and Duke in recent years. He’s originally from West Virginia and played for Kentucky from 2002-04.

He would be replacing John McNulty, who left South Bend to become Boston College’s offensive coordinator last month. McNulty did a great job developing tight end Michael Mayer, who has become one of the focal points in Notre Dame’s offense.

Notre Dame’s 2022 staff is nearly finalized, but Freeman is still searching for a defensive coordinator. The Irish are expected to make that hire in the coming weeks.