Notre Dame OC candidates: Who replaces Gerad Parker?

Marcus Freeman will enter his third season as a head coach looking for a third different offensive coordinator.

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Notre Dame is once again in the market for a new offensive coordinator, as Gerad Parker has been hired as the next head coach at Troy. Parker follows Tommy Rees as another one-and-done OC under Marcus Freeman, who now has to search for his third play-caller in as many years as the Irish’s head coach.

As with Rees, Parker’s departure comes relatively late in the hiring cycle, as Troy was the last open FBS job. Parker’s offense did some good, finishing with the second-highest scoring average (39.1) in school history, but it also struggled against elevated competition.

So, where should Freeman turn? Let’s take a look at some potential candidates:

Alex Atkins, Florida State OC/O-line coach. It is a little surprising that Atkins did not get a head-coaching job this cycle after the work he has done at FSU. That wouldn’t be a problem at Notre Dame, even in a non-head coaching job. Just look at Parker. Atkins is a southside Chicago native who joined Mike Norvell’s staff in Tallahassee when the Seminoles’ program seemed like it was on life support. Now, just three years later, FSU is 13-0. The biggest rebuild with the Noles came up front, as FSU gave up 48 sacks in 2019, the year before Atkins and staff arrived. FSU has given just 44 sacks the past two years combined.