Penn State’s coaching turnover continues with loss of wide receivers coach Gerad Parker to West Virginia

Penn State lost its third assistant coach on the offensive side of the football since the end of the regular season Friday when wide receivers coach Gerad Parker left the program to become offensive coordinator at West Virginia.

Parker spent one season with the Nittany Lions, the third different wide receivers coach to mentor that position in as many years.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for Gerad to take a promotion as the offensive coordinator at West Virginia,” Penn State head coach James Franklin said in a statement. “We are very appreciative of everything he has contributed to our program. We are excited for Gerad and his family and wish him nothing but success and happiness moving forward.”

The Penn State coaching staff turnover began Dec. 9 when offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne took the job as head coach at Old Dominion. Three weeks later, Franklin announced that the contract of offensive line coach Matt Limegrover would not be renewed.

Franklin announced the hiring of Kirk Ciarrocca as the team’s new offensive coordinator on Dec. 26, the same job he held at Minnesota the previous three seasons. Franklin hired Phil Trautwein from Boston College as the new offensive line coach on Jan. 3.

When Franklin took the Penn State job in 2014, he brought wide receivers coach Josh Gattis with him from Vanderbilt, and Gattis spent four seasons with the Nittany Lions before leaving for Alabama after the 2017 season. He was succeeded by David Corley, who was fired after one season, and then Parker.

Parker, who played his college football at Kentucky, came to Penn State last January after two seasons at Duke. He also coached at Purdue, Marshall, and Tennessee-Martin.