It’s easy to assume that the one-year crossover when both were playing at the University of Kentucky is the bond that tied Neal Brown and new offensive coordinator Gerad Parker together.

While that is true to some degree with seeds being sewn, the relationship truly blossomed almost 550 miles away when both were past their playing days and entering their next phases of their lives.

Parker, then at Raceland-Worthington High School in Kentucky, was just getting started in his coaching career handling the wide receivers and defensive backs. He made the trip to Troy for a system camp to learn from college coaches.

Brown, who had gotten a head start into the coaching ranks, was then in his first season as the inside wide receivers coach for the Trojans and a presentation he delivered during the clinic was when he truly first got the attention of Parker.

“I remember thinking he’s special. How he presented his details and how he was, I knew he was going to go far in this profession,” Parker said.

From there the relationship grew from simply keeping in touch to a strong connection with both coaches keeping tabs on one another as they rose through the ranks. Turns out Parker was correct as Brown would be elevated to an offensive coordinator role after two seasons at Troy at the age of 28.

By the time he was 34, Brown would return to Troy as the head coach while Parker was ascending the ranks as well by jumping from his role at Raceland to a graduate assistant position at Kentucky before landing his first full-time job at UT Martin. After his first FBS job at Marshall, Parker was hired at Purdue where he four seasons and even served as the interim head coach in 2016.

“We really didn’t build a strong relationship until the last five years. It’s kind of grown that way professionally,” Parker said.

The two would continue to move up the ladder with Brown turning in three straight 10-win seasons at Troy to take the West Virginia job in 2019, while Parker was moving onto Duke. During the initial staff coaching search in Morgantown, it has been widely speculated that Parker was a priority for Brown to get on his staff but he accepted a job with Penn State instead.

When the wide receivers job came open a year later, Brown made sure to get his man by upping the ante to make Parker an offensive coordinator as well.

“A lot of trust there because of our history and our personal relationship,” Brown said.

Now together on the same staff in Morgantown, the goal is now to help address the things that needed fixed from a year ago and Parker is expected to take control of the offensive room when Brown is occupied.

Parker believes that Brown hasn’t changed much from when he first met him but watching his evolution over his career has him excited to start this chapter in Morgantown.

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