Notre Dame Football: Gerard Parker squarely on hot seat after Louisville loss

Notre Dame football fans believe they have a read on the talent level and competence of offensive coordinator Gerard Parker after Louisville.

For Notre Dame football fans, the bloom is off the rose in regards of offensive coordinator Gerard Parker.

To be fair, there wasn’t a lot of love for Parker even before the Fighting Irish lost to the Louisville Cardinals. It’s felt like the Irish offense was stuck in neutral for a couple of weeks now. It’s felt like there’s more talent there than what has been on display.

Even against the Duke Bluedevils, the Notre Dame football offense was far too ineffective, far too often. It built a 10-0 lead and then went to sleep for large portions of the second half. Last night, the Irish built a 10-7 lead in the 3rd quarter and then … collapsed, not scoring another touchdown until garbage time in the fourth quarter.

Knowing that, it should surprise no one that while people aren’t happy with Marcus Freeman, the real vitriol is aimed at Parker this Sunday morning.

It’s true that offensive and defensive coordinators always catch their fair share of hate when a team struggles. It’s true that calls for their firings tend to come even quicker than they do for a head coach.

But it’s not entirely clear this is just a knee-jerk reaction to a couple (three straight, if we’re counting) games where the offense has struggled mightily.

Parker has also always felt like the consolation prize of what was supposed to be a national search last offseason for Notre Dame football to find an offensive coordinator. Instead of hiring from outside, Freeman decided to promote the tight ends coach.

And once he was hired, he was handed one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Sam Hartman. That’s a Sam Hartman who started the year with 13 touchdown passes and no interceptions in his first four games and who has 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions in his last three games.

There’s also Audric Estime, who rushed for at least 95 yards in his first four games and hasn’t rushed for 90 in any of his last three.

Yes, the quality of opponents has gotten better. That’s certainly a factor in the stats not being as impressive. But Notre Dame football has a lot of talent on its roster. On Saturday, they got two of their best receivers back and those receivers combined for two catches for 33 yards.

Now sitting at 5-2 and almost certainly out of the playoff race, Notre Dame football is looking for answers. And more than a few people think one of the answers is yet another change at offensive coordinator.