UMfan21

January 13th, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^

RIP Norm.  As others said, you knew he was going to keep 2 safeties deep, and yet it was always a tough defense.  A coach worth a lot of respect.

LSAClassOf2000

January 13th, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^

According to this (HERE), it was rather sudden too. The article says he was stricken with an illness only late on Sunday. They also include a list of his other stops, and as some may know, Parker spent some time in the state of Michigan (not at Michigan, of course):

"Parker’s first coaching job was head coach at St. John’s High School in Ypsilanti, Mich., in 1965. He came to Iowa after three years at Vanderbilt. He spent 12 years at Michigan State (1983-94). He also had stops at East Carolina, Illinois, Minnesota, Wake Forest and Eastern Michigan."

Parker had Iowa in the top ten of one defensive category or another very often, a talented man indeed. Very sad news. 

The FannMan

January 13th, 2014 at 1:13 PM ^

Never heard anything bad about him.  Always had a tough defense with kids who were well coached and played hard.  You always knew what he was doing, but still had trouble with it.  

RIP, condolences to his family and Iowa fans everywhere.

StinkyMcDanks

January 13th, 2014 at 1:22 PM ^

That's a shame. He always had a good rap, players really liked him. My cousin played safety for him, had a kid when he was 18 and he was always getting texts from Norm asking about the kid and the family. Good guy.

dnak438

January 13th, 2014 at 1:59 PM ^

in purely football terms:

 

 

jsquigg

January 13th, 2014 at 2:43 PM ^

This is too bad.  One of the best coordinators of his time.  I admittedly love reading about high flying offenses, but would love to see the same attention to great (non-Saban) defenses.  RIP Norm.

SouthU

January 13th, 2014 at 4:27 PM ^

... and was close with the Parker family. (I think Lloyd and Parker coached together somewhere, maybe Illinois).  Parker has a son with special needs who idolizes Lloyd.  Not surprising.

RIP.

Evil Empire

January 14th, 2014 at 8:46 AM ^

about Jeff Parker (Norm's son) and his fondness for Lloyd.  Paraphrasing, someone asked a young Jeff who his favorite coach was, thinking he would name his father, and Jeff responded immediately: "LLoyd Carr."  Also, after a big Michigan loss, Lloyd called the Parkers' home and asked to speak with Jeff, who cheered him up.  I have a sister with Down's so it really hit home for me.

Jeff died in 2004 at age 33 due to complications from strokes.

You're right that Norm and Lloyd were on Moeller's Illinois staff together.  Norm later assisted Woody Widenhofer, another friend of Lloyd's, at Vanderbilt.

massblue

January 13th, 2014 at 4:59 PM ^

Had a simple defensive scheme which he implemented consistently and effectively.  Met him once in Ann Arbor in 2002 through a common friend.  Very nice, humble and low key guy. His team had just beaten us 35-9, I think, but he was just very calm and not too excited.