He began lifting weights as a 100 pound high school freshman.
[2] He majored in history at Ole Miss (where he did not play any sports),[3] then taught and coached linebackers at Indianola Academy.
He coached in a third Super Bowl with the New England Patriots in 1997, and a fourth with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2003.
[2] In 1988 Parker, along with Al Miller, worked with Soviet defector Grigori Goldstein to incorporate Soviet-style periodization into their methods.
They utilized this info in their work, and after their retirement from coaching eventually coauthored The System: Soviet Periodization Adapted For the American Strength Coach in 2018, along with Rob Panariello.